Ne'er to make payment of the debt you owe Char. The children, Sir, Bri. Very well; and I shall have a general Of all the quiddits 13 from Adam to this time To be my grandchild. Char. And such a one, I hope, Sir, As shall not shame the family. Bri. Nor will you take care of my estate? Calling their victories, if unjustly got, mine T'encrease in knowledge. Lights there, for From all sense and feeling of his proper good? Lew. He's indeed, Sir, Enter Eustace, Egremont, Cowsy, and Andrew. Bri. Eustace! Eust. Sir. Bri. Your ear in private. Nor the authority it carries in it, Though I be dull-ey'd, I see t juggling. Eust. Then for my hopes- As far as any man's. What can Lew. I could wish I did so. Pray you a word, Sir. He's a pr And promises nothing but what i So far I will go with you: Nay, He hath won much upon me; a But one thing that his brother is, Were soon struck up. Bri. What's that, my lord? And. Which he is not, and, I You see, Charles has giv'n o'er the world; And with much ease, to buy his him For a dry-fat of new books; n Alone make way for him, but m ther's; Who, being issueless, t'advance I doubt not, will add his. Your Lew. I'll first acquaint my da the proceedings: On these terms, I am yours, as s 13 All the quiddits.] Subtilties or equivocations. The word occurs in Shakesp let: Why my not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his cases, and his tricks?' And I a looker-on! If we have studied Out all their plots, and their conspiracies. He cannot read a proclamation, [Charles For he is fire and flax; and so have at him. If this take now, Your eldest son, Sir, and your very image, Because he loves his book, and dotes on that, Above the reach of such coarse brains as yours, Such muddy fancies, that never will know further [chants, Than when to cut your vines, and cozen merAnd choke your hide-bound tenants with musty harvests! Bri. You go too fast. Mir. I'm not come to my pace yet. Because h' has made his study all his pleasure, And is retir'd into his contemplation, Not meddling with the dirt and chaff of na ture, That makes the spirit of the mind mud too, We're made for ever.] Several of the editions old and modern continue this to Eustace's others have nonsensically assigned it to Brisac. The oldest quarto of all has it thus. Eust. If this take now, &c. tace was the last speaker, and nobody had interrupted him; therefore 'tis absurd, that e should be put here only because he continues to speak. It must certainly be placed his hangers on, who hugs himself with the thought, that if this match takes place, I have it in their power to revel it with a vengeance. Theobald. e words might be spoken by Eustace, but the oldest quarto marking them as a new ives force to Mr. Theobald's conjecture. ring him such a peal.] To ring a peal is a metaphor for scolding, which Andrew tainly not use: No more than he would beat Brisac and Eustace: It is plain, Mirato do both; we must read therefore; Sufficient to confirm an honest m The traveller, the soldier, as you race? [f What the moon means, but to lig Or the comfort of the sun is, slash'd clothes in? And must this piece of ignoranc Say, it had been at Rome, and Bri, Yes, Sir, this thing must Mir. He is an ass, a piece of g Unless Charles had a soul to und and monsieur Gingle-boy, His younger brother] We must read, jingle-boy, i. e. A fop, that fe upstart fashion. It was the custom in the latter part of queen Elizabeth's reign, that of king James the First, for the men to wear boots; as we may see by th those times, and their spurs were equipped with a sort of bells, or loose rowels, w whenever they moved. Theobald. Mr. Theobald's solution of this passage is a good one; but we see no cause why not be spelt with a g. 18 And palter out your time.] Shakespeare says, in his Macbeth, And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, R. 19 Drunk your Verdea wine.] There is a river in Italy, that runs through the Præneste, which of old was called Veresis: The more modern geographers tell us name is Verdé, I doubt not, but our Authors allude to the wines made in that neig Bri. Fair to you, Sir. Bri. With all my heart, I was waiting on Lew. Good-morrow, monsieur Miramont. Keep your good.morrow to cool your wor- A couple of the world's fools met together wit too, Or his discretion, to consider nobly and know things? 