as to lay an amiable fiege to the honefty of this Ford's wife ufe your art of wooing, win her to confent to you; if any man may, you may as foon as any. Fal. Would it apply well to the vehemence of your' affection, that I fhould win what you would enjoy? methinks, you prefcribe to yourself very prepofteroufly. Ford. O, understand my drift! fhe dwells fo fecurely on the excellency of her honour, that the folly of my foul dares not prefent itself; fhe is too bright to be look'd againft. Now, could I come to her with any detection in my hand, my defires had 7 inftance" and argument to commend themselves; I could drive her then from the ward of her purity, her reputation, her marriage vow, and a thousand other her defences, which now are too too ftrongly embattled against me: What fay you to't, fir John? Fal. Mafter Brook, I will first make bold with your. money; next, give me your hand; and laft, as I am a gentleman, you fhall, if you will, enjoy Ford's wife. Ford. O good fir! Fal. Mafter Brook, I fay you fhall. Ford. Want no money, fir John, you shall want none. Fal. Want no miftrefs Ford, master Brook, you fhall want none. I fhall be with her (I may tell you) by her own appointment; even as you came in to me, her affiftant, or go-between, parted from me: I fay, I fhall be with her between ten and eleven; for at that time the jealous rafcally knave, her husband, will be forth. Come you to me at night; you fhall know how I speed. Ford. I am bleft in your acquaintance. Do you know Ford, fir? -inftance and argument-] Infiance is example. JOHNSON. the ward of her purity,] i. e. The defence of it. STEEVENS. Fal. Fal. Hang him, poor cuckoldly knave! I know him not yet I wrong him to call him poor; they fay, the jealous wittolly knave hath maffes of money; for the which, his wife feems to me well-favour'd. I willufe her as the key of the cuckoldly rogue's coffer; and there's my harveft-home. Ford. I would you knew Ford, fir; that you might avoid him, if you faw him. Fal. Hang him, mechanical falt-butter rogue! I will ftare him out of his wits; I will awe him with my cudgel; it fhall hang like a meteor o'er the cuckold's horns: mafter Brook, thou fhalt know, I will predominate over the peafant, and thou fhalt lye with his wife. Come to me foon at night:-Ford's a knave, and I will aggravate his ftile; thou, mafter Brook, fhalt know him for knave and cuckold:-come to me foon at night. [Exit. Ford. What a damn'd Epicurean rafcal is this!-My heart is ready to crack with impatience.-Who fays, this is improvident jealoufy? my wife hath fent to him, the hour is fix'd, the match is made: Would any man have thought this ?-See the hell of having a falfe woman! my bed fhall be abus'd, my coffers ranfack'd, my reputation gnawn at; and I fhall not only receive this villainous wrong, but ftand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me this wrong. Terms! names!-Amaimon' founds well; and I will aggravate his ftile:-] Stile is a phrafe from the herald's office. Falitaff means, that he will add more titles to thofe he already enjoys. So, in Heywood's Golden Age, 1611: "I will create lord of a greater fiyle." Again, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, b. v. c. 2. "As to abandon that which doth contain "Your honour's file, that is, your warlike shield.” STEEVENS. Amaimon- -Barbafon,] The reader who is cu rious to know any particulars concerning thefe dæmons, may find them in Reginald Scott's Inventarie of the Names, Shapes, Powers, Government, and Effects of Devils and Spirits, of their feveral Seig well; Lucifer, well; Barbafon, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! wittol! cuckold! the devil himself hath not fuch a name. Page is an afs, a fecure afs; he will truft his wife, he will not be jealous: I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, parfon Hugh the Welchman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua vitæ bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself: then the plots, then the ruminates, then the devifes; and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect. Heaven be prais'd for my jealoufy Eleven o'clock the hour;-I will prevent this, detect my wife, be reveng'd on Falftaff, and laugh at Page I will about it ;-better three hours too foon, than a minute too late. Fie, fie, fie! cuckold! cuckold! cuckold! [Exit. nories and Degrees, a ftrange Difcourfe worth the reading, p. 377. &c. From hence it appears that Amaimon was king of the Eaft, and Barbatos a great countie or earle. STEEVENS. 