Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

game then in fashion, as I have fomewhere read among the commendations ofa young nobleman, that he was good at the game of try-trip, or tray-trip.

I am not fufficiently acquainted with the characters of the two perfons, to be able to fay, fuppofing the game to be called try trip, which may be the fame as wrestling, whether either of them had courage enough to have given fuch a challenge,

Mr. STEEVENS. P. 429. Clown. Nay, I am for all masters.] i. e. a cloak for all kinds of knavery; taken from the Italian proverb, Tu hai mantillo da ogni acqua.

Mr. SMITH. P. 431. Are you not mad, &c.] The reading may stand, and the fenfe continue fuch as I have given in the note.

P. 441. Sir To. Then he's a rogue, ond a past measure paiaim.] Then he's a rogue, after a paf-measure pavin, folio 1632, and probably right, being an allufion to the quick measure of the pavin, a dance in Shakespeare's time. Dr. GRAY.

P. 452. Evans. The dezen white lowfes do become an old coat well, &c.

Shallow. The luce is the fresh fifh, the falt fifh is an old coat.] Shakespeare by hinting that the arms of the Shallows and the Lucys were the fame, fhews he could not forget his old friend Sir Thomas Lucy, pointing at him under the character of Justice Shallow. But to put the matter out of all doubt, Shakespeare has here given us a diftinguishing mark, whereby it appears, that

Sir Thomas was the very perfon reprefented by Shallow. To fet blundering parfon Evans right, Shallow tells him, The luce is not the loufe, but the fresh fish, or pike, the falt fish (indeed) is an old cont. The plain English of which is, if I am not greatly mistaken, The family of the Charleott's had for their arms a falt fifh originally; but when William, fon of Walter de Charlcott, affumed the name of Lucy, in the time of Henry the third, he took the arms of the Lucys. This is not at all improbable, for we find, when Maud Lucy bequeathed her eftate to the Piercies, it was upon condition, they joined her arms with their own. "And, fays Dugdale, 'tis likely "William de Charlcott took the

[ocr errors]

name of Lucy to oblige his "mother," and I fay farther, it is as likely he took the arms of the Lucys at the fame time.

The lure is the fresh fish (our modern coat of arms); the falt fish (our ancient coat) an old coat. Mr. SMITH.

The luce a pike, or jack. "Many a fair partriche had he in mewe,

"And many a breme, and many "a luce in ftewe." Chaucer's Prologues of the Canterbury Tales, 351, 52.

P. 453. Shallow. The council fhall hear it; it is a riot.] He alludes to a ftatute made in the reign of king Henry the fourth (13th, chap. vii.) by which it is enacted,

66

"That the juftices, three,

or two of them, and the fhe"riff, fhall certifie before the " king, and his counfelle, all "the deeds and circumstances

"thereof,

thereof, (namely, of the riot) which certification fhould be of "the like force as the prefent "ment of twelve: upon which "certificate, the trefpaffers and offenders, shall be put to an"fwer, and they, which be "found guilty, fhall be punish"ed according to the difcretion "of the king and counfelle."

Dr. GRAY. P. 454. Slender. How does your fallow greybound? I heard Jay he was outrun on Cotfale.] Cotfwold, a village in Worcesterfire, or Warwickshire, was famous for rural exercises and fports of all forts. Falstaff, or Shallow, in another place, talks of a ftout fellow, "Coffwold man, i. e. one who was a native of this very place, fo famous for tryals "of ftrength, activity, &c. and "confequently, a robuft athletic "perfon." I have feen a poem, or rather a collection of poems, which, I think, is called, The Cotswold mufe, containing a defcription of thefe games.

46

[ocr errors]

Ibid. Piftol. How now Mephistophilus?] This is the name of a fpirit, or familiar, in the old story book of Sir John Fauftus, or John Fauft.

Mr. WARTON. P. 463. Let me fee thee froth and live.] This paflage 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 the froth and lyme, I take to be the true one. The hott calls for an immediate fpecimen of Bardolph's abilities, as a tapfter; and frothing beer and im

ing fack were tricks in practice in Shakespeare's time; the one 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. therry) to make it fparkle in the glass. Froth and live is fenfe; but a little forced; and to make it fo, we must fuppofe the host could guefs, by his fkill in doing the former, how he would fucceed in the world. Falstaff himself complains of limed fack.

