fweetly varied, like a scholar at the leaft: But, fir, I affure you, it was a buck of the first head. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo. [9] Dull. 'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket. Hol. Moft barbarous intimation! yet a kind of infinuation, as it were, in via, in way of explication; facere, as it were, replication; or rather, oftentare, to fhow, as it were, his inclination, after his undreffed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or rathereft unconfirmed fashion, to infert again my baud credo for a deer. [9] There is very little perfonal reflexion in Shakespeare. Either the virtue of thofe times or the candour of our author, has fo affected, that his fatire is, for the most part, general, and, as himself fays, -his taxing like a wild goofe flies. Unclaim'd of any man. The place before us feems to be an exception. For by Holofernes is defigned a particular character, a pedant and fchoolmaster of our author's time, one John Florie, a teacher of the Italian tongue in London, who has given us a fmall dictionary of that language under the title of A World of Words, which in his epittle dedicatory he tells us, "is of little lefs value than Stephens's Treasure of the Greek Tongue," the most complete work that was ever yet compiled of its kind. In his preface, he calls thofe who had criticized his works "fea-dogs or land-critics; moniters of men, if not "beafts rather than men ; whofe teeth are canibals, their toongs addars "forks, their lips afpes poifon, their eyes bafilifkes, their breath the breath "of a grave, their words like fwordes of Turks, that strive which thall dive "deepelt into a Chriftian lying bound before them." Well therefore might the mild Nathaniel defire Holofernes to "abrogate fcurrility.' His profeffion too is the reafon that Holofernes deals fo much in Italian fentences. There is an edition of Love's Labour's Loft, printed 1598, and faid to be presented before her Highnefs this laft Chriftmas, 1597. The next year, 1598, comes out our John Florio, with his World of Words, recentibus odiis; and in the preface, falls upon the comic poet for bringing him on the flage. "There. "is another fort of leering curs, that rather fnarle than bite, whereof I "could inftance in one, who lighting on a good Sonnet of a gentleman's, a "friend of mine, that loved better to be a poet than to be counted fo, called "the author a rymer.Let Ariftophanes and his comedians make plaies, "and fcowre their inouths on Socrates; thofe very mouths they make to vilifie fhail be the means to amplifie his virtue," &c. Here Shakespeare is fo plainly marked out as not to be mistaken. As to the "fonnet of the gentleman his friend," we may be affured that it was no other than his own. And without doubt was parodied in the very fonnet beginning with The praifeful princefs,' &c. in which our author makes Holofernes fay, 'he will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility.' From the ferocity of this man's temper it was, that Shakespeare chofe for him the name which Rabelais gives to his pedant of Thubal Holoferne. WARB. I am not of the learned commentator's opinion, that the fatire of Shakefpeare is fo feldom perfonal. It is of the nature of perfonal invectives to be foon unintelligible; and the author that gratifies private malice, animam in vulnere ponit, deftroys the future efficacy of his own writings, and facrifices the esteem of fucceeding times to the laughter of a day. It is no wonder, therefore, that the farcafms, which, perhaps, in the author's time, fet the playhouse in a roar, are now loft among general reflections. Yet whether the character of Holofernes was pointed at any particular man, I am, notwithstanding the plaufibility of Dr. Warburton's conjecture, înclined to doubt. JOHNS. Dull. I faid the deer was not a haud credo ; 'twas a pricket.[1] Hol. Twice fod fimplicity, bis coctus !—O thou monfter ignorance, how deformed doft thou look! Nath. Sir, he hath never fed on the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink. His intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts: [2]And fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful fhould be Which we tafte and feeling are for those parts that do fructify in us, more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool; So were there a patch[3] fet on learning, to fee him in a fchool: But, omne bene, fay I; being of an old father's mind, Dull. You two are book-men; Can you tell by your wit, What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet? Hol. Dictynna, good-man Dull; Dictynna, good-man Dull. Dull. What is Dictynna? Nath. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the moon. Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more; And raught not to five weeks, when he came to five-score. The allufion holds in the exchange.[4] Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collufion holds in the exchange. [1] In a play called the Return from Parnaffus, 1606, I find the following account of the different appellations of deer, at their different ages :"Amoretto. I caufed the keeper to fever the rafcal deer from the bucks of the first head. Now, fir, a buck is the first year, a fawn; the fecond year, a pricket; the third year, a forel; the fourth year, a foare; the fifth, a buck of the firft head; the fixth year, a complete buck. Likewife your hart is the first year, a calfe; the fecond year, a brocket; the third year, a fpade; the fourth year, a ftag; the fixth year, a hart. A roe-buck is the firft year, a kid; the fecond year, a girl; the third year, a hemufe; and thefe are your fpecial beafts for chale." STEEV. [2] The length of thefe lines was no novelty on the English itage. The moralities afford fcenes of the like measure. JOHNS. [3] The meaning is, to be in a school would as ill become a 'patch,' or low fellow, as folly would become me. JOHNS. [4] i. e. the riddle is as good when I ufe the name of Adam, as when you fe the name of Cain. WARB. Hol. God comfort thy capacity! I fay the allufion holds in the exchange. Dull. And I say the pollufion holds in the exchange ; for the moon is never but a month old: and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket the princefs kill'd. