To take her by the hand, and bid her go, Fent. Both, my good hoft, to go along with me: To give our hearts united ceremony. Hoft. Well, husband your device; I'll to the vicar: Bring you the maid, you fhall not lack a priest. Fent. So fhall I evermore be bound to thee; Befides, I'll make a prefent recompence. 66 S [Exeunt. 4 -to devote] We might read-denote. So afterwards: -the white will decipher her well enough." STEEVENS. -quaint in green, may mean fantastically drest in green. So, in Milton's Mafque at Ludlow Caftle: 66 -left the place, "And this quaint habit, breed astonishment." Quaintness, however, was anciently used to fignify gracefulness. So, in Greene's Dialogue between a He and She Coney-catcher, 1592: "I began to think what a handfome man he was, and wished that he would come and take a night's lodging with me, fitting in a dump to think of the quaintness of his perfonage." In the Two Gentlemen of Verona, act III. fc.i. quaintly is ufed for ingeniously: ladder quaintly made of cords." STEEVENS. 66 ACT A CT V. V. SCENE I. Enter Falfaff and Mrs. Quickly. Fal. Pr'ythee, no more pratling;-go.-I'll hold: This is the third time; I hope, good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they fay, there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.Away. Quic. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns. [Exit Mrs. Quickly.. Fal. Away, I fay; time wears: hold up your head, and mince". Enter Ford. How now, mafter Brook? Mafter Brook, the matter will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you fhall fee wonders. Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, fir, as you told me you had appointed? Fal. I went to her, mafter Brook, as you fee, like a poor old man : but I came from her, mafter Brook, like a poor old woman. That fame knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealoufy in him, mafter Brook, that ever govern'd frenzy. I will tell you. He beat me grievoufly, in the fhape of a woman; for in the shape of man, mafter Brook, I fear not Goliah with a weaver's beam; because I know alfo, life is a fhuttle. I am in hafte; go along with me; I'll tell you all, mafter Brook. Since I pluck'd -bold up your head, and mince.] To mince is to walk with affected delicacy. So, in the Merchant of Venice: 66 -turn two mincing steps VOL. I. A a geefe, geefe, play'd truant, and whipp'd top, I knew not what 'twas to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you strange things of this knave Ford; on whom to-night I will be reveng'd, and I will deliver his wife into your hand.-Follow: Strange things in hand, mafter Brook! follow.[Exeum. SCENE II. Windfor Park. Enter Page, Shallow, and Slender. Page. Come, come; we'll couch i' the caftle-ditch, till we fee the light of our fairies.-Remember, fon Slender, my daughter. Slen. Ay, forfooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word' how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; fhe cries, budget; and by that we know one another. Shal. That's good too; But what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough. It hath ftruck ten o'clock. Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will become it well. Heaven profper our fport! No man means evil but the devil, and we fhall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. [Exeunt. SCENE 7 a nay vordi. e. a watch-word. Mrs. Quickly has already used it in this fenfe. STEEVENS. 8 No MAN means evil but the devil,-] This is a double blunder; for fome, of whom this was fpoke, were women. We fhould read them, No ONE means. WARBURTON. There is no blunder. In the ancient interludes and moralities, the beings of fupreme power, excellence, or depravity, are occafionally ftyled men. So, in Much Ado about Nothing, Dogberry fays: "God's a good man." Again, in an Epitaph, part of which has been borrowed as an abfurd one, by Mr. Pope and his affociates, who were not very well acquainted with ancient phraseology: Enter Miftrefs Page, Miftrefs Ford, and Dr. Caius. Mrs. Page. Mafter doctor, my daughter is in green: when you fee your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and difpatch it quickly: Go before into the park; we two muft go together. Caius. I know vat I have to do; Adieu. [Exit. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, fir. My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little chiding, than a great dealof heart-break. Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies and the Welch devil Evans? Mrs. Page. They are all couch'd in a pit hard by Herne's oak', with obfcur'd lights; which, at the very inftant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once difplay to the night. Do all we can, "Death is a man "That never spareth none." Again, in Jeronimo, or the Firft Part of the Spanish Tragedy, 1605: "You're the last man I thought on, fave the devil." 9 STEEVENS. and the Welch devil Evans?] The former impreffion, and the Welch devil Herne? But Falstaff was to represent Herne, and he was no Welchman. Where was the attention or fagacity of our editors, not to obferve that Mrs. Ford is enquiring for Evans by the name of the Welch devil? Dr. Thirlby likewife difcover'd the blunder of this paffage. THEOBALD. I fuppofe only the letter H. was fet down in the MS; and therefore, instead of Hugh (which feems to be the true reading,) the editors fubftituted Herne. STEEVENS. -in a pit hard by Herne's oak, -] An oak, which may be that alluded to by Shakespeare, is ftill ftanding clofe to a pit in Windfor foreft. It is yet fhewn as the oak of Herne. STEEVENS. Mrs. Ford. That cannot chufe but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amaz'd, he will be mock'd; if he be amaz'd, he will every way be mock'd. Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely. Mrs. Page. Against fuch lewdfters, and their lechery, Thofe that betray them do no treachery. Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on; To the oak, to the oak! [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Enter Sir Hugh Evans, and Fairies. Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember your parts: be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit; and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt. SCENE V. Enter Falftaff with a buck's head on. Fal. The Windfor bell hath ftruck twelve; the minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods affift me!—Remember, Jove, thou waft a bull for thy Europa; love fet on thy horns.-Oh powerful love! that, in fome respects, makes a beast a man; in fome other, a man a beaft.-You were alfo, Jupiter, a fwan, for the love of Leda;-Oh, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goofe?-A fault done firft in the form of a beaft;O Jove, a beaftly fault!-and then another fault in the femblance of a fowl;-think on't, Jove; a foul fault.When gods have hot backs, what fhall poor men do'? 2 For When gods have hot backs, what shall poor men do?] Shakespeare had perhaps in his thoughts, the argument which Cherea employed in a fimilar fituation. Ter. Eun. act III. v; 66 -Quia |