country much troubled, may easily be reformed; they having no commission to play in any place without leave; and therefore, if by your willingnesse they be not entertained, you may soone be rid of them." STEEVENS. 237. Look, where the youngest wren of nine comes.] The wren generally lays nine or ten eggs at a time, and the last hatch'd of all birds are usually the smallest and weakest of the whole brood. The old ever, reads-wren of mine. copy, howSo, in a Dialogue of the Phanix, &c. by R. Chester, 1601: "The little wren that many young ones brings.” STEEVENS. Again, in Sir Philip Sidney's Ourania, a poem, by N. B. -1606: "The titmouse, and the multiplying wren.' The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. 253. -I know, my lady will strike him ;-] We may suppose, that in an age when ladies struck their servants, the box on the ear which queen Elizabeth is said to have given to the earl of Essex was not regarded as a transgression against the rules of common behaviour. STEEVENS. 270. In former editions: I can no other answer make but thanks, Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay;] The se cond line is too short by a whole foot. Then, who ever heard of this goodly double adverb, ever-oft, which seems to have as much propriety as alwayssometimes? As I have restored the passage, it is very much in our author's manner and mode of expression. So in Cymbeline: (c -Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies, which I will be ever to pay, and yet pay still." And in All's Well that Ends Well: "And let me buy your friendly help thus far, "Which I will over-pay, and pay again "When I have found it." My reading, which is And thanks and ever: oft good turns, THEOBALD. is such as is found in the old copy, only altering the punctuation, which every editor must have done in Theobald has completed the line, as fol his turn. lows: And thanks and ever thanks and oft good turns. STEEVENS. I would read:And thanks again, and ever. TOLLET. I think there was only one word omitted, viz. thanks; and would read, And thanks and ever thanks. Oft good turns. I have no doubt that turns was used as a dissyllable. MALONE. 271, And thanks, and ever: oft good turns Are shuffled off, &c.] whether by accident or design, omitted. In the second folio, these two lines were MALONE. 275 the reliques of this town?] I suppose he means the relicks of saints, or the remains of ancient fabricks. STEEVENS. The words are explained by what follows: << -Let us satisfy our eyes “With the memorials and the things of fame, 283. MALONE -'gainst the duke his gallies.] The only authentick copy of this play reads:the count his gallies. There is no need of change. Orsino is called count throughout this play, as often as duke. 310. MALONE. —what bestow of him?] Surely of is an 'error of the press, in the old copy, for on.. MALONES Of, is very commonly, in the North, still used for HENLEY on 344. -kiss thy hand so oft?] This fantastick custom is taken notice of by Barnaby Riche in Faults and nothing but Faults, 4to. circa 1606, p. 6. "These Flowers of Courtesie as they are full of affectation, so are they no less formall in their speeches full of fustian phrases, many times delivering such sentences as doe bewray and lay open their masters ignorance; and they are so frequent with the kisse on the hand, that, word shall not passe their mouthes, till they have clapt their fingers over their lippes." REED. 365. midsummer madness.] Hot weather often turns the brain, which is, I suppose, alluded to here. JOHNSON. Tis 'Tis midsummer moon with you, is a proverb in Ray's collection, signifying you are mad. STEEVENS. 379. be opposite with a kinsman――] Opposite here, as in many other places, means-adverse, hostile. MALONE. So, in King Lear:-" bound to answer an unknown opposite." STEEVENS. 380. let thy tongue tång, &c.] The first folio reads langer; the second tang. STEEVENS. -384. -I have lim'd her:] I have entangled or caught her, as a bird is caught with birdlime. JOHNSON. 387. Fellow] This word, which originally signified companion, was not yet totally degraded to its present meaning; and Malvolio takes it in the favourable sense. JOHNSON. 429. cherry pit-] Cherry-pit is pitching cherry-stones into a little hole. the paint on ladies' faces, says, cherry-pit in their cheeks." So in a comedy called The Isle of Gulls, 1611 :" if she were here, I would have a bout at cobnut or cherry-pit." So, in The Witch of Edmonton: "I have lov'd a witch ever since I play'd at cherry-pit." STEEVENS. Nash, speaking of "You may play at 430. Hang him, foul collier!] Collier was, in our author's time, a term of the highest reproach. So great were the impositions practised by the venders of coals, that R. Greene, at the conclusion of his Notable Discovery of Cozenage, 1592, has published what he calls, calls, A pleasant Discovery of the Cosenage of Colliers. STEEVENS. JOHNSON. The devil is called Collier for his blackness; Liké will to like, says the Devil to the Collier. 454. -a finder of madmen :a -] This is, I think, an allusion to the witch-finders, who were very busy. JOHNSON. 455. More matter for a May morning.] It is usual on the first of May to exhibit metrical interludes of the comick kind, as well as the morris-dance, of which a plate is given at the end of the first part of K. Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's observations on it. .479. STEEVENS. -He may. have mercy upon mine;] We may read, He may have mercy upon thine, but my hope is better. Yet the passage may well enough stand without alteration. 1 It were much to be wished that Shakspere, in this and some other passages, had not ventured so near profaneness. JOHNSON. 513. —too unchary out.] The old copy readson't. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. 518. Goes on my master's grief.] has-griefs. It has been corrected place; and we should read, I think, Go on my master's griefs. STEEVENS. The old copy in the wrong The joining a singular verb with a plural noun, was common in our author's time. MALONE. |