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Arm. Sweet Air! go, tenderness of years, take this key, give inlargement to the fwain; bring him festinately hither: I muft employ him in a letter to my love.

Moth. Mafter, will you win your love with a French brawl?

Arm. How mean'ft thou, brawling in French?

Moth. No, my compleat mafter (12); but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet (13), humour it with turning up your eyelids ; figh a note and fing a note; fometimes through the throat, as if you fwallow'd love with finging love; fometimes through the nofe, as if you fnuft up love by smelling love; with your hat penthoufe-like o'er the fhop of your eyes; with your arms croft on your thin-belly doublet, like a rabbet on a fpit; or your hands in your pocket, like a man after the old painting; and keep not too long in one tune, but a fnip and away thefe are complements, these are humours; these betray nice wenches that would be betray'd without thefe, and make the men of note (14): do you note men, that are most affected to these?

Arm.

(12) Moth. No, my compleat Mafter, &c.] This whole Speech has been fo terribly confused in the pointing, through all the Editions hitherto, that not the leaft Glimmering of Senfe was to be pick'd out of it. As I have regulated the Paffage, I think, Moth delivers both good Senfe and good Humour.

(13) Canary to it with your Feet,] So All's Well that &c. A&t. 2. Sc. 2.

I have feen a Medecin,

That's able to breath Life into a Stone,

Quicken a Rock, and make you dance Canary
With Sprightly Fire and Motion ; &c.

From both thefe Paffages the Canary feems to have been a Dance of much Spirit and Agility. Some Dictionaries tell us, that this Dance deriv'd its Name, as it's probable it might, from the Islands fo call'd. But Richelet gives us a Defcription of it the most conformable to our Author; Dance, où l'on remuë fort vite les piez. A Dance, in which the Feet are hifted with great Swiftness.

(14) thefe betray nice Wenches, that would be betray'd without thefe, and make them Men of Note.] Thus all the Editors, with a Sagacity worthy of Wonder. But who will ever believe, that the odd Attitudes and Affectations of Lovers, by which they betray young Wenches,

fhould

Arm. How haft thou purchas'd this experience? Moth. By my pen of observation.

Arm. But O, but O

Moth. The hobby-horfe is forgot. (15)

Arm. Call'ft thou my love hobby-horse?

Moth. No, mafter; the hobby-horfe is but à colt,

fhould have power to make thofe young Wenches Men of Note? This is a Transformation, which, I dare fay, the Poet never thought of. His Meaning is, that they not only inveigle the young Girls, but make the Men taken notice of too, who affect them. I reduc'd the Paffage to good Senfe, in my SHAKESPEARE reftor'd, by cashiering only a fingle Letter: and Mr. Pope, in his laft Impreffion, has vouchfaf'd to embrace my Correction.

(15) Arm. But Ö, but O.

Moth. The Hobby-horse is forgot.] The Humour of this Reply of Moth's to Armado, who is fighing in Love, cannot be taken without a little Explanation: nor why there fhould be any Room for making fuch a Reply. A Quotation from Hamlet will be neceffary on this Occafion;

Or elfe fhall be fuffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whofe Epitaph is, For oh! for oh! the Hobby-horfe is forgot. And another from Beaumont and Fletcher in their Women pleafed. Soto. Shall the Hobby-horse be forgot then?

The hopefull Hobby-horfe? hall he lie founder'd?

In the Rites formerly obferv'd for the Celebration of May-day, befides thofe now us'd of hanging a Pole with Garlands, and dancing round it, a Boy was dreft up reprefenting Maid Marian; another, like a Fryars and another rode on a Hobby-horse, with Bells jingling, and painted Streamers. After the Reformation took place, and Precifians multiplied, thefe latter Rites were look'd upon to favour of Paganism; and then Maid Marian, the Fryar, and the poor Hobby-horfe were turn'd out of the Games. Some, who were not fo wifely precife, but regretted the Difufe of the Hobby-bor fe, no doubt, fatiriz'd this Sufpicion of Idolatry, and archly wrote the Epitaph above alluded to. Now Moth, hearing Armado groan ridiculously, and cry out, But oh! but ob! humouroufly pieces out his Exclamation with the Sequel of this Epitaph: which is putting his Mafter's Love paffion, and the Lofs of the Hobby-horfe, on a Footing. The Zealots Deteftation of this Hobby-horse, I think, is excellently fneer'd at by B. Jonfon in his Bartholomew-fair. In this Comedy, Rabby-Bufy, a Puritan, is brought into the Fair; and being ask'd by the Toyman to buy Rattles, Drums, Babies, Hobby-horfes, &c. He immediately in his Zeal cries out :

Peace, with thy Apocryphal Wares, thou prophane Publican! Thy Bells, thy Dragons, and thy Tobit's Dogs. Thy Hobby-horfe is an Idol, a very Idol, a fierce and rank Idol; and Thou the Nebuchadnezzar, the proud Nebuchadnezzar of the Fair, that fet'ft it up for Children to fall down to and worship.

