And yet to those we must object ourselves, Lat. Yes, and often greater. Lov. But as it is not the mere punishment, Or the concomitants of it, are his patience, sion The LEAST is DEATH.] Our author means, that death, a natural and necessary evil, is, of all others, the least feared or regarded by the truly magnanimous and brave. "Who would not HANG UP those lips for ever!] The passion of this speech is lost by the negligence of the printer, who has here given us hang up, for hang upon, a nervous poetical expression. As is the lie, or common words of spight, Wise laws thought never worthy a revenge; And 'tis the narrowness of human nature, Our poverty, and beggary of spirit, To take exception at these things. He laugh'd at me! He broke a jest! a third took place of me! How most ridiculous quarrels are all these ?? Notes of a queasie and sick stomach, labouring With want of a true injury! the main part Of the wrong, is our vice of our taking it. Lat. Or our interpreting it to be such, Lov. You take it rightly. If a woman, or child Give me the lie, would I be angry? no, Not if I were i' my wits, sure I should think it No spice of a disgrace. No more is theirs, What laughter should this breed, rather than judgment? For me now to be angry with Hodge Huffle, Or Burst (his broken charge), if he be saucy, Or our own type of Spanish valour, Tipto, (Who were he now necessited to beg, Would ask an alms, like Conde Olivares) Were just to make my self, such a vain auimal As one of them. If light wrongs touch me not, No more shall great; if not a few, not There's nought so sacred with us but may He is shot-free, in battle is not hurt, Good Pru, or make him stand still with a charm. Distil the gout into it, cramps, all diseases T'arrest hiin in the foot, and fix him here: O, for an engine, to keep back all clocks! ¡ Or make the sun forget his motion! If I but knew what drink the time now lov'd, To set my Trundle at him, mine own Barnaby! [To-mas. Pru. Why? I'll consult our Shelee-nien, Nur. Er grae Chreest. Bea. Wake her not. Nur. Tower een cuppan D'usque bagh doone. Pru. Usque-bagh's her drink. But 'twi' not make the time drunk. Host. As't hath her. Away with her, my lord, but marry her first, Pru. [lady. Pru. I, that'll be sport anon too for my But she hath other game to fly at yet: The hour is come, your kiss. Lud. My servant's song, first. Pru. I say the kiss, first; and I so enjoin'd it : At your own peril, do, make the contempt. Lad. Well, sir, you must be pay'd, and legally. Pru. Nay nothing, sir, beyond. How most ridiculous quarrels are all these?] It is not improbable, that the zeal and good sense our author hath expressed against the senseless and impious mode of duelling, so prevalent at that time, might contribute to raise a party against him in order to damn his play, which accounts for its want of success, when represented on the stage. This was but half a kiss, and I would change it. Pru. The court's dissolv'd, remov'd, and the play ended. No sound, or air of love more, I decree it. Thrown me into the gulf of misery? By how much more my vain hopes were By these false hours of conversation? brain ! How art thou turned ! and my blood con- To tell, this temple of love will soon be Come indignation, now, and be my mis- His nets of nooses, whirl-pools of vexation, And sow my hopes there, ere I stay in love. women's piety, And practice of it, in this art of flattering, hours, Of the Light-Heart, here, that hath laught Lov. Laugh on, sir, I'll to bed and sleep, And dream away the vapour of love, if th' house And your leer drunkards let me *. Pru. Sweet madam. Lad. Why would you let him go thus? Was it to stay him, prop'rer than my lady's? Pru. Would you in conscience, madam, ha' me vex His patience more? Lad. Not but apply the cure, Pru. That's but one body's work: Lad. I was somewhat froward, I must confess, but frowardness sometime Pru. Pru. But how do I know, when her To leave it off, except she tell me so? Had you been but regardant, or observant. It could not sort with any reputation If th' house, and your LEER DRUNKARDS let me.] The word occurs before in Bartholomew-fair; "The author doth promise a strutting horse-courser, with a leer "drunkard, two or three to attend him, in as good equipage as you would wish." Induct. And though the meaning of the word leer cannot very easily be settled, the expres sion seems in both places to denote noisy, laughing, roaring drunkards: and this observation will give light to a passage in Beaumont and Fletcher, which the ingenious editor could not so readily explain. Launcelot, in Monsieur Thomas, act 4. sc. 2, is describing a riot, or frolick, as the moderus call it, which his young master had engaged in the night before: and in relating the incidents of this action, he has the following phrase; "Footra for leers and leerings;-O the noise, "The noise we made.". Mr. Seward, not finding a meaning to leers and leerings that