F

Arm. What mean't thou?

Coft. 'Faith, unless you play the honeft Trojan, the poor wench is caft away: fhe's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 'tis yours.

Arm. Doft thou infamonize me among potentates? thou fhalt die.

Coft. Then fhall Hector be whip'd, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pompey that is dead by him.

Dum. Moft rare Pompey!

Boy. Renowned Pompey!

Bir. Greater than great, great, great, great, Pompey! Pompey the huge!

Dum. Hector trembles.

Bir. Pompey is mov'd:-More Ates, more Ates ; ftir them on, ftir them on!

Dum. Hector will challenge him.

Bir. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's belly than will fup a flea.

Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee.

Coft. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man ; I'll flash;. I'll do it by the fword:-I pray you, let me borrow my arms again.

Dum. Room for the incenfed worthies.

Coft. I'll do it in my shirt.

Dum. Moft refolute Pompey !

Moth. Mafter, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not fee, Pompey is uncafing for the combat? What mean you? you will lofe your reputation.

Arm. Gentlemen, and foldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath made the challenge.

8 more Ates;] That is, more inftigation. Ate was the mif chievous goddess that incited bloodshed. JOHNSON.

So, in K. John:

"An Até, ftirring him to war and strife." STEEVENS. 9- like a northern man ;] Vir Borealis, a clown. See Gloffary to Urry's Chaucer. FARMER.

I

my arms] The weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey. JOHNSON.

VOL. II.

E e

Arm.

Arm Sweet bloods, I both may and will.
Bir. What reason have you for't?

Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no fhirt; I go woolward for penance.

Moth. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen: fince when, I'll be fworn, he wore none, but a difh-clout of Jaquenetta's; and that 'a wears next his heart for a favour.

Enter MERCADE.
Mer. God fave you, madam!
Prin. Welcome, Mercade;

But that thou interrupt'ft our merriment.

Mer. I am forry, madam; for the news I bring, Is heavy in my tongue. The king your fatherPrin. Dead, for my life.

Mer. Even fo; my tale is told.

Bir. Worthies, away; the fcene begins to cloud. Arm. For mine own part, I breath free breath; I have feen the day of wrong through the little hole of difcretion", and I will right myfelf like a foldier. [Exeunt Werthies. King.

2 it was enjoin'd bim in Rome for want of linen: &c.] Tog woolward, I believe, was a phrafe appropriated to pilgrims and penitentiaries. In this fenfe it feems to be used in Pierce Plowman's Visions, Paff. xviii. fol. 96. b. edit. 1550. It means cloathed in weel, and set is linen. T. WARTON.

The fame cuftom is alluded to in Powel's Hiftory of Wales, 1584: The Angles and Saxons flew 1000 priests and monks of Bangor, with a great number of lay-brethren, &c. who were come barefooted and woolmard to crave mercy, &c" STEEVENS.

In: Lodge's Incarnate Devils, 1596, we have the character of a fwashbuckler: "His common courfe is to go always untruft; except when his birt is a washing, and then he goes woolward." FARMER.

To this fpeech in the oldest copy Boy. is prefixed, by which defignation moft of Moth's fpeeches are marked. The name of Beyet is generally printed at length. It feems better fuited to Armado's page than to Boyet, to whom it has been given in the modern editions. MALONE.

3 I bave feen the day of wrong through the little bole of discretion,] I believe he means, I bave bitberto locked on the indignities I have received, with the eyes of difcretion, (i. e. not been too forward to refent them,) and will infift on fuck fatisfaction as will not difgrace my character, which is that of a foldier. To have decided the quarrel in the manner propofed by his antagonist would have been at once a derogation from the honour of a foldier, and the pride of a Spaniard,

23 A

King. How fares your majefty?

Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.
King. Madam, not fo; I do befeech you, stay.
Prin. Prepare, I say.-I thank you, gracious lords,

For all your fair endeavours; and entreat,
Out of a new-fad foul, that you vouchsafe
In your rich wisdom, to excufe, or hide,
The liberal oppofition of our spirits:
If over-boldly we have borne ourselves
In the converse of breath, your gentleness
Was guilty of it.-Farewell, worthy lord!
A heavy heart bears not an humble tongue
Excufe me fo, coming too fhort of thanks
For my great fuit fo eafily obtain'd.

6

King. The extreme parts of time extremely form
All caufes to the purpose of his speed;

And often, at his very loofe?, decides

That which long process could not arbitrate:

And though the mourning brow of progeny
Forbid the fmiling courtesy of love,

The holy fuit which fain it would convince;
Yet fince love's argument was first on foot,

"One may fee day at a little bole," is a proverb in Ray's Collection Daylight will peep through a little hole," in Kelly's. STEEVENS. 4 liberal-] Free to excefs. See p. 271, n. 9; and Vol. I. p. 155. n. 4. STEEVENS.

s In the converse of breath,-] Perhaps converfe may, in this line, mean interchange. JOHNSON.

