Sir And. Fie on him, Jezebel! Fab. O, peace! now he's deeply in; look, how imagination blows him.3 my Mal. Having been three months married to her, fitting in ftate,-+ Sir To. O, for a ftore-bow, to hit him in the eye! Mal. Calling my officers about me, in my branch'd velvet gown; having come from a day-bed, where I have left Oli. via fleeping: Sir To. Fire and brimstone! Mal. And then to have the humour of ftate: and after a demure Perhaps a letter has been misplaced, and we ought to read-ftarchy; i. e. the room in which linen underwent the once most complicated operation of ftarching. I do not know that fuch a word exifts; and yet it would not be unanalogically formed from the fubftantive ftarch. In Harfnet's Declaration, 1603, we meet with "a yeoman of the Sprucery;" i. e. wardrobe; and in the Northumberland Houfebold Book, nurfry is fpelt nurcy. Starchy, therefore, for farchery, may be admitted. In Romeo and Juliet, the place where pafte was made, is called the paftry. The lady who had the care of the linen may be fignificantly oppofed to the yeoman, i. e. an inferior officer of the wardrobe. While the five different coloured farches were worn, fuch a term might have been current. 1564, a Dutch woman profeffed to teach this art to our fair country. women. "Her ufual price (fays Stowe) was four or five pounds to teach them how to ftarch, and twenty fhillings how to feeth ftarch." The alteration was fuggefted to me by a typographical error in The world tofs'd at Tennis, no date, by Middleton and Rowley; where ftraches is printed for ftarches. I cannot fairly be accufed of having dealt much in conjectural emendation, and therefore feel the less reluctance to hazard a guefs on this defperate paffage. STEEVENS. In the year The place in which candles were kept, was formerly called the chandry; and in B. Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair, a ginger-bread woman is called lady of the bajket.The great objection to this emendation is, that from the ftarchy to the wardrobe is not what Shakspeare calls a very heavy de clenfion," In the old copy the word is printed in Italicks, as the name of a place, Strachy. The y oman of the wardrobe is not an arbitrary term, but was the proper defignation of the wardrobe-keeper, in Shakspeare's time. See Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: "Veftiario, a wardrobe-keeper, or a yeoman ef a wardrobe." MALONE. 3 i. e. puffs him up. STEEVENS. 4 A ftate, in ancient language, fignifies a chair with a canopy over. it. STIEVING. 5 That is, a cross-bow, a bow which shoots ftones. JOHNSON. i. e, a couch. STIEVENS, demure travel of regard,-telling them, I know my place, as I would they fhould do theirs,-to afk for my kinfman Toby: Sir To. Bolts and shackles ! Fab. O, peace, peace, peace! now, now. Mal. Seven of my people, with an obedient fart, make out for him: I frown the while; and, perchance, wind up my watch, or play with fome rich jewel. Toby approaches; court'fies there to me: Sir To. Shall this fellow live? Fab. Though our filence be drawn from us with cars, yet peace. Mal. 7 In our author's time watches were very uncommon. When Guy Faux was taken, it was urged as a circumftance of fufpicion that a watch was found upon him. JOHNSON. Pocket-watches were brought from Germany into England, about the year 1580. MALONE. 8 From this paffage one might fufpect that the manner of paying refpect, which is now confined to females, was equally ufed by the other fex. It is probable, however, that the word court'fy was employed to exprefs acts of civility and reverence by either men or women indiscrimi nately. In an extract from the Black Book of Warwick, Bibliotbeca Topographica Britannica, p. 4, it is faid, "The pulpett being fett at the nether end of the Earl of Warwick's tombe in the faid quier, the table was placed where the altar had bene. At the coming into the quier my lord made lowe curtefie to the French king's armes." Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his Life, fpeaking of dancing, recommends that accomplishment to youth, that he may know how to come in and go out of a room where company is, how to make courtefies handsomely, according to the feveral degrees of perfons he shall encounter." REED. 9 i. e. though it is the greatest pain to us to keep filence. WARBURTON. I believe the true reading is: Though our filence be drawn from us with carts, yet peace. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the Clowns fays: "I bave a miftress, but who that is, a team of horses shall not pluck from me." So, in this play: "Oxen and waixropes will not bring them together." JOHNSON. The old reading is cars, as I have printed it. It is well known that cars and carts have the fame meaning. STEEVENS, If I were to fuggeft a word in the place of cars, which I think is a corruption, it fhould be cables. It may be worth remarking, perhaps, that the leading ideas of Malvolio, in his humour of ftate, bear a ftrong refemblance to thofe of Alnafcbar in The Arabian Night's Entertainments. Some of the expreffions too are very fimilar. TYRWHITT, Mal. I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my fami liar fmile with an auftere regard of control: Sir To. And does not Toby take you a blow o'the lips then? Mal. Saying, Coufin Toby, my fortunes having caft me on your niece, give me this prerogative of Speech; Sir To. What, what? Mal. You must amend your drunkenness. Fab. Nay, patience, or we break the finews of our plot. Mal. Befides, you waste the treasure of your time with a foolish knight; Sir And. That's me, I warrant you. Mal. One Sir Andrew: Sir And. I knew, 'twas I; for many do call me fool. [Taking up the letter. Fab. Now is the woodcock near the gin. Sir To. O, peace! and the fpirit of humours intimate reading aloud to him! Mal. By my life, this is my lady's hand: these be her very C's, her U's, and her T's; and thus makes the her great P's.3 It is, in contempt of question, her hand. Sir And. