They are too thin and base to hide offences.9
To me you cannot reach, you play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me;
But, whatsoe'er thou takʼst me for, I am sure,

Thou hast a cruel nature, and a bloody.—

Good man, [to CRAN.] sit down. Now let me see the proudest

He, that dares most, but wag his finger at thee:
By all that's holy, he had better starve,

Than but once think his place becomes thee not.1
Sur. May it please your grace,

K. Hen.

No, sir, it does not please me.

8 They are too thin &c.] i. e. the commendations above mentioned. Mr. Pope, in the former line, changed flattery to flatteries, and this unnecessary emendation has been adopted by all the subsequent editors. I believe our author wrote

They are too thin and bare;

and that the editor of the first folio, not understanding the word, changed it to base, as he did in King Henry IV, Part I.. See Vol. VIII, p. 180, n. 9. Malone.

To hear such flattery now, and in my presence;

They are too thin and base to hide offences. &c.] I think the pointing of these lines preferable to that in the former edition, in which they stand thus:

I come not

To hear such flatteries now: and in my presence
They are too thin, &c.

It then follows:

To me you cannot reach: you play the spaniel,

And think with wagging of your tongue to win me.

But the former of these lines should evidently be thus written: To one you cannot reach you play the spaniel,

the relative whom being understood. Whalley.

I think the old copy is right. Malone.

Surely, the first of these lines should be pointed thus:
To me you cannot reach, you play the spaniel,—
That is, you fawn upon me, who am above your malice.

M. Mason. In the punctuation of this passage I have followed the concur ring advice of Mr. Whalley and Mr. M. Mason. Steevens.

1 Than but once think his place becomes thee not.] Who dares to suppose that the place or situation in which he is, is not suitable to thee also? who supposes that thou art not as fit for the office of a privy counsellor as he is.

Mr. Rowe and all the subsequent editors read-this place.

Malone

I had thought, I had had men of some understanding
And wisdom, of my council; but I find none.
Was it discretion, lords, to let this man,

This good man, (few of you deserve that title)
This honest man, wait like a lowsy footboy
At chamber door? and one as great as you are?
Why, what a shame was this? Did my commission
Bid ye so far forget yourselves? I gave ye
Power as he was a counsellor to try him,
Not as a groom; There's some of ye, I see,
More out of malice than integrity,

Would try him to the utmost, had ye mean;
Which ye shall never have, while I live.

Chan.

Thus far,
My most dread sovereign, may it like your grace,
To let my tongue excuse all. What was purpos'd
Concerning his imprisonment, was rather
(If there be faith in men) meant for his trial,
And fair purgation to the world, than malice;
I am sure, in me.

K. Hen.

Well, well, my lords, respect him;

Take him, and use him well, he 's worthy of it.

I will say thus much for him, If a prince

May be beholden to a subject, I

Am, for his love and service, so to him.

Make me no more ado, but all embrace him;

Be friends, for shame, my lords. My lord of Canterbury,

I have a suit which you must not deny me;
That is, a fair young maid that yet wants baptism,2

2 That is, &c.] My suit is, that you would be a godfather to a fair young maid, who is not yet christened. Mr. Rowe readsThere is, &c. and all the subsequent editors have adopted this unnecessary alteration. The final word her, we should now consider as superfluous; but we have many instances of a similar phraseology in these plays-or, the construction may be-A fair young maid, &c. you must be godfather [to], and answer for her. So before, in this play:

whoever the king favours,

"The cardinal instantly will find employment [for],
"And far enough from court too."

Again, in The Merchant of Venice:

"How true a gentleman you send relief [to]."

Again, in Julius Cæsar:

You must be godfather,3 and answer for her.
Cran. The greatest monarch now alive may glory
In such an honour; How may I deserve it,
That am a poor and humble subject to you?

K. Hen. Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons; you shall have

Thy honourable metal may be wrought "From what it is dispos'd [to]."

See also Vol. VII, p. 351, n. 3, and a note on Cymbeline, sc. ult. Vol. XVI. Malone.

The superfluous pronoun in the text (if it be superfluous) may be justified by the following passage in Romeo and Juliet:

66

this reverend holy friar,

"All our whole city is much bound to him." Steevens. 3 You must be godfather,] Our prelates formerly were often employed on the like occasions. Cranmer was godfather to Edward VI. See Hall, fo. 232. Archbishop Warham to Henry's eldest son by Queen Katharine; and the Bishop of Winchester to Henry himself. See Sandford, 479, 495. Reed.

4 - you'd spare your spoons;] It was the custom, long before the time of Shakspeare, for the sponsors at christenings to offer gilt spoons as a present to the child. These spoons were called apostle spoons, because the figures of the apostles were carved on the tops of the handles. Such as were at once opulent and generous, gave the whole twelve; those who were either more moderately rich or liberal, escaped at the expence of the four evangelists; or even sometimes contented themselves with presenting one spoon only, which exhibited the figure of any saint, in honour of whom the child received its name.

In the year 1560, we find entered on the books of the Stationers' company, a spoyne, of the gyfte of master Reginold Wolfe all gylte with the pycture of St. John."