• An beavy heart bears not an humble tongue :]. By bumble, the princefs seems to mean obfequiously thankful. STEEVENS.

So, in the Merchant of Venice:

"Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key

"With 'bated breath, and whispering bumbleness, &c.

A heavy heart, fays the princefs, does not admit of that verbal obeifance which is paid by the humble to thofe whom they addrefs. Farewell .therefore at once.

MALONE.

7-at bis very locfe,] At bis very loofe may mean, at the moment of bis parting, i. e. of his getting loofe, or away from us. STEEVENS. which fain it would convince ;] We must read-which fain would it convince; that is, the entreaties of love which would fain over-power grief. So Lady Macbeth declares, "That she will convince the chamberlains with wine." JOHNSON. É e 2

Let

Let not the cloud of forrow juftie it

Fromwhat it purpos'd; fince, to wail friends loft,
Is not by much fo wholesome, profitable,

As to rejoice at friends but newly found.

Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are double". Bir. Honeft plain words best pierce the ear of grief;And by these badges understand the king.

For fair fakes have we neglected time,

your

Play'd foul play with our oaths; your beauty, ladies,
Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours
Even to the oppofed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,—
As love is full of unbefitting ftrains;
All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd by the eye, and therefore like the eye,
Full of ftrange fhapes, of habits, and of forms,

Varying

9 I understand you not; my griefs are double.] I fuppofe, the means, 1. on account of the death of her father; 2. on account of not underftanding the king's meaning.-A modern editor, instead of double, reade deaf; but the former is not at all likely to have been mistaken, either by the eye or the ear, for the latter. MALONE.

Honest plain words &c.] As it feems not very proper for Biron to court the princefs for the king in the king's prefence at this critical moment, I believe the speech is given to a wrong person. I read thus: Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are double:

Honeft plain words. beft pierce the car of grief.

King. And by these badges, &c. JOHNSON.

Too many authors facrifice propriety to the confequence of their prin cipal character, into whofe mouth they are willing to put more than justly belongs to him, or at least the best things they have to fay. The original actor of Biron, however, like Bottom in the Midsummer-Night's Dream, might have taken this fpeech out of the mouth of an inferior performer. STEEVENS.

In a former part of this fcene Biron fpeaks for the king and the other lords, and being at length exhaufted, tells them, they must woo for themfelves. I believe, therefore, the old copies are right in this respect; but think with Dr. Johnfon that the line "Honeft &c: "belongs to the princess. MALONE.

2 Full of strange shapes, of habits, and of forms,] The old copies read -Full of fraying thapes. Both the fenfe and the metre appear to me to require the emendation which I fuggefted fome time ago. "firange fhapes" might have been eafily confounded by the ear with the words that have been fubftituted in their room. In Coriolanus we meet with a corruption of the same kind, which could only have arisen in this way: Bette

Varying in fubjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance:
Which party-coated prefence of loose love,
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have mifbecom❜d our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested us to make 3: Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewife yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true

To thofe that make us both,-fair ladies, you:
And even that fafhood, in itself a fin,
Thus purifies itfelf, and turns to grace.

Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of love:
Your favours, the embassadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtship, pleasant jeft, and courtesy,
As bombaft and as lining to the time+:
But more devout than this, in our respects 3,

"Than crave the bigber [hire] which first we do deferve." The following paffages of our author will, I apprehend, fully fupport the

correction that has been made :

"In him a plenitude of fubtle matter,

"Applied to cautels, all frange forms receives." Lover's Complaint. Again, in the Rape of Lucrece:

the impreffion of firange kinds

"Is form'd in them, by force, by fraud, or skill."

In K. Henry V. 4to. 1600, we have-Forraging blood of French nobility, instead of Forrage in blood, &c. Mr. Capell, I find, has made the fame emendation, MALONE.

3 Suggested us-] That is, tempted us. JOHNSON.

4 As bombaft and as lining to the time:] This line is obfcure. Bombaft was a kind of loofe texture not unlike what is now called wadding, ufed to give the dreffes of that time bulk and protuberance, without much increase of weight; whence the fame name is given to a tumour of words unfupported by folid fentiment. The princefs, therefore, fays, that they confidered this courtship as but bombaft, as fomething to fill out life, which not being closely united with it, might be thrown away at pleafure. JOHNSON.

Prince Henry calls Falstaff, "my fweet creature of bombaft." STEEV. 5 But more devout than this, in our respects,] In, which is wanting in the old copies, was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer. MALONE.