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and your love, perhaps, a hackney but have you forgot your love?

Arm. Almoft I had.

Moth. Negligent ftudent, learn her by heart.
Arm. By heart, and in heart, boy..

Moth. And out of heart, mafter all those three I will prove.

Arm. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. A man, if I live. And this by, in, and out of, upon the inftant: by heart you love her, because your heart cannot come by her: in heart you love her, because your heart is in love with her; and out of heart you love her, being out of heart that you cannot enJoy her.

Arm. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more; and yet nothing at all.

Arm. Fetch hither the fwain, he must carry me a letter.

Moth. A meffage well fympathiz'd; a horse to be embaffador for an afs.

Arm. Ha, ha; what fay'ft thou?

Moth. Marry, Sir, you must send the afs upon the horfe, for he is very flow-gated: but I go.

Arm. The way is but fhort; away.

Moth. As fwift as lead, Sir.

Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious?

Is not lead a metal heavy, dull and flow?

Moth. Minimè, honest master; or rather, mafter, no.
Arm. I fay, lead is flow.

Moth. You are too fwift, Sir, to fay fo.

Is that lead flow, Sir, which is fir'd from a gun ?
Arm. Sweet fmoak of rhetorick!

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:
I fhoot thee at the fwain.

Moth. Thump then, and I fly.

[Exit. Arm. A moft acute Juvenile, voluble and free of grace; By thy favour, fweet welkin, I muft figh in thy face. Moft rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd.

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Re-enter Moth and Coftard.

Moth. A wonder, mafter, here's a Coftard broken in a fhin.

Arm. Some enigma, fome riddle; come, thy l'envoy begin.

Coft. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no falve in the male, Sir: O Sir, plantan, a plain plantan; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, or falve, Sir, but plantan.

Arm. By vertue, thou enforceft laughter; thy filly thought, my fpleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous fmiling: O pardon me, my ftars! doth the inconfiderate take falve for l'envoy, and the word l'envoy for a falve?

Moth. Doth the wife think them other? is not l'envoy á falve?

Arm. No, page, it is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain

Some obfcure precedence that hath tofore been fain. I will example it. Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy.

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were ftill at odds, being but three.

There's the moral, now the l'envoy.

Moth. I will add the l'envoy; fay the moral again. Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were ftill at odds, being but three.

Moth. Until the goofe came out of door,

And stay'd the odds by adding four.

A good l'envoy, ending in the goofe; would you defire more?

Coft. The boy hath fold him a bargain; a goofe, that's flat;

Sir, your penny-worth is good, an your goose be fat. To fell a bargain well is as cunning as faft and loose. Let me fee a fat l'envoy; I, that's a fat goofe.

Arm. Come hither, come hither;

How did this argument begin?

Moth. By faying, that a Coftard was broken in a fhin. Then call'd you for a l'envoy.

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Coft.

Coft. True, and I for a plantan; Thus came the argument in s

Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you bought, And he ended the market.

Arm. But tell me; how was there a Caftard broken in a fhin?

Moth. I will tell you fenfibly.

Coft. Thou haft no feeling of it, Moth,
I will fpeak that l'envoy.

I Coftard running out, that was fafely within,
Fell over the threshold, and broke my thin.
Arm. We will talk no more of this matter,
Coft. 'Till there be more matter in the fhin.
Arm. Sirrah, Coftard, I will infranchise thee.
Coft. O, marry me to one Francis, I fmell fome l'en-
voy, fome goofe in this.

Arm. By my fweet foul, I mean, fetting thee at liberty; enfreedoming thy perfon; thou wert immur'd, reftrained, captivated, bound.

Coft. True, true, and now you will be my purgation, and let me loofe.

Arm. I give thee thy liberty, fet thee from durance, and in lieu thereof impofe on thee nothing but this; bear this fignificant to the country-maid Jaquenetta; there is remuneration; for the best ward of mine honours is rewarding my dependants. Moth, follow.—

[Exit.

Moth. Like the fequel, I. Signior Coftard, adieu.

[Exit.

Coft. My fweet ounce of man's flefh, my in-cony Few! Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings remuneration: What's the price of this incle a penny. No, I'll give you a remuneration: why, it carries it. Remuneration!-why, it is a fairer name than a French crown (16). I will never buy and fell out of this word.

Enter

(16) No, I'll give you a Remuneration: Why? It carries its Remunesation. Why? It is a fairer Name than a French-Crown.] Thus this

Paffage

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