Mr. STEEVENS.

P. 464. The anchor is deep.] Nym, in this place, does not mean that Mrs. Ford refembles a fhip's anchor, but a cask called an anchor, which smugglers make use of to this day, for the convenience of carrying their brandy on horfes; and fays, the anchor is deep, in answer to Falfaff's expreffion, that he Spies entertainment in her; for what greater entertainment could Nym have an idea of, than was to be found in a dep anchor, provided the liquor it contained was to his tafte.

The word is generally fpelt anchor. Chambers fays it is a meafure chiefly used at Amfterdam, and fpells it from the Dutch word anker.

The remarks the two characters make on Falstaff's report, are the most proper that could be put into their mouths. Piftol, who affects to borrow phrases from literature, says, be bath studied her will, and tranflated her out of bonefly into English. Nym, whofe turn it is to speak next, and who loved hard drinking

better

[blocks in formation]

I do not think this right. P. 467.-Revolt of mien.] This quaint expreffion, in the mouth of Nym, feems to imply no more than one of the effects he has juft afcribed to jealoufy. He fays, he will poffefs him with yeflowness, and furely revolt of mien, or change of countenance, is one of the firft fymptoms of being affected by that paffion.

Mr. STEEVENS. P. 468. Simple. He hath but a little wee face.] Wee in the Northern dialect, fignifies very little.

"The quene aftonyft ane

"little ave

"At the firft ficht, behalding "his bewte.

Gawin Douglaf's Virgil, p. 32. edit. 1710. Dr. GRAY, P. 468. And vetch me in my clofet un boitier verd.] Boitier, in French, fignifies a cafe of furgeon's inftruments. Dr. GRAY.

P. 484. Falstaff. (To Nym and Piftol.) Go, go, a short knife and a thong to your manor of Picthatch.] Part of the employment given by Drayton, in the Mooncalf, to the Baboon, feems the fame with this recommended by Falstaff.

He like a giffy oftentimes would go,

All kinds of gibberish he had learnt to know,

[blocks in formation]

Would for the people tricks at
faft and loose.
Theobald has throng inftead of
The latter feems right.

thong.

Mr. LANGTON. P. 504. We have linger'd, &c.] The expreffion of having lin ger'd, in this place, feems to mean no more than that Slender has been backward in his own addreffes, as indeed he may be allowed to have been, as he never ventured further in his first interview, than to recommend himself obliquely to his mistress; and he had declared before, that if he married her, it would be at the request of Shallow, not promifing himfelf ary great degree of happinefs, from the part his own love would have in the affair. Shallow fays, We have, fpeaking in his own perfon, as well as for his friend.

Mr. STEEVENS. P. 526. In the note for lanes read lunes.

P. 547. Falftaff. Divide me like a bribe-buck, each a haunch, I will keep my fides for myself, my fhoulders for the fellow of this walk.] To the keeper the foulders and humbles belonging as a perquifite. Dr. GRAY.

Mr. Reynolds is of opinion that by the fellow of this walk is meant Herne the hunter.

P. 554. In the note, for intelligible, read unintelligible.

NOTES

NOTES to the THIRD VOLUME.

P. 5. BRACH Merriman, the poor cur is embost, And couple Clouder with the deep mouth'd BRACH.] Here, fays Pope, brach fignifies a degenerate hound: But Edwards explains it a hound in general.

That the latter of these criticks is right, will appear from the ufe of the word brach in Sir J. More's Comfort against Tribulation, book iii, ch. 24. "Here it

must be known of some men "that can skill of hunting, whe"ther that we mistake not our "terms, for then we are utterly

[ocr errors]

afhamed, as ye wott well. "And I am fo cunning, that I "cannot tell, whether among "them a bitche be a bitche or no; "but as I remember the is no

bitche but a brache." The meaning of the latter part of the paragraph feems to be, "I am fo little killed in hunting, that "I can hardly tell whether a "bitch be a bitch or not: my

[ocr errors]

judgment goes no further than juft to direct me to call "either dog or bitch by their "general name Hound." I am aware that Spelman acquaints his reader, that brache was used in his days for a lurcher, and that Shakespeare himself has made it a dog of a particular fpecies Maff greyhound, mungrill grim,

Hound or Spaniel, brache or bym.