2 -An Irijhman with my aqua vita bottle, Heywood, in his Challenge for Beauty, 1636, mentions the love of aqua vita as characteristic of the Irish: "The Briton he metheglin quaffs, "The Irish, aqua vita.” By aqua vita, was, I believe understood, not brandy, but ufquebaugh, for which the Irish have been long celebrated. So, in Mariton's Male content, 1604: 3 - "The Dutchman for a drunkard, "The Dane for golden locks, "The Irishman for ufquebaugh, "The Frenchman for MALONE. -Eleven o'clock—] Ford fhould rather have faid ten o'clock: the time was between ten and eleven ; and his impatient fufpicion was not likely to stay beyond the time. JOHNSON. SCENE Rug. Sir. Caius. Vat is de clock, Jack? Rug. "Tis paft the hour, fir, that fir Hugh promis'd to meet. Caius. By gar, he has fave his foul, dat he is no come; he has pray his Pible vell, dat he is no come: by gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be come. Rug. He is wife, fir; he knew, your worship would kill him, if he came. Caius. By gar, de herring is no dead, fo as I vill kill him. Take your rapier, Jack; I vill tell you how I vill kill him. Rug. Alas, fir, I cannot fence. Caius. Villan-a, take your rapier. Enter Hoft, Shallow, Slender, and Page. Hoft. 'Blefs thee, bully doctor. Caius. Vat be all you, one, two, tree, four, come for? Hoft. To fee thee fight, to fee thee foin, to fee thee to fee the foin,] To foin, I believe, was the ancient term for making a thruft in fencing, or tilting. So in The wife Woman of Hogfdon, 1638: "I had my wards, and foins, and quarter blows." thee traverse, to fee thee here, to fee thee there; to fee thee pass thy punto, thy flocks, thy reverfe, thy diftance, thy montant. Is he dead, my Ethiopian? is he dead, my Francifco ha, bully! What fays my Æfculapius? my Galen ? my heart of elder? ha! is he dead, bully Stale? is he dead? 6 Caius. By gar, he is de coward Jack prieft of the vorld; he is not fhew his face. Hoft. Thou art a Caftilian king, Urinal! Hector of Greece, my boy! Again, in the Devil's Charter, 1607: fuppofe my duellift "Should falfify the foine upon me thus, Caius Spenfer, in his Faery Queen, often uses the word foin. So in b. ii. c. 8: And ftrook and found, and lath'd outrageoufly." Again, in Holinfhed: p. 833: First fix foines with hand-speares, &c.' " STEEVENS. 5thy flock,] Stock is a corruption of tocata, Ital, from which language the technical terms that follow, are likewise adopted. STEEVENS. my heart of elder?] It should be remember'd, to make this joke relish, that the elder tree has no heart. I fuppofe this expreffion was made ufe of in oppofition to the common one, beart of oak. STEEVENS. 7 bully Stale?] The reafon why Caius is called bully Stale, and afterwards Urinal, must be fufficiently obvious to every reader, and efpecially to those whofe credulity and weakness have enrolled them among the patients of the prefent German empiric, who calls himself Doctor Alexander Mayersbach. STEEVENS. 8 Caftilian SirT. Hanmer reads Cardalian, as ufed corruptedly for Coeur de lion. JOHNSON. Caftilian and Ethiopian, like Cataian, appear in our author's time to have been cant terms. I have met with them in more than one of the old comedies. So, in a defcription of the Armada introduced in the Stately Moral of the Three Lords of London, 1590: "To carry as it were a careless regard "Of thefe Caftilians, and their accustom❜d bravado." 66 Again: To parly with the proud Caftilians." I fuppofe Caftilian was the cant term for Spaniard in general. STEEVENS. "Thou art a Caftilian king, Urinal!" quoth mine hoft to Dr. Caius, I believe this was a popular flur upon the Spaniards, who VOL. I. U were |