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: Why that? Mal. [reads] To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes: her very phrafes!-By your leave, wax.-Soft! 4 and Many Arabian fictions had found their way into obfcure Latin and French books, and thence into English ones, long before any profeffed verfion of The Arabian Nights' Entertainments had appeared. I meet with a ftory fimilar to that of Alnafcbar, in The Dialoges of Creatures Moralyfed, bl. 1. no date, but probably printed abroad. STEEVENS. 2 A phrase of that time, equivalent to our common speech-What's to do bere. WARBURTON. 3- In the direction of the letter which Malvolio reads, there is neither a C, nor a P, to be found. STEEVENS. From the ufual cuftom of Shakspeare's age, we may eafily fuppofe the whole direction to have run thus: To the Unknown belov'd, this, and my good wishes, with Care Prefent." RITSON. 4 It was the custom in our poet's time to feal letters with soft wax, which retained its foftnefs for a good while. The wax ufed at prefent would have been hardened long before Malvolio picked up this letter. MALONE. I do derand the impreffure her Lucrece, with which she uses to feal; 'tis my lady: To whom should this be? Fab. This wins him, liver and all, Mal. [reads.] Jove knows, I love: But who? Lips do not move, No man must know. No man must know.-What follows? the numbers altered !— With bloodless ftroke my heart doth gore; Fab. A fuftian riddle! Sir To. Excellent wench, fay I. Mal. M, O, A, I, doth fway my life.—Nay, but firft, let me fee, let me fee,-let me fee. Fab. What a difh of poifon has the drefs'd him! Sir To. And with what wing the stannyel 6 checks at it! Mal. I may command where I adore. Why, the may command me; I ferve her, fhe is my lady. Why, this is evident to I do not fuppofe that- Soft! has any reference to the wax; but is merely an exclamation equivalent to Sofily? i. e. be not in too much halte. I may alfo obferve, that though it was anciently the custom (as it ftill is) to feal certain legal inftruments with foft and pliable wax, familiar letters (of which I have feen fpecimens from the time of K. Henry VI. to K. James I.) were fecured with wax as gloffy and firm as that employed in the prefent year. STEEVENS. 5 i. e. badger. He uses the word as a term of contempt, as if he had faid, bang thee, cur! Our filth! to stink like a brock being proverbial. RITSON, Marry, hang thee, thou vain, conceited coxcomb, thou overweening rogue! Brock, which properly fignifies a badger, was used in this fenfe in Shakfpeare's time. MALONE. 6 The name of a kind of hawk, is very judiciously put here for a stallion, by Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON. To check, fays Latham, in his book of Falconry, is, "when crows, rooks, pies, or other birds, coming in view of the hawk, the forfaketh her natural flight, to fly at them." The ftannyal is the common ftone hawk, which inhabits old buildings and rocks; in the North called fancbil. I have this information from Mr. Lambe's notes on the ancient metrical hiftory of the battle of Floddon. STEEVENS. to any formal capacity. There is no obftruction in this ; And the end-What fhould that alphabetical pofition portend? if I could make that refemble fomething in me,Softly!-M,O, A, I.— Sir To. O, ay! make up that :-he is now at a cold fcent. 8 Fab. Sowter will cry upon't, for all this, though it be as rank as a fox.9 Mal. M,-Malvolio;-M,-why, that begins my name. Fab. Did not I fay, he would work it out? the cur is excellent at faults. Mal. M,-But then there is no confonancy in the fequel; that fuffers under probation 4 fhould follow, but O does. Fab. And O fhall end, I hope. Sir To. Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry, 0. Fab. Ay, an you had any eye behind you, you might fee more detraction at your heels, than fortunes before you. Mal. M, O, A, I; - This fimulation is not as the former : and yet, to crush this a little, it would bow to me, for every one of these letters are in my name. Soft; here follows profe. If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my ftars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: Some are born great, fome atchieve greatness, and fome have greatness thrust upon them. Thy fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace 7 i.e. any one in his fenfes, any one whofe capacity is not dif-arranged, or out of form. STEEVENS. 8 Seater is here, I suppose, the name of a hound. Sowterly, however, is often employed as a term of abufe. A foruter was a cobler. STEEVENS. I believe the meaning is-This fellow will, notwithstanding, catch at and be duped by our device, though the cheat is so grofs that any one cife would find it out. Our author, as ufual, forgets to make his fimile answer on both fides; for it is not to be wondered at that a hound fhould cry or give his tongue, if the fcent be as rank as a fox. MALONE. 9 Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, “not as rank.” The other editions, though it be as rank, &c. JOHNSON. 2 By O is here meant what we now call a bempen collar. JOHNSON. I believe he means only, it shall end in fighing, in disappointment. S5, in Romeo and Juliet: "Why should you fall into fo deep an. 0 ?** STEEVENS. |