would suit the context, proposes laws and lawyers as a conjectural emendation, but does not venture to insert it in the text. But leers and leerings seem to signify the same with leer-drunkards, and leer-drinkings, and this sense of it agrees well with the context; as if he had said, the most jovial set of noisy bacchanalian drunkards were sons of silence and calm midnight, compared to the clamour and tumult we raised on this occasion. "Footra for leers and leerings: the noise, Act 5. Scene 1.] Lad. Who, I, with scorn? THE NEW INN. I did express my love to idolatry rather, Lad. Dull, stupid wench! Stay i' thy state of ignorance still, be damn'd; An idiot chambermaid! hath all my care, My breeding thee in fashion, thy rich clothes, Honour, and titles wrought no brighter effects On thy dark soul than thus? Well! go thy ways; Were not the taylor's wife to be demolish'd, Ruin'd, uncas'd, thou should'st be she, I Vow. Pru. Why, take your spangled properties, your gown Ad scarfs. Lad. Pru, Pru, what dost thou mean? Lad. Take it not to heart so. Pru. The taylor's wife? there was a word of scorn! Lad. It was a word fell from me, Pru, by chance. Pru. Good madam, please to undeceive yourself, I know when words do slip, and when they are darted With all their bitterness: uncas'd, demo lish'd? An idiot-chambermaid, stupid, and dull ? Be damn'd for ignorance? I will be so; And think I do deserve it, that, and more, Much more I do. Lad. Here comes mine host! no crying! Good Pru. Where is my servant Lovel, host? you Host. You ha' sent him up to bed, would Host. I would I could command it. My Should leap till midnight. Lad. Pray thee be not sullen, I yet must ha' thy counsel. Thou shalt wear, Pru, The new gown yet. Pru. After the taylor's wife? Lad. Come, be not angry, or griev'd: I have a project. Host. Wake Sheelee-nien Thomas! is this your heraldry? And keeping of records, to loose the main ? Nur. Gra Chreest! O' the bottle, at your girdle, there you lost it: You are a sober setter of the watch. And sov'reign Pru fall'n out: Tipto and his regiment Of mine-men, all drunk dumb, from his Host. An embassy at least! Host. 'Tis a fine tack about! and worth SCENE II. Lady, Prudence, Host, Fly. Lad. Sweet Pru, I, now thou art a queen indeed! ['em! These robes do royally! and thou becom❜st So they do thee! rich garments only fit The parties they are made for! they shame others. How did they shew on goody Taylor's back! Like a caparison for a sow, God save us!1 Thy putting 'em on hath purg'd, and hallow'd em [nicks. From all pollution meant by the mechaPru. Hang him, poor snip, a secular shop-wit! II' hath nought but his sheers to claim by, and his measures: His prentice may as well put in for his And plead a stitch. [needle, Lad. They have no taint in 'em Now of the taylor. Pru. Yes, of his wife's hanches, Thus thick o' fat; I smell 'em, o' the say. Lad. It is restorative, Pru! with thy but chafing it, A barren hind's grease may work miracles. In formá pauperis, to crave the aid And he will rise to that! Pru. I'll fire the charm first, I had rather die in a ditch with mistress Shore, [has it, Without a smock, as the pitiful matter Than owe my wit to clothes, or ha' it beholden. Host. Still spirit of Pru! Fly. And smelling o' the sovereign! Pru. No, I will tell him, as it is indeed; I come from the fine froward, Frampul lady, Once was run mad with pride, wild with self-love; [scorn'd her, But late encountring a wise man, who And knew the way to his own bed, without Borrowing her warning-pan, she hath recover'd Part of her wits; so much as to consider How far she hath trespass'd, upon whom, and how. And now sits penitent and solitary, Mourning her folly, weeping at the height As thou think'st fit, any coarse way, to humble me, feel, Or bring me home again, or Lovel on: And shoot a February through my veins. Pru. Spare expressions. I'll once more venture for your ladyship, So you will use your fortunes reverendly. Lad. Religiously, dear Pru; Love and his mother, [altars, I'll build them several churches, shrines, and 'Like a COMPARISON for a sow, God save us !] I will not aflirm that comparison for a sow, is a corruption, as it may possibly allude to a homely proverb we have amongst us; but should the reader be inclined to think the present reading erroneous, we may alter it, without departing widely from the traces of the letters, by substituting a caparison. Since the writing of these notes, I was favoured with the edition of this play, in 8vo, of 1631; and in that I had the satisfaction of finding the conjectural emendations I have made, confirmed; and in particular, cupurison is here the reading of that edition. I know not WHERE I um, or no.] Where has no relation to place, but is here only a contraction of whether, and is spelt in the edition of 1631 in the manner it is given above: and our author so uses it in his epigrams; "Who shall doubt, Donne, whér I a poet be, Epig. 96. |