Ben Jonson also, in his Bartholomew Fair, mentions spoons of this kind: "— - and all this for the hope of a couple of apostle spoons, and cup to eat caudle in."

So, in Middleton's comedy of A chaste Maid of Cheapside, 1620: "2 Gos. What has he given her?-what is it, gossip? 3 Gos. A faire high standing-cup, and two great 'postle spoons, one of them gilt. 1 Pur. Sure that was Judas then with the red beard." Again:

"E'en the same gossip 'twas that gave the spoons." Again, in Sir Wm. D'Avenant's comedy of The Wits, 1639: 66 my pendants, carcanets, and rings,

"My christ'ning caudle-cup, and spoons,
"Are dissolv'd into that lump."

Again, in The Maid in the Mill, by Beaumont and Fletcher:
"Didst ask her name?.

"Yes, and who gave it her;

Two noble partners with you; the old duchess of Nor

folk,

"And what they promis'd more, besides a spoon,
"And what apostle's picture."

Again, in The Noble Gentleman, by the same authors:
"I'll be a gossip, Bewford,

"I have an odd apostle spoon."

Mr. Pegge, in his preface to A Forme of Cury, a Roll of ancient English Cookery, compiled about A. D. 1390, &c. observes, that "the general mode of eating must either have been with the spoon or the fingers; and this, perhaps, may have been the reason that spoons became the usual present from gossips to their god. children, at christenings." Steevens.

As the following story, which is found in a collection of anecdotes, entitled Merry Passages and Feasts, MSS. Harl. 6395, contains an allusion to this custom, and has not, I believe, been published, it may not be an improper supplement to this account of apostle spoons. It shows that our author and Ben Jonson were once on terms of familiarity and friendship, however cold and jealous the latter might have been at a subsequent period:

"Shakspeare was godfather to one of Ben Jonson's children, and after the christening, being in deepe study, Jonson came to cheer him up, and ask'd him why he was so melancholy: No 'faith, Ben, says he, not I; but I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my godchild, and I have resolv'd at last. I pr'ythee, what? says he.-I' faith, Ben, I'll give him a douzen good latten [Latin] spoons, and thou shalt translate them."

The collector of these anecdotes appears to have been nephew to Sir Roger L'Estrange. He names Donne as the relater of this story.

The practice of sponsors giving spoons at christenings continued to the latter end of the last century, as appears from a pamphlet written against Dryden, entitled The Reasons of Mr. Bayes's Conversion, &c. p. 14.

At one period it was the mode to present gifts of a different kind. "At this time," [the first year of Queen Elizabeth] says the continuator of Stowe's Chronicle, "and for many yeeres before, it was not the use and custome, as now it is, [1631,] for godfathers and godmothers generally to give plate at the baptism of children, (as spoones, cups, and such like,) but only to give christening shirts, with little hands and cuffs wrought either with silk or blue thread; the best of them for chief persons were edged with a small lace of blacke silke and golde; the highest price of which for great men's children were seldom above a noble, and the common sort, two, three, or four and five shillings a piece." Whether our author, when he speaks of apostle-spoons, has, as usual, attributed the practice of his own time to the reign of Henry VIII, I have not been able to ascertain. Probably howe

And lady marquiss Dorset; Will these please you?
Once more, my lord of Winchester, I charge you,
Embrace, and love this man.

Gar. }

And brother-love, I do it.
Cran.

With a true heart,

And let heaven

Witness, how dear I hold this confirmation.

K. Hen. Good man, those joyful tears show thy true heart.5

The common voice, I see, is verify'd

Of thee, which says thus, Do my lord of Canterbury
A shrewd turn, and he is your friend for ever.—
Come, lords, we trifle time away; I long

To have this young one made a christian.
As I have made ye one, lords, one remain;

So I grow stronger, you more honour gain. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The Palace Yard.

Noise and Tumult within. Enter Porter, and his Man.

Port. You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals: Do you take the court for Paris-garden?6 ye rude slaves, leave your gaping.7

ver, he is here accurate; for we know that certain pieces of plate were, on some occasions, then bestowed; Hall, who has written a minute account of the christening of Elizabeth, informing us, that the gifts presented by her sponsors were a standing cup of gold, and six gilt bowls, with covers. Chron. Hen. VIII, fol. 218. Malone.

5

thy true heart.] Old copy-hearts. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

6

Paris-garden?] The bear-garden of that time. Johnson. This celebrated bear-garden on the Bankside was so called from Robert de Paris, who had a house and garden there in the time of King Richard II, Rot. claus. 16 R. II, dors. ii. Blount's GLOSSOGRAPH. Malone.

So, in Sir W. D'Avenant's News from Plimouth:

66 do you take this mansion for Pict-hatch?
"You would be suitors: yes, to a she-deer,
"And keep your marriages in Paris-garden ?"

Again, in Ben Jonson's Execration on Vulcan:

"And cried, it was a threatning to the bears,
"And that accursed ground the Paris-garden."

The Globe theatre, in which Shakspeare was a performer, stood