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manner of Shakspere. So, afterwards, in this play, Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, do give thee five-fold blazon.

WARBURTON.

-] We should read, and

40. Her sweet perfectionspoint it thus: (0 sweet perfection!) WARBURTON. There is no occasion for this new pointing, as the poet does not appear to have meant exclamation. Liver, brain, and heart, are admitted in poetry as the residence of passions, judgment, and sentiments. These are what Shakspere calls, her sweet perfections. STEEVENS.

(Her sweet perfections) with one self-same king!] The original and authentick copy reads-with one self king. Same was added unnecessarily by the editor of the second folio, who, in many instances, appears to have been equally ignorant of our author's language and

metre.

The verse is not defective; perfections being used as a quadrisyllable. So in a subsequent scene:

"Methinks I feel this youth's perfections." Self king is king o'er herself; one who reigns absolute in her bosom. In Love's Labour's Lost we have self

sovereignty.

43. Enter Viola.

MALONE.

-] Viola is the name of a lady

in the fifth book of Gower de Confessione Amantis.

52.

STEEVENS.

-and that poor number sav'd with you,] We should rather read- -this poor number. The old copy has those. The sailors who were saved enter with the captain.

85. And might not be deliver'd, &c.] I wish I might not be made publick to the world, with regard to

the

the state of my birth and fortune, till I dave gained a ripe opportunity for my design.

Viola seems to have formed a very deep design with very little premeditation: she is thrown by shipwreck on an unknown coast: hears that the prince is a batchelor, and resolves to supplant the lady whom he JOHNSON.

courts.

99.

JOHNSON.

-I'll serve this duke ;] Viola is an excellent schemer, never at a loss; if she cannot serve the lady, she will serve the duke. 103. That will allow me- -] To allow is to approve. See note on King Lear, act II.

sc. iv.

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128.

-as tall a man- -] Tall means stout,

courageous. So in Wily Beguiled:

"Ay, and he is a tall fellow, and a man of his hands too."

Again :

"If he do not prove himself as tall a man as he." STEEVENS.

133. viol-de-gambo,] The viol-de-gambo seems, in our author's time, to have been a very fashionable instrument. In The Return from Parnassus, 1606, it is mentioned, with its proper derivation:

"Her viol-de-gambo is her best content,

"For 'twixt her s she holds her instrument."

COLLINS.
So,

So in the induction to the Mal-content, 1606:

<< -come sit between my legs here.

"No indeed, cousin, the audience will then take me for a viol-de-gambo, and think that you play upon

me."

In the old dramatick writers, frequent mention is made of a case of viols, consisting of the viol-de-gambo, the tenor and the treble.

See Sir John Hawkins's Hist. of Musick, vol. IV. p. 32, n. 338, wherein is a description of a case, more properly termed a chest of viòls. STEEVENS.

148. a coystril] i. e. a coward cock. It may however be a kestrill, or a bastard hawk; a kind of stone hawk. So in Arden of Feversham, 1592:

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"As ever coystril bought so little sport."

STEEVENS. A coystril is a paltry groom, one only fit to carry arms, but not to use them. So, in Holinshed's Description of England, vol. I. p. 162. "Costerels, or bearers of the armes of barons or knights.” Vol. III. P. 248. So that a knight with his esquire and coistrell with his two horses." P. 272, "women, lackies, and coisterels, are considered as the warlike attendants on an army." So again, in p. 127, and 217 of his Hist. of Scotland. For its etymology, see Coustille and Coustillier in Cotgrave's Dictionary. TOLLET.

150 like a parish-top.the customs now laid aside.

-] This is one of A large top was for

merly kept in every village, to be whipped in frosty

weather,

weather, that the peasants might be kept warm by exercise, and out of mischief, while they could not work. STEEVENS.

"To sleep like a town-top," is a proverbial expression. A top is said to sleep, when it turns round with great velocity, and makes a smooth humming noise.

BLACKSTONE.

150. -Castiliano volgo ;-] We should read volto. In English, put on your Castilian countenance; that is, your grave, solemn looks. The Oxford editor has taken my emendation: But, by Castilian countenance, he supposes it meant most civil and courtly looks. It is plain, he understands gravity and formality to be civility and courtliness. WARBURTON.

Castiliano volgo;] I meet with the word Castilian and Castilians in several of the old comedies. It is difficult to assign any particular propriety to it, unless it was adopted immediately after the defeat of the Armada, and became a cant term capriciously expressive of jolity or contempt. The host, in the M. W. of Windsor, calls Caius a Castilian king Urinal; and in the Merry Devil of Edmonton, one of the characters says: “ Ha! my Castilian dialogues!" In an old comedy called Look about you, 1600, it is joined with another toper's exclamation very frequent in Shakspere:

"And Rivo will he cry, and Castile too." So again, in Marlow's Jew of Malta, 1633:

"Hey, Rivo Castiliano, man's a man."

Again, in the Stately Moral of the Three Lords of London,

1590:

"Three

"Three Cavalieros Castilianos here," &c. Cotgrave, however, informs us, that Castille not only signifies the noblest part of Spain, but contention, debate, brabling, altercation. Ils soint en Castille. There is a jarre betwixt them; and prendre la Castille pour autruy : To undertake another man's quarrel.

Mr. Malone observes, that Castilian seems likewise to have been a cant term for a finical affected courtier. So, in Marston's Satires, 1599:

-The absolute Castilio,

"He that can all the points of courtship shew." Again:

"When some slie golden-slop'd Castilio

"Can cut a manor's strings at Primero." These passages, and others from the same writer, Mr. Malone supposes to confirm Dr. Warburton's emendation, and Sir T. Hanmer's comment. Marston, however, seems to allude to the famous Balthasar Castiglioni, whose most celebrated work was Il Cortigiano, or The Courtier. STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens has not attempted to explain volgo, nor perhaps can the proper explanation be given, unless some incidental application of it may be found in connexion with Castiliano, where the context defines its meaning. Sir Toby here, having just declared that he would persist in drinking the health of his niece, as long as there was a passage in his throat and drink in Illyria, at the sight of Sir Andrew, demands of Maria, with a banter, Castiliano volgo. What this was, may

be

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