صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

graffing, with a difh of carraways, and fo forth.Come, coufin Silence-and then to bed.

Fal. You have here a goodly dwelling, and a rich. Shal. Barren, barren, barren. Beggars all, beggars all, Sir John. Marry, good air. Spread, Davy, fpread Davy; well faid, Davy.

Fal. This Davy ferves you for good ufes; he is your fervingman, and your husbandman.

Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, Sir John.-By the mafs, I have drank too much fack at fupper. A good varlet. Now fit down, now fit down: come, coufin.

Sil. Ah, firrah, quoth-a,

We shall do nothing but eat, and make good chear, [Singing.
And praife heaven for the merry year;

When flesh is cheap and females dear,

And lufty lads roam here and there;

So merrily, and ever among, fo merrily, &c.

Fal. There's a merry heart! Good mafter Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give mafter Bardolph fome wine, Davy. Davy. Sweet Sir, fit; I'll be with you anon; most fweet Sir, fit. Mafter Page, good mafter Page, fit; proface. What you want in meat, we'll have in

drink.

a difb of carraways, &c.] A comfit or confection so called in our author's time. A paffage in De Vigneul Marville's Mclanges d'Hiftoire et de Litt. will explain this odd treat. "Dans "le dernier fiecle ou l'on avoit le goût delicat, on ne croioit pas

pouvoir vivre fans Dragées. Il n'etoit fils de bonne mere, qui "n'eut fon Dragier; et il eft raporté dans l'hiftoire du duc de "Guife, que quand il fut tué à Blois il avoit fon Dragier à la "main." WARBURTON.

Mr. Edwards has diverted himself with this note of Dr. Warburton's, but without producing a happy illuftration of the paffage. The dish of carraways here mentioned was a difh of apples of that name. GOLDSMITH.

[ocr errors]

-proface.] Italian from profaccia; that is, much good may it do you. HANMER.

Sir Thomas Hanmer (fays Mr. Farmer) is right, yet it is no argument for his author's Italian knowledge.

Old

[ocr errors]

drink. But you must bear; the heart's all. [Exit, Shal. Be merry, master Bardolph; and, my little foldier there, be merry.

Sil. [Singing] Be merry, be merry, my wife has all; For women are fhrews, both fhort and tall: 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all,

And welcome merry Shrovetide.

Be merry, be merry, &c.

Fal. I did not think mafter Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who I? I have been merry twice and once,

ere now.

Old Heywood, the epigrammatist, addressed his readers long before,

"Readers, reade this thus; for preface, proface,
"Much good may it do you," &c.

So Taylor, the water-poet, in the title of a poem prefixed to his Praife of Hempfeed,

A preamble, preatrot, preagallop, preapace, or preface; and proface, my masters, if your ftomachs ferve,"

Decker, in his comedy, If this be not a good play the Devil is in it, makes Shackle-foule, in the character of Friar Rush, tempt his brethren with choice of dishes."

"To which proface; with blythe lookes fit yee."

To thefe inftances produced by Mr. Farmer, I may add one more from Springes for Woodcocks, an ancient collection of epi

grams,

"Proface, quoth Fulvius, fill us t'other quart." And another from Heywood's Epigrams,

"I came to be merry, wherewith merrily

[ocr errors]

Proface. Have among you," &c.

So, in The wife Woman of Hog/don, 1638,

"The dinner's half done, and before I fay grace "And bid the old knight and his guest proface." So, in The Downfal of Robert E. of Huntington, 1601, Father, proface

[ocr errors]

"To Robin Hood thou art a welcome man."

STEEVENS.

—the heart's all.] That is, the intention with which the entertainment is given. The humour confifts in making Davy act as mafter of the houfe. JOHNSON.

Re-enter

Re-enter Davy.

497

Davy. There is a difh of leather-coats for you. Shal. Davy- [Setting them before Bardolph. Davy. Your worship ?-I'll be with you straightA cup of wine, Sir?

Sil. [Singing] A cup of wine, that's brisk and fine, And drink unto the leman mine;

And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fal. Well faid, mafter Silence.

Sil. An we fhall be merry, now comes in the sweet of the night.

Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence.
Sil. 3 Fill up the cup, and let it come,

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.

