Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.4 Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer: And now, forward; for we have put thee in countenance. Hol. You have put me out of countenance. Boyet. Therefore, as he is, an ass, let him go. Dum. For the latter end of his name. away, Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not humble. Boyet. A light, for monsieur Judas: it grows dark, he may stumble. Prin. Alas, poor Machabæus, how hath he been baited! Enter ARMADO arm’d, for Hector. Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes Hector in arms. Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry. King. Hector was but a Trojans in respect of this. Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances6 the almighty,. Gave Hector a gift, 4 St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.) A brooch is an ornamental buckle, for fastening hat-bands, girdles, mantles, &c. See a figure and description of a fine one, in Pennant's Tour in Scotland, Vol. III, p. 14. Harris. 5 Hector was but a Trojan - ] A Trojan, I believe, was, in the time of Shakspeare, a cant term for a thief. So, in King Henry IV, P. I: “Tut there are other Trojans that thou dream'st not of,” &c. Again, in this scene: “unless you play the honest Tro. jan,” &c. Steevens. of lances -] i. e. of lance-men. So, in King Lear: “ And turn our imprest lances in our eyes.” Steevens. 6 Dum. A gilt nutmeg. Arm. Peace! Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion; From morn till night, out of his pavilion, That mint. That columbine. Arm. Sweet lord Longaville, rein thy tongue. Long. I must rather give it the rein; for it runs against Hector. Dum. Ay, and Hector 's a greyhound. Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten; sweet chucks, beat not the bones of the buried: when he breath'd, he was a man—But I will forward with my device: Sweet royalty, [to the Princess] bestow on me the sense of hearing. [BIRON whispers Cost. Prin. Speak, brave Hector; we are much delighted. Arm. I do adore thy sweet grace's slipper. Boyet. Loves her by the foot. Dum. He may not by the yard. Arm. This Hector far surmounted Hannibal, — Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector, she is gone; she is two months on her way. 7 Stuck with cloves.] An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a common new-year's gift. So, Ben Jonson, in his Christmas Masque : “ he has an orange and rosemary, but not a clove to stick in it.” A gilt nutmeg is mentioned in the same piece, and on the same occasion. Steevens. The quarto, 1598, reads-A gift nutmeg; and if a gilt nutmeg had not been mentioned by Ben Jonson, I should have thought it right. So we say, a gift-horse, &c. Malone. - he would fight, yea,] Thus all the old copies. Theobald very plausibly reads-he would fight ye; a common vulgarism. Steevens. I should read: that certain he would fight ye, which I think improves both the sense and the rhyme.He would run you five miles in an hour--he would ride you from morning till night, is a mode of expression still in use. M. Mason. 8 Arm. What meanest thou? Cost. Faith, unless you play the honest Trojan, the poor wench is cast away: she's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 'tis yours. Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among potentates? thou shalt die. Cost. Then shall Hector be whipp'd, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pompey that is dead by him. Dum. Most rare Pompey! Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great Pompey! Pompey the huge! Dum. Hector trembles. Biron. Pompey is mov'di-More Ates, more Ates; stir them on! stir them on! Dum. Hector will challenge him. Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in 's belly than will sup a flea. Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Cost. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man; I'll slash; I'll do it by the sword:- I pray you, let me borrow my arms? again. Dum. Room for the incensed worthies. Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat? What mean you? you will lose your reputation. Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt. Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath made the challenge. Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will. 1 9 more Ates ;] That is, more instigation. Ate was the mischievous goddess that incited bloodshed. Johnson. So, in King John: “ An Até, stirring him to war and strife.” Steevens. like a northern man;] Vir Borealis, a clown. See Glos. sary to Urry's Chaucer. Farmer. my arms -] The weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey. Johnson. 2 Biron. What reason have you for 't? Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt; I go woolward for penance. Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen:3 since when, I 'll be sworn, he wore none, 3 it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen: &c.] This may possibly allude to a story well known in our author's time, to this effect. A Spaniard at Rome falling in a duel, as he lay expiring, an intimate fricnd, by chance, came by, and offered him his best services. The dying man told him he had but one request to make him, but conjured him, by the memory of their past friendship, punctually to comply with it: which was not to suffer him to be stript, but to bury him as he lay, in the habit he then had on. When this was promised, the Spaniard closed his eyes, and expired with great composure and resignation. But his friend's curiosity prevailing over his good faith, he had him stript, and found, to his great surprise, that he was without a shirt. Warburton. Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen: &c.] This is a plain reference to the following story in Stowe's Annals, p. 98, (in the time of Edward the Confessor) “ Next after this (king Edward's first cure of the king's evil) mine authors affirm, that a certain man, named Vifunius Spileorne, the son of Ulmore of Nutgarshall, who, when he hewed timber in the wood of Brutheullena, laying him down to sleep after his sore labour, the blood and humours of his head so congealed about his eyes, that he was thereof blind, for the space of nineteen years; but then (as he had been moved in his sleep) he went woolward and bare-footed to many churches, in every of them to pray to God for help in his blindness.” Dr. Grey. The same custom is alluded to in an old collection of Satyres, Epigrams, &c. “ And when his shirt's a washing, then he must “ That worth two shirts his laundress should him see.” Again, in A Mery Geste of Robyn Hood, bl. 1. no date : “ Barefoot, woolward have I hight, - Thether for to go.” Again, in Powell's History of Wales, 1584 : “ The Angles and Saxons slew 1000 priests and monks of Bangor, with a great num. ber of lay brethren, &c. who were come bare-footed and wool. ward to crave mercy,” &c. Steevens. In Lodge's Incarnate Devils, 1596, we have the character of a swashbuckler: “His common course is to go always untrust; except when his shirt is a washing, and then he goes woolward.” Farmer. Woolward - ] “I have no shirt; I go woolward for penance." The learned Dr. Grey, whose accurate knowledge of our old historians has often thrown much light on Shakspeare, supposes but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and that 'a wears next his heart, for a favour. Enter MERCADE. Prin. Welcome, Mercade; Mer. I am sorry, madam; for the news I bring, life. Mer. Even so; my tale is told. Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to cloud. that this passage is a plain reference to a story in Stowe's Annals, “ Wolward and wetshod went I forth after “ And yedeforth like a lorell,” &c. T. Warton. To this speech in the old copy, Boy is prefixed, by which designation most of Moth's speeches are marked. The name of Boyet is generally printed at length. It seems better suited to Armado's page than to Boyet, to whom it has been given in the modern editions. Malone. 1 |