MER: Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature for this driveling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole *. BEN. Stop there, stop there. MER. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair3. BEN. Thou would'st else have made thy tale large. MER. O, thou art deceived, I would have made it short: for I was come to the whole depth of my tale and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. ROM. Here's goodly geer! Enter NURSE and PETER. MER. A sail, a sail o, a sail ! BEN. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock. 3 4 proves thee far and wide A BROAD goose.] To afford some meaning to this poor but intended witticism, Dr. Farmer would read-" proves thee far and wide abroad, goose." STEEVENS. to hide his BAUBLE in a hole.] It has been already observed by Sir J. Hawkins, in a note on All's Well that Ends Well, Act IV. Sc. V. that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. So again, in Sir William D'Avenant's Albovine, 1629: "For such rich widows there love court fools, and use to play with their baubles." Again, in The Longer Thou Livest, the More Fool Thou Art, 1570: "And as stark an idiot as ever bare bable." See the plate at the end of King Henry IV. P. I. with Mr. Tollet's observations on it. STEEVENS. 5 against the hair.] A contrepoil: Fr. An expression equivalent to one which we now use-" against the grain." STEEVENS. 6 Mer. A sail, a sail,] Thus the quarto 1597. In the subsequent ancient copies these words are erroneously given to Romeo, and the next speech to Benvolio. MALone. 1 PETER. Anon? NURSE. My fan, Peter R. MER. Pr'ythee, do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two *. NURSE. God ye good morrow, gentlemen. MER. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial' is now upon the prick of noon 2. * So quarto A; the rest, fairer face. 8 My fan, Peter.] The business of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan, seems ridiculous according to modern manners; but I find such was formerly the practice. In an old pamphlet called The Serving Man's Comfort, 1598, we are informed, "The mistress must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fanne.” FARMER. Again, in Love's Labour's Lost: "To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan.” Again, in Every Man out of his Humour; "If any lady, &c. wants an upright gentleman in the nature of a gentleman-usher, &c. who can hide his face with her fan," &c. STEEVENS. 9 God ye good den,] i. e. God give you a good even. The first of these contractions is common among the ancient comick writers. So, in R. Brome's Northern Lass, 1633: "God you good even, sir." STEevens. -hand of the dial, &c.] In The Puritan Widow, 1607, which has been attributed to our author, is a similar expression: the feskewe of the diall is upon the chrisse-crosse of noon." 66 2 STEEVENS. the PRICK OF NOON.] I marvel much that mine associates in the task of expounding the darker phrases of Shakspeare, should have overlooked this, which also hath already occurred in King Henry VI. P. III. Act I. Sc. IV: "And made an evening at the noon-tide prick." Prick meaneth point, i. e. punctum, a note of distinction in writing, a stop. So, in Timothy Bright's Characterie, or an Arte of Shorte, &c. Writing by Characters, 12mo. 1588: "If the worde, by reason of tence ende in ed, as I loved, then make a prick in the character of the word, on the left side." Again: "The present tence wanteth a pricke, and so is knowen from other tences."-Again: "A worde of doing, that endeth in ing, as eating, drinking, &c. requireth two prickes under the bodie of the character," &c. AMNer.” NURSE. Out upon you! what a man are you? ROM. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himself to mar. NURSE. By my troth, it is well said;-For himself to mar, quoth'a ?-Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo? ROM. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you sought him: I am the youngest of that name, for 'fault of a worse. NURSE. You say well. MER. Yea, is the worst well? very well took, i'faith; wisely, wisely. NURSE. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence* with you. BEN. She will indite him to some supper. MER. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho! ROM. What hast thou found ? MER. No hare, sir3; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. An old hare hoar1, * Quarto A, conference. No hare, sir;] Mercutio having roared out, So ho! the cry of the sportsmen when they start a hare, Romeo asks what he has found. And Mercutio answers, No hare, &c. The rest is a series of quibbles unworthy of explanation, which he who does not understand, needs not lament his ignorance. JOHNSON. So ho! is the term made use of in the field when the hare is found in her seat, and not when she is started. A. C. 4 An old hare HOAR,] Hoar or hoary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. So, in Pierce Pennyless's Supplication to the Devil, 1595: "as hoary as Dutch butter." Again, in F. Beaumont's Letter to Speght on his edition of Chaucer, 1602: "Many of Chaucer's words are become as it were vinew'd and hoarie with over long lying." Again, in Every Man out of his Humour: "Eat up his grain; or else that it might rot "Within the hoary ricks e'en as it stands." STEEVENS. Is very good meat in lent: When it hoars ere it be spent.— Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither. ROM. I will follow you. MER. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, lady". [Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO. NURSE. Marry, farewell!-I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ? 8? ROM. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month. These lines appear to have been part of an old song. In the quarto 1597, we have here this stage direction; "He walks by them, [i. e. the Nurse and Peter,] and sings." MALONE. 5 -lady, lady, lady.] The burthen of an old song. See Twelfth Night, Act II. Sc. III. STEEVENS. 6 Marry, farewell!] These words I have recovered from the quarto 1597. MALONE. 7- what saucy MERCHANT was this, &c.] The term merchant which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest sort of dealers, seems anciently to have been used on these familiar occasions in contradistinction to gentleman; signifying that the person showed by his behaviour he was a low fellow. So, in Churchyard's Chance, 1580: "What sausie marchaunt speaketh now, saied Venus in her rage." The term chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the same import with merchant in its less respectable sense, is still in common use among the vulgar, as a general denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. STEEVENS. So, in Henry VI. P. I. Act II. Sc. III. 8 "This is a riddling merchant for the nonce." MALONE. - of his ROPERY? Ropery was anciently used in the same sense as roguery is now. So, in The Three Ladies of London; 1584: "Thou art very pleasant and full of thy roperye." Rope-tricks are mentioned in another place. STEEVENS. See vol. v. p. 401. MALONE. * NURSE. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were lustier than he is, and twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his skains-mates" :-And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? PET. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you: I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side †. NURSE. NOW, afore God, I am so vexed, that * Quarto A, If he stand to. + Quarto A, If I see time and place. 9 — none of his SKAINS-mates.] None of his skains-mates means, I apprehend, none of his cut-throat companions. MALONE. A skein or skain was either a knife or a short dagger. By skains-mates the Nurse means none of his loose companions who frequent the fencing-school with him, where we may suppose the exercise of this weapon was taught. The word is used in the old tragedy of Soliman and Perseda, 1599: "Against the light-foot Irish have I serv'd, "And in my skin bare tokens of their skeins." Again, in the comedy called Lingua, &c. 1607. At the opening of the piece Lingua is represented as apparelled in a particular manner, and among other things-having "a little skene tied in a purple scarf." 66 Green, in his Quip for an Upstart Courtier, describes, an ill-favoured knave, who wore by his side a skeine like a brewer's bung-knife." Skein is the Irish word for a knife. Again, in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608 : 66 with this frantick and untamed passion, "To whet their skeins." Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, b. v. ch. xxvi. : 66 drew." Again, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Hymn to Apollo: 66 Let every man purvey "A skeane, or slaughtering steel," &c Mr. M. Mason, however, supposes the Nurse uses skains-mates for kins-mates, and ropery for roguery. STEEVENS. |