domus, domicilium.] When the word Inne began to change its meaning, and to be used to fig nify a house of entertainment, the proverb ftill continuing in force was applied in the latter fenfe, as it is here used by Shakespeare; or perhaps Falstaff here humourously puns upon the word Inne, in order to reprefent the wrong done him the more ftrongly. In John Heywood's Works, imprinted at London, 1598, 4to. black letter, is a "dialogue, "wherein are pleasantly contriv"ed the number of all the ef"fectual proverbs in our English "tongue, &c. Together with P. 191. Falftaff fays to Dame Quickly, And for woman-hood, Maid-Marian may be the deputies wife of the ward to thee.-] In the ancient fongs of Robin Hood, frequent mention is made of Maid Marian, who appears to have been his Concubine.-I could quote many paffages in my old MS. to this purpose, but fhall produce only one. "In old times paft, when 66 merry men "Did merry matters make, "Than Launcelot du Lake: "Which now is quite forgot; "A pretty wench God wott, " &c." Mr. PERCY. P. 191. No more truth in thee than in a drawn fox.] That is, a fox drawn over the ground, to leave a scent, and keep the hounds in exercise, while they are not employed in a better chafe. It is faid to have no truth in it, because it deceives the hounds, who run with the fame eagerness as if they were in purfuit of a real fox. REVISAL. P. 199. Vernon. All furnish'd, all in arms, All plumed like oftriches.-i.e. All dreffed like the prince himfelf. The oftrich feather being the cognizance of the Prince of Wales. Dr. GRAY. P. 201. Gurnet, as I am informed, is a fish, not large, but confiderably larger than an anchovy, and we may suppose was Kk com? 66 turns knight errant, making his apprentice his fquire, &c. fo in Heywood's play, four apprentices accoutre themselves as knights, and go to Jerufalem in queft of adventures. s. One of them, the most important character, is a goldsmith, another a grocer, another a mercer, and a fourth an haberdasher But Beaumont and Fletcher's play, though founded upon, contains many fatirical ftrokes against Heywood's comedy; the force of which is entirely loft to thofe who have not feen that comedy. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's prologue, or first scene, it is proposed to call the play, "The Grocer's honour.” In the fame fcene, a citizen is introduced, declaring, that in the play he will have a grocer, commonly eaten when fous'd or pickled, in our authour's time. P. 232. Enter Rumour painted full of tongues."] This he probably drew from Hellingfhead's Defcription of a Pageant, exhibited in the court of Henry VIII with uncommon coft and magnificence. "Then entered a perfon called Report, apparel"led in crimfom fatin, full of "Toongs or Chronicles." vol. iii. p. 805. This, however, might be the common way of reprefenting this perfonage in his mafques, which were frequent in his own times. Mr. WARTON. P. 300. Shall. I remember at Mile-end Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Shew.] Arthur's Shew feems to have been a theatrical representation made out of the old romance of MORTE ARTHUR, the most popular one of Our author's age. Sir Dagonet is King Arthur's 'fquire. Theo. bald remarks on this paffage, "The only intelligence I have "glean'd of this worthy knight" knight. Have you heard of "(Sir Dagonet) is from Beaumont "and Fletcher, in their Knight "of the Burning Peftle." and he hall do admirable "things."-Again, fc. i. act i. Rafe says, Amongst all the 66 worthy books of atchieve"ments, I do not call to mind, "that I yet read of a grocer"errant: I will be the faid 66 any that hath wandered un"furnished of his 'fquire and " dwarf? My elder brother Tim "fhall be my trusty 'fquire, and "George my dwarf." In the following paffage, the allufion to Heywood's comedy is demonftrably manifeft, fc. i. act 4. Boy. "It will fhew ill favouredly to "have a grocer's prentice court a king's daughter. Cit. Will "it fo, fir? you are well read "in hiftories; I pray you, who was Sir Dagonet? Was he not prentice to a grocer in Lendon? "Read the play of the four prentices, where they tof, their pikes fo."-in Heywood's comedy, Euftace, the grocer's prentice, is introduced courting the daughter of the King of France: and, in the frontispiece, the four prentices are reprefented in armour, tilting with javelins. Im mediately before the daft quoted fpeeches, we have the following inftances of allufion. Cit. Let the Sophy of Perfia come, and chriften him a child. Boy. Be <lieve me, fir, that will not do "fo well; 'tis ftalebit has been "before at the Red Bull." A circumftance in Heywood's come dy which, as has been already fpecified, was acted at the Red Bull. Beaumont and Fletcher's play is pure burlesque. Heywood's is a mixture of the droll and ferious, and was evidently intended to ridicule the reigning fashion of reading romances. 19 Mr. WARTON. P. 304. Ledon by bloody youth--] Bloody youth, with which I puzzled myself in the note, is only fanguine youth, or youth full of blood, and of thofe paffions which blood is fuppofed to produce and incite or nourish. 