Has often got me my pocket full of crowns. I see the coast clear, when fools and boys can Enter Fool and Page. Page. Brave lieutenant! Fool. Hail to the man of worship! Most passing fine at all points. Fool. As you see, Sir, [our clothes, Sir, Home-bred and handsome; we cut not out At half-sword, as your taylors do, and pink 'em With pikes and partizans; we live retir'd, Sir, Gentleman-like, and jealous of our honours. Chi. Very fine Fool, and fine Boy; peace plays with you 10 As the wind plays with feathers, dances you, You grind with all gusts, gallants. Page. We can bound, Sir, [frisk too. (When you soldados bend i' th' hams) and Fool. When twenty of your trip-coats turn their tippets, And your cold sallads, without salt or vinegar, Lie wambling in your stomachs; hemp and hobnails [harness Will bear no price now, hangings and old Are like to over-run us. Page. Whores and hot-houses Fool. Surgeons and syringes, ring out your saints' bells! Page. Your jubilee, your jubilee! How our St. Georges will bestride the dragons, Fool. But then the sting i'th' tail, boy. [nour. For so much the more danger, the more hoChi. You're very pleasant with our occupation, gentlemen; Which, very like, amongst these fiery serpents, May light upon a blind-worm of your blood, A mother or a sister. Fool. Mine's past saddle, You should be sure of her else: But say, Sir Huon, [turn'd bed-staves, Now the drum's dubb's o'er, 13 and the sticks All the old foxes hunted to their holes, [mark it. Fool. Yes, and a learned question, if you Consider, and say on. Chi. Fooling, as thou dost; That's the best trade, I take it. Fool. Take it straight then, [lieutenant, For fear your fellows be before you: hark ye, Fooling's the thing, the thing worth all your fightings; When all's done, you must fool, Sir. Fool. But do you know what fooling is? true fooling? The circumstances that belong unto it? Make a dog-face, or can abuse his fellow, As fooling has been; but to fool the fair way, The new way, as the best men fool their friends; For all men get by fooling, merely fooling, Desert does nothing; valiant, wise, virtuous, Are things that walk by without bread or Chi. I partly credit that. [breeches. Fool. Fine wits, fine wits, Sir! [too, There's the young boy, he does well in his way He could not live else in his master's absence; He ties a lady's garters so, so prettily! Say his hand slip, but say so. Chi. Why, let it slip then. [after, Fool. "Tis ten to one the body shall come And he that works deserves his wages. 10 We can bounce.] The change is from Mr. Theobald's margin, and it is, I believe, the true word. Seward. "Be wambling.] The old edition reads, BY wambling. I have probably therefore restored the true word. Sympson. 12 Page. Advance't fool.] The sense is very obscure, and the verse wants a syllable, both, I believe, arising from the loss of a monosyllable, which I hope I have restored. Seward. 13 Now the drums dubls.] Besides the false concord, the meaning is directly the reverse of the true one, which is, Now the drum dubbs no more, the war being over. The verse wants a syllable; which, with the true reading, I hope I have retriev'd: though it might have been, Now the drum's dubb's o'er; or perhaps dubb's done, to make it sound more oddly. After I had wrote this I received Mr. Sympson's conjecture, which is very near the same with what I had put in the text. Seward. Mr. Seward's reading is, Now the drum DUMB IS; which appears to us uncouth. We have adopted his second conjecture; which comes pretty near the old text. Can pick a pocket if you please, or casket; now, [ger, And all this sport for cheese and chines of And money when two Wednesdays meet to- Fool. You cannot chuse but like it; fight I'll have a shilling for a can of wine, you cooler wars. Chi. Come, let's together; I'll see your tricks, and as I like 'em— [Exeunt. Enter Memnon, Eumenes, and Captains. Mem. Why were there not such women Prepar'd to make me know 'em? Eum. 'Twas no place, Sir. 1 Capt. Why should they live in tumults? they are creatures Soft, and of sober natures. Mem. Could not your wives, 417 Ye keep a-prating of your points of manners, How to put off my hat; you, how to turn When thunder durst not check me. I have [love; I must Eum. And I know, Sir, [behaviour, Tho' she were born yours, yet your strange And want 14 If a man mean to live: To fight, and swagger.] The opposition between the Page's life, and the fine raillery of the Soldiers, is not clearly marked out by any former edition. The first folio reads, If a man mean to live, to fight and swagger. The addition of a fuller stop by the two latter editions, shews that they saw the drift of the Poet; but I believe the corruption was the change of the negative into an affirmative. Seward. 