K. LEAR, at iii. fc. v. But it is manifeft from the paffage of More just cited, that it was fometimes applied in a ge

neral fenfe, and may therefore be fo understood in the paffage before us; and it may be added, that brache appears to be used in the fame fenfe, by Beaumont and Fletcher. "A. Is that your Bro"ther? E, Yes; have you loft

your memory? A. As I live he "is a pretty fellow: 2. Q this is “ "afweet brache!" Scornful Lady, act i. fc.i.

Inftead of brache, Hanmer reads, leech Merriman.

Mr. WARTON.

P. 15. Padua is a city of Lombardy, therefore Mr. Theobald's emendation is wrong.

REVISAL
The old reading may stand.
P. 30.
Have I not in pitch-
ed battle beard
Loud larums, neighing fleeds, and

trumpets clang?] Probably the word clang is here ufed adjectively, as in the Paradife Loft, b. xi. v. 829, and not as a verb.

-An ifland falt and bare,
The haunt of feals, and ores,
and fea-mews, clạng.
Mr. WARTON.
P. 45. My land amounts to but so

muçbinall.] The old reading was right, his land amounted but to fo much, but he fupplied the deficiency with an Argofie, or fhip of great value. REVISAL

P. 52. Paft cure of the fives.] So called in the Western part of England. Vives elsewhere, and avives by the French. A diftemper in hories, little differing from the ftrangles.

Id. ib. Infected with the fofhions.] So called in the

Wef

Weft of England, but by the beft writers on farriery, farcins, or farcy. Dr. GRAY.

P. 61. Be the Jacks fair with-, in, the Jills fair without.] Dr. Warburton feems to have made one blunder here, while he is cenfuring Sir T. H. for another.

Warburton explains it thus, Are the drinking veffels clean, and the maids dreft?

Hanmer alters the text thus, Are the Jacks fair without, the Jills fair within? This feems to mean, Are the men, who are waiting without the houfe, for my mafter, drefs'd, and the maids, who are waiting within, drefs'd too?

The joke here intended is only a play upon the words of Jack and Jill, which fignify two drinking meafures, as well as men and maids; the diftinction made in the question concerning them was owing to this; the jacks, being made of leather, could not be made to appear beautiful on the outfide, but were very apt to contract foulnefs within; whereas the jills, being of pewter, were to be kept bright on the outfide, and, as they were of metal, were not liable to dirt on the infide, like the leather.

Mr. STEEVENS. P. 64. In the note, dele good.

P. 99. For nevel narrative, read real narrative.

P. 116. I fee the jewel beft enamel'd, &c.] The Revifal reads thus,

-Yet the gold 'bides ftill That others touch, though often touching will

[blocks in formation]

P. 130. In the note, for cafting, read lasting.

P. 142. S. Dormio. A back friend, a fhoulder clapper, one that commands the paffage of allies, creeks, and narrow lands.] It fhould be written, I think, narrow lanes, as he has the fame expreffion, Richard II. A&t 5. Sc. vi. p. 82.

"Enquire at London 'mong
"the taverns there,
"For there, they fay, he
"daily doth frequent
"With unrestrained, loofe
"companions,

"Even fuch, they fay, as
"itand in narrow lanes."
Dr. GRAY.

P. 142. Draws dry-foot well.] Ben. Johnson has the like expreffion, Every Man in his Humour, act ii. fc. iv. "Well, the "truth is, my old mafter intends "to follow my young dry-foot over Moor-fields to London this morning; now I knowing of "this hunting match, &c."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

To draw dry-foot, is when the dog purfues the game by the fcent of their foot; for which the blood-hound is famed.

Dr. GRAY. P. 175. -challeng'd Cupid at the bird bolt.] To challenge at the bird bolt, does not feem to mear the fame as to challenge at children's archery with small arrows, fuch as are discharged at

« ElőzőTovább »