20 And he no more than custom of offences.] There is great humour in this passage, and 'tis pity that it should be hurt by so obscure an expression at the close. I can aflix no idea to it, but that the justice's clerk's whole literature consists in the forms of commitment for customary common offences; and therefore thought that the original might have been, offences: Which conveys this idea more clearly than the present reading, which is too obBut by a small change of the letters, I have, I think, hit upon a much scure to be genuine clearer one, and which for that reason is most likely to have been the original one. And he no more than custom of his office. Seward. 21 That writes of snows and sheriffs.] The quarto in 1651, and the folio in 1679, have it shows; which I take to be the genuine word: Because Hollingshead is very prolix in describand other masques, pieces of pageantry. Theobald. ing tilts and tournaments, public entries, VCL. I. 2 C Lew. Good-morrow, monsieur Miramont. Mir. Good right-caps [Exeunt Bri. and Lew. Keep you brains warm, or maggots will breed in 'em! [thee books yet; Well, Charles, thou shalt not want to buy The fairest in thy study are my gift, And the University Louvaine for thy sake Hath tasted of my bounty; and to vex Th' old doting fool thy father, and thy brother, [them: They shall not share a solz of mine between Nay more, I'll give thee eight thousand crowns a-year, In some high strain to write my epitaph. [Ex. SCENE II. Enter Eustace, Egremont, and Cowsy. Eust. How do I look now to my Elder Nav, 'tis a handsome suit. [Brother? Cow. All courtly, courtly. Eust. I'll assure ye, gentlemen, my taylor has travell'd, And speaks as lofty language in his bills too. The cover of an old book would not shew thus. Fy, fy, what things these academicks are, Egre. They're mere images, No gented motion nor benaviour in 'em ; They'll prattic ye of primum mobile, And tell a story of the state of Heav'n, What lords and ladies govern in such houses, And what wonders they do when they meet together, [a juggler, And how they spit snow, fire, and hail, like And make a noise, when they're drunk, which we call thunder. Cow They are the sneaking'st things, and the contemptiblest; [thing Such small-bear brains! But ask 'em any Out of the element of their understanding, And they stand gaping like a roasted pig. Do they know what a court is, or a council, Or how the affairs of Christendom are mamag? Do they know any thing but a tir'd hackney? And then, they cry absurd,' as the horse understood 'em.22 [Brother, They have made a fair youth of your Elder A pretty piece of flesh! Lust. I thank 'em for it; sage as Long may he study, to give me his state! Egre. Yes, she's a sweet young woman; May have, and read a little unbak'd poetry, Such as the dabblers of our time contrive, That has no weight nor wheel to move the mind, Nor, indeed, nothing but an empty sound; She shall have clothes, but not made by geometry; Horses and coach, but of no immortal race. Cow. It will do well: Love those that love good fashions, [mire 'em; Good clothes and rich, they invite men to adThat speak the lisp of court; oh! 'tis great learning [courtly, To ride well, dance well, sing well, or whistle They're rare endowments; that have seen far countries, [no truths, And can speak strange things, tho' they speak For then they make things common. When are you married? Eust. To-morrow, I think; we must have a masque, boys, And of our own making. Egre. 'Tis not half an hour's work; A Cupid and a fiddle, and the thing's done. But let's be handsome; shall's be gods or nymphs? Eust. What, nymphs with beards? Cow. That's true; we will be knights then, Some wandring knights, that light here on a sudden. [gentlemen, Eust. Let's go, let's go, I must go visit, And mark what sweet lips I must kiss to[Exeunt. morrow. 22 And then they cry absurd as the horse understood 'em.] Mr. Theobald censures this pasonesense: Mr. Seward gives the following very proper explication of it: This is spoke of the college-students, whom the fep makes such pedants, as to talk even to their horses in scholastic terms, calling it absurd in a tired hackney to hobble and stumble.' |