15 Cut to the soul for summer.] The summer being the season of war, I don't discard this, though it is a little obscure, and Mr.Theobald conjectures that it might be honour, which Seward. would certainly much improve it. 16 Whose slops are heaviest.] Slops mean cloaths, perhaps in this place pockets. It is still a term applied to apparel at sea, and the houses where sailors' cloaths are bought are at this day called slop-shops. In the third act, slops are used for pockets. 17 When you shall have two sergeants for a counter.] This seems to be a quibble on the word counter, as applied to a prison and a false piece of money, and the meaning of the pasI shall have a shilling for a can of wine, you only a counter, and will be in custody of two sergeants, i. e. officers belonging to the Counter.' sage, 18 Your courtly worships R. How to put off my hat.] Mr. Theobald in his margin supposes a whole line lost here; but as the change of the plural number to the singular in worships restores good sense, I cannot doubt but that the corruption lay there, especially as Mr. Sympson concurred with me in the emendation. Seward. [Exeunt Eum. and Capt. Enter Calis, Lucippe, and Cleanthe. Calis. How came he hither? See, for Heaven's sake, wenches, What faces, and what postures, he puts on. I do not think he's perfect. 19 [Memnon walks aside, fu.. c strange gestures. [enough, Cle. If your love Have not betray'd his little wits, he's well As well as he will be. Calis. Mark how he muses. Lucip. H'has a battalia now in's brains. He draws out; now Have at ye, harpers! Cle. See, see, there the fire falls.20 Lucip. Look what an alphabet of faces he runs thro'. [look'st Cle. Oh, love, love, how amorously thou In an old rusty armour. Calis. I'll away, For by my troth I fear him. Lucip. Fear the gods, madam, And never care what man can do: This fellow, Nay, case him up in armour cap-a-pee, Cle. For shame! no more. Cle. The devil Why should this old dried timber, chopt with thunder Calis. Old wood burns quickest. Lucip. Out, you would say, madam; Give me a green stick that may hold me heat, And smoke me soundly too. He turns, and sees you. Cle. There's no avoiding now; have at you! [Memnon comes to her. Mem. Women, let my fortune And me alone, I wish you. Pray come this And stand you still there, lady. Calis. Leave the words, Sir, And leap into the meaning. 21 I tell you, I do love you. [finitely. Pray no more questions. I do love you in- Calis. I'm monstrous fearful.-No, I joy Mem. Joy on then, and be proud on't; I Stand still; do not trouble me, you women! He loves you, lady, at whose feet have kneel'd Princes to beg their freedoms; he whose valour Has over-run whole kingdoms. Calis. That makes me doubt, Sir, 'Twill over-ruh me too. Mem. He whose sword [princess. Cle. Talk not so big, Sir; you will fright the Mem. Ha! Lucip. No forsooth. Calis. I know you have done wonders. Mem. I have, and will do more and greater, [kingdom, braver ; And, for your beauty, miracles. Nanie that And take your choice Calis. Sir, I am not ambitious. Mem. You shall be; 'tis the child of glory. She that I love, Whom my desires shall magnify, time stories, And all the empires of the earth Cle. I would fain ask him- Lucip. Prithee be quiet; he will beat us both else. Cle. What will you make me then, Sir? Mem. I will make thee [ladyStand still and hold thy peace! I have a heart, Calis. You were a monster else. 20 Fire fails.] The word I have substituted is, I believe, the true one, for it carries on the metaphor, which the other does not. Mr. Sympson and I concurred in this conjecture. Seward. 