332. -And from the tents, The armourers accomplishing the knights, With bufy hammers clofing ri vets up.] See the preparation for the battle between Palaenon and Arcite in Chaucer. "And on the morrow when day gan fpring Of horfe and harneis, noife "Gnawing, and fast the ar mourers alfo With file and hammer riding "to and fro, &c. Mr. WARTON. P. 347. In the note, I had confounded the character of Silence with that of Slender, and drawn an inference from a falfe fuppofition. Dele the whole note. P. 383. But till the king come forth, and not till then,] The Canons of Criticism read, -And but till then; And the Revifal approves the correction. and clattering, There was in the hofteliries "all about, "The foaming fteyds on the goldin bridyl P. 396.-chrifom child.] The old quarto has it crifomb'd child. The chryfom was no more than the white cloth put on the new baptifed child. See Johnson's Canons of Ecclef. Law, 1720. And not a cloth anointed with holy unguent, as defcribed under that article in Johnfon's Dictionary, that of the chrifm being a feparate operation, and was itself no more than a compofition of oil and balfam bleffed by the bishop. I have somewhere (but cannot recollect where) met with this farther account of it; that the chryfom was allow'd to be carried out of the church, to enwrap thofe children which were in too weak a condition to be bornethither, the chryfom being fuppofed to make every place holy. Thiscuftom would rather ftrengthen the allufion to the weak condition of Falstaff. Mr. STEEVENS. P. 396. Quickly. For his nofe was as fharp as a pen on a table of green fields,] Here our editors not knowing what to make of a table of green fields, Mr. Pope Kk 2 and and Mr. Warburton have caft it out of the text; others have turned it into, " and have bab bled of green fields." But had they been appriz'd that table in our author, fignifies a pocket-book, I believe they would have retained it, with the following alteration. "For his nofe was as sharp as a pen upon a table of green "fells." On table-books, filver or fteel'pens, very harp-pointed, were formerly, and are ftill fixed either to the backs or covers. Mother Quickly compares FalRaff's nofe (which in dying perfons grow thin and fharp) to one of those pens, very properly, and The meant probably to have said, on a table book with a fhagreencover, or hagreen-table, but, in her ufual blundering way, the calls it a table of green fells, or a table covered with green fkin, which the blundering transcriber turn'd into green-fields; and our editors have turned the prettiest blunder in Shakespeare, quite out of doors. Mr. SMITH. proverbial one. The fame kind of cautions, in verfe, are fuck up in country. ale-houfes in the Mr. STEEVENS. P. 398. Clear thy crystals→] May, I think, better mean, in this place, walk by glaffes P.398. Pitch and pay-] Seems to be an expreffion taken from the language used to porters, who are ordered to throw down their burdens before they are paid for carrying them. This, I believe, is the firft inftance of worldly prudence, to be found in the character of Piftol. The caution he leaves behind him, was a very proper one to Mrs. Quickly, who had fuffered before, by letting Falstaff run in her debt. Truft none, immediately follows it, which fufficiently explains the expreffion, which is, to this days a P. 420. Pift. Fortune is Bardolph's fee, and frowns on him, 11003 9:00 For be hath ftolen a pax, and ΠΑΘ hang'd must be.]Tis pax in folios 1623 and 1632; but altered to pix by Mr. Theobald and Sir Thomas Hanmer. But they fignified the same thing. See Pax at Mass, Minshew's Guide into the Tongues, ein Pix, or pax, was a little box, in which were kept the confeVis from P. 426. For ches les narines, read, avec les narines. P. 428. For chein, read chien. P. 442. In the note, for pafty, read puffy. crated wafers. b P. 445: The Revifal reads, Dau. Le ciel-coufin Orleans. This is well conjectured, nor does the paffage deferve that more should be done, yet I know not whether it might not ftand thus. Dau. Voyez les eaux et la terre. P. 453. Thou dieft on point of fox.] Fox is no more than an old cant word for a fword. 19 "I made my father's old fox "fly about his ears. Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaf Mr. STEEVENS. ter. P. 454. 10 Pistol. Brafs, cur?] Either Shakespeare had very little knowledge in the French language, or his over-fondness for punning led him in this place, contrary to his judgment, into an error. Almoft any one knows that the French word bras is pronounced bray; and what refemblance of found does this bear to brass, that Piftol fhould reply, Brafs, cur? The joke may appear to a reader, but would fcarce be difcovered in the performance of the play. Mr. HAWKINS. If the pronounciation of the French language be not changed fince Shakespeare's time, which is not unlikely, it may be fufpected fome other man wrote the French fcenes. P. 465.bis payment into plows. The Revifal reads, very reasonably, in two plows. P. 476. Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair.] The incongruity of the comparison I Continue to cenfure, but the expreffion, wildly overgrown with hair, is juftifiable; the hair may be wild, though the prisoner be confined. P. 505. I'll canvass thee in the broad cardinal's hat.] This means, I believe, I'll tumble thee into thy great hat, and bake thee as bran and meal are fhaken in a fieve. P. 508. The English Went through a Secret grate of iron bars, In yonder tower, to overpeer the city.] That is, the English went, not through a fecret grate, but went to overpeer the city through a fecret grate which is in yonder tower. I did not know till of late that this paffage had been thought difficult. |