Shal. Honeft Bardolph, welcome: if thou want'ft any thing and wilt not call, befhrew thy heart. Welcome, my little tiny thief; and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to mafter Bardolph, and to all the 4 cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to fee London once ere I die.
Bard. If I might fee you there, Davy-

Shal. You'll crack a quart together? Ha-will you not, master Bardolph ?

Bard. Yes, Sir, in a pottle pot.

Shal. I thank thee: the knave will stick by thee, I can affure thee that. He will not out; he is truebred.

Bard. And I'll stick by him, Sir.

[One knocks at the door.

3 Fill up the cup, &c.] This paffage has hitherto been printed as profe, but I am informed that it makes a part of an old fong, and have therefore restored it to its metrical form. STEEVENS.

4-cavaleroes-] This was the term by which an airy, splendid, irregular fellow was diftinguifhed. The foldiers of king Charles were called Cavaliers from the gaiety which they affected in oppofition to the four faction of the parliament. JOHNSON.

VOL. V.

I i

Shal.

1

Shal. Why, there fpoke a king. Lack nothing; be merry. Look, who's at the door there: ho-who knocks?

Fal. Why, now you have done me right.

[To Silence, who drinks a bumper. Sil. [Singing] Do me right, and dub me knight, 6 Samingo. Is't not fo?

Fal. 'Tis fo.

Sil. Is't fo? Why, then fay, an

fomewhat.

Davy. An it please your worship,

come from the court, with news.

[blocks in formation]

Fal. From the court? let him come in.

How now, Piftol?

Enter Piftol.

Pift. Sir John, 'fave you, Sir!

Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

Pift. Not the ill wind which blows no man good. Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm.

5 Do me right, &c.] To do a man right and to do him reafon were formerly the ufual expreffions in pledging healths. He who drank a bumper expected a bumper fhould be drank to his toast. STEEVENS.

6

Samingo.] He means to fay, Sun Domingo. HANMER. Of Samingo, or San Domingo, I fee not the ufe in this place. JOHNSON. Unless Silence calls Falstaff St. Dominic from his fatnefs, and means, like Dryden, to fneer at facerdotal luxury, I can give no account of the word. In one of Nath's plays, intitled, Summer's laf Will and Teftament, 1604, Bacchus fings the following

catch:

"Monfieur Mingo, for quaffing doth furpafs
"In cup, in can, or glass;

"God Bacchus do me right

“And dub me knight.

66

Domingo."

Perhaps Domingo is only the burthen of fome old fong.

STEEVENS.

499

Sil. Indeed I think he be, 7 but goodman Puff of Barfon.

Pift. Puff?

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!
-Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,
And helter fkelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
And golden times, and happy news of price.

Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of this world.

Pift. A foutra for the world and worldlings bafe! I fpeak of Africa and golden joys.

Fal. O bafe Affyrian knight, what is thy news? 9 Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof. Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.

[Sings. Pift. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And fhall good news be baffled?

Then Pistol, lay thy head in Fury's lap.

Shal. Honeft gentleman, I know not your breeding.
Pift. Why then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, Sir-If, Sir, you come with news from the court, I take it, there is but two ways; either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, Sir, under the king, in fome authority.

Pift. Under which king, 9 Bezonian? speak or die.

7 but goodman Puff of Barfon.] A little before William Vifor of Woncot is mentioned. Woodmancot and Barton (fays Mr. Edwards' MSS.) which I fuppofe are thefe two places, and are reprefented to be in the neighbourhood of juftice Shallow, are both of them in Berkeley Hundred in Glofterfhire. This, I imagine, was done to difguife the fatire a little; for Sir Thomas Lucy, who, by the coat of arms he bears, must be the real juftice Shallow, lived at Charlecot near Stratford, in Warwickfhire. STEEVENS

8 Let king Copketua, &c.] Lines taken from an old bombaft play of King Cophetua; of whom, we learn from Shakespeare, there were ballads too. WARBURTON.

See Love's Labour loft. JOHNSON.

9

-Bezonian? Speak or die.] So again Suffolk fays in zd Henry VI.

"Great men oft die by vile Bezonians."
I i2

It

« السابقةمتابعة »