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer? and, to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer, the princefs kill'd, a pricket. Nath. Perge, good mafter Holofornes, perge; fo it fhall please you to abrogate fcurrility. Hol. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility. The praifeful princefs pierc'd and prickt Some fay, a fore; but not a fore, Nath. A rare talent! Dull. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent. Hol. This is a gift that I have: fimple! fimple! a foolish, extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, fhapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions : thefe are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occafion: But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it. Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you; and fo may my parishioners; for their fons are well tutor❜d by you, and their daughters profit very greatly under you: you are a good member of the commonwealth. Hol. Mehercle, if their fons be ingenuous, they shall want no inftruction: if their daughters be capable, I [5] We should read, of fore L'alluding to L being the numeral for 50. WARB. will put it to them: But, vir fapit, qui pauca loquitur : a foul feminine faluteth us. Enter JAQUENETTA and COSTARD. Jaq. God give you good-morrow, mafter parfon. Hol. Mafter parfon, quafi perfon. And if one should be pierc'd, which is the one? Cof. Marry, mafter school-mafter, he that is likest to a hogshead. Hol. Of piercing a hogfhead! a good luftre of conceit in a turf of earth; fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a fwine 'tis pretty; it is well. Jaq. Good mafter parfon, be fo good as to read me this letter; it was given me by Coftard, and fent me from Don Armatho I befeech you read it.. Hol. Faufte, precor, gelidâ quando pecus omne sub umbrâ Ruminat, and fo forth.[6] Ah, good old Mantuan! I may speak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice; -Vinegia, Vinegia, Chi non te vidi, ei non te pregia. Old Mantuan! old Mantuan! Who understandeth thee not, loves thee not.-Ut, re, fol, la, me, fa.—Under pardon, fir, what are the contents? or rather, as Horace fays in his-What, my foul, verses? Nath. Ay, fir, and very learned. Hol. Let me hear a staff, a ftanza, a verse; Lege, domine. Nath. Reads.] If love make me forfworn, how shall I fwear to love? Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vowed! Though to myself forsworn, to thee I'll faithful prove ; Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like ofiers bowed. Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine eyes; Where all those pleasures live, that art would comprehend: If knowledge be the mark, to know thee fhall fuffice; [6] Though all the editions concur to give this fpeech to fir Nathaniel, yet, as Dr. 'Thirlby ingenioufly obferved to me, it is evident it must belong to Holofernes. The curate is employed in reading the letter to himself; and while he is doing fo, that the ftagé may not ftand ftill, Holofernes either pulls out a book, or, repeating fome verfe by heart from Mantuanus, comments upon the character of that poet. Baptifta Spagnolus (firnamed Mantuanus, from the place of his birth) was a writer of poems, who flourished towards the latter end of the 15th century. THEO. Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee commend. All ignorant that soul, that sees thee without wonder; Which is to me fome praise, that I thy parts admire. Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder; Which, not to anger bent, is music, and sweet fire. Celestial as thou art, oh pardon, love, this wrong, That fings the heaven's praife with fuch an earthly tongue! Hol. You find not the apostrophes, and fo mifs the accent. Let me fupervife the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratify'd; but for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poefy, caret. Ovidius Nafo[7] was the man and why, indeed, Nafo; but for fmelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention? imitari, is nothing: fo doth the hound his master, the ape his keeper, the tired horse his rider. But damofella virgin, was this directed to you? Jaq. Ay, tir, from one monfieur Biron, one of the ftrange queen's lords. Hol. I will overglance the fuperfcript. To the fnowwhite band of the most beauteous Lady Rofaline. I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the person written unto : Your ladyfhip's in all defired employment, BIRON. -Sir Nathaniel, this Biron is one of the votaries with the king; and here he hath fram'd a letter to a fequent of the stranger queen's, which, accidentally, or by the way of progreffion, hath mifcarry'd.-Trip and go, my fweet; deliver this paper into the hand of the king; it may concern much: Stay not thy compliment: I forgive thy duty adicu. Jaq. Good Coftard, go with me.-Sir, God fave your life! Caft. Have with thee, my girl. [Exe. COST. and JAQ. Nath. Sir, you have done this in the fear of God, very religiously and as a certain father faith Hol. Sir, tell not me of the father, I do fear colourable colours.[8]-But, to return to the verses: Did they please you, fir Nathaniel. [7] Our author makes his pedant affect the being converfant with the beft authors: contrary to the practice of modern wits, who represent them as defpifers of all fuch. But thofe who know the world, know the pedant to be the greatest affecter of politeness. WARB. [8] That is, fpecious, or fair feeming appearances. JOHNS. |