2 Calis. Why Mr. Seward, we think injudiciously, gives this interrogatory to Cleanthe. [Sir, Cle. Twill put him to't, wench. Calis. And you shall see I dare accept it, Take't in my hand and view it: If I find it A loving and a sweet heart, as you call it, I ain bound, I am. Mem. No more; I'll send it to you; As I have honour in me, you shall have it. Cle. Handsomely done, Sir; and perfum'd, by all means; The weather's warm, Sir. Mem. With all circumstance. Lucip. A napkin wrought most curiously. Cle. Put in a goblet of pure gold. Calis. If Heav'n should fall we should have larks: He do it! Cle. See, how he thinks upon't. Calis. He'll think these three years, Ere he prove such an ass. I lik'd his offer: There was no other way to put him off else. Mem. I will do it. Lady, expect any heart. Calis. I'do, Sir. Mem. Love it; for 'tis a heart that——and so I leave you. [Exit. Cle. Either he is stark mad, Or else, I think, he means it. Calis. He must be stark mad, Or he will never do it: 'Tis vainglory [him; Hearts are at higher prices. Let's go in, Shut all the doors behind, for fear he follow; I hope I've lost a lover, and am glad on't. [Exeunt. Birds sing away their souls, and babies sleep me; [too Her princely word is past: My great desert Will draw her to come after presently; 'Tis justice, and the gods must see it done too. Besides, no brother, father, kindred, there Can hinder us; all languages are alike too. There love is ever lasting, ever young, Free from diseases, ages, 22 jealousies, Bawds, beldames, pandars, 23 purgers. Die? 'tis nothing: [leps, Men drown themselves for joy to draw in juWhen they are hot with wine; in dreams we do it; [sport well, And many a handsome wench that loves the Gives up her soul so in her lover's bosom. But I must be incis'd first, cut and open'd, My heart, and handsomely, ta'en from me; stay there; [do I know there? Dead once-Stay! let me think again! Who For else to wander up and down unwaited on, And unregarded in my place and project, Is for a sowter's soul, not an old soldier's. there it goes My brave old regiments-ay, Enter Chilax. Chi. He's here, And I must trouble him. Mem. Then those I have conquer'd, To make my train full. Chi. Sir! Seward. 22 Disease, ages, jealousies.] Mr. Theobald and Mr. Sympson both read aches; but I see no sufficient reason for any change; ages in the plural may properly signify old age. Age, the singular, is more commonly used to signify old age, than the plural ages. Here, however, the plural seems to be so applied, and to form an antithesis; There love is everlasting, ever young, Free from diseases, ages, &c. 23 Bawds, beldames, painters, purgers.] I have ventured upon a change here, though I allow the former reading is sense; but that pandars are more proper companions to bawds and beldames than painters, I believe all will allow. Seward. Mem. For here shall run a constellation. Chi. You may consider; You know we've serv'd you long enough. That ever landed on the bless'd Elyzium Chi. 'Would you would march, Sir, Up to the king, and get us-- Chi. What a devil ails he? [I fir'd. Chi. Oh, pounds, Sir, pounds. I beseech Let coaches run out of your remembrance. Mem. In which the wanton Cupids, and [sires the graces, Drawn with the western winds, kindling deAnd then our poets→→→ Chi. Then our pay. [the princess Mem. For, Chilax, when the triumph comes; Then, for I'll have a Heav'n made- Mem. Stand still, Sir.25 24 King nor Keiser.] Though this possesses all the former editions, I can see neither reason nor humour in the mistaken spelling here. Seward. Mr. Seward substitutes Cæsar for Keiser; but there needs no alteration. Spenser frequently uses the expression of kings and kesars in the Fairy Queen. Whilst kings and kesars at her feet did them prostrate.' B. 5. c. 9. s. 29. The captive hearts 'Of kings and kesars.' B. 4. c. 7. s. 1. This is the state of kesars and of kings.' B. 6. c. 3. s. 5. B. 3. c. 11. s. 29. Mighty kings and kesars into thraldom brought.' It is a very ancient form of speaking, and is found among other poets. In the Visions of 'Death came driving after, and all to dust pashed Also in Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub, act ii. scene ii. Tu. I charge you in the queen's name keep the It occurs likewise in Harrington's Ariosto, peace. For myters, states, nor crowns may not exclude C. 44. s. 47. These proofs are extracted from Warton's Observations on Spenser, vol. ii. p. 212. R. 25 Chi Bless your lordship! Stand still, Sir. Mem. So I do, and in it.] The absurdity of Chilar bidding Memnon stand still, and his answering, so I do, is I think very obvious, and the emendation almost self-evident. Seward. 26 1, Sir.] We have no doubt that I, in this place, means Ay. It was the usual way of writing that word formerly; and Memnon does not seem to design more than a mere assent to the question, from this circumstance, that he informs Chilax several lines afterwards of his intent to die himself. R. |