Desire to breed by me.-Here's flowers for you; Per. Out, alas! You'd be so lean, that blasts of January your flock, Would blow you through and through.-Now, my fairest friend, I would I had some flowers o' the spring, that might That come before the swallow dares, and take Flo. What, like a corse? Per. No, like a bank, for love to lie and play on; Not like a corse: or if,-not to be buried, But quick, and in mine arms. Come, take your flowers. 1 "Some call it sponsus solis, the spowse of the sunne, because it sleeps and is awakened with him."-Lupton's Notable Things, book vi. 2 Perhaps the true explanation of this passage may be deduced from the subjoined verses in the original edition of Milton's Lycidas, which he subsequently omitted, and altered the epithet unwedded to forsaken in the preceding line. "Bring the rathe primrose that unwedded dies, Methinks, I play as I have seen them do In Whitsun' pastorals. Sure, this robe of mine Flo. What you do, Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet, I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; To sing them too. When you do dance, I wish you So singular in each particular, Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds, Per. You wooed me the false way. Flo. That never mean to part. Per. I'll swear for 'em.2 Pol. This is the prettiest low-born lass, that ever Ran on the green sward; nothing she does, or seems, But smacks of something greater than herself; Too noble for this place. He tells her something, Cam. Good sooth, she is Come on, strike up. Dor. Mopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic, To mend her kissing with. 1 i. e. you as little know how to fear that I am false, as, &c. 2 This is a common phrase of acquiescence, like "I'll warrant you.” Mop. Now in good time! Clo. Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.1 Come, strike up. [Music. Here a dance of Shepherds and Shepherdesses. Pol. Pray, good shepherd, what Fair swain is this, which dances with your daughter? Shep. They call him Doricles, and he boasts himself To have a worthy feeding; but I have it Upon his own report, and I believe it; 2 He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter, I think so too; for never gazed the moon Upon the water, as he'll stand, and read, As 'twere, my daughter's eyes; and, to be plain, Who loves another best. Pol. She dances featly.3 Shep. So she does any thing; though I report it, That should be silent. If young Doricles Do light upon her, she shall bring him that Enter a Servant. Serv. O, master, if you did but hear the pedler at the door, you would never dance again after a tabor and pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you. He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money; he utters them as he had eaten ballads, and all men's ears grew to his tunes. Clo. He could never come better; he shall come in. I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter, merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably. Serv. He hath songs, for man, or woman, of all sizes; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves;" he has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without 1 i. e. we are now on our good behavior. 3 That is, dexterously, nimbly. 2 Truth. 4 The trade of a milliner was formerly carried on by men exclusively. 4 bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings; jump her and thump her; and where some stretch-mouthed rascal would, as it were, mean mischief, and break a foul gap into the matter, he makes the maid to answer, Whoop, do me no harm, good man; puts him off, slights him, with Whoop, do me no harm, good man.2 Pol. This is a brave fellow. Clo. Believe me, thou talkest of an admirable conceited fellow. Has he any unbraided wares?3 5 6 Serv. He hath ribands of all the colors i' the rainbow; points, more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle, though they come to him by the gross; inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns. Why, he sings them over, as they were gods or goddesses; you would think a smock were a she-angel; he so chants to the sleeve-hand," and the work about the square on't.8 Clo. Pr'ythee, bring him in; and let him approach singing. Per. Forewarn him, that he use no scurrilous words in his tunes. Clo. You have of these pedlers, that have more in 'em than you'd think, sister. Per. Ay, good brother, or go about to think. Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing. Lawn, as white as driven snow; 1 "With a hie dildo dill, and a dildo dee,” is the burden of an old ballad or two. Fading is also another burden to a ballad found in Shirley's Bird in a Cage; and perhaps to others. 2 This was also the burden of an old ballad. 3 i. e. undamaged wares, true and good. 4 Points, upon which lies the quibble, were laces with tags. 5 A kind of tape. 6 A kind of ferret or worsted lace. 7 Sleeve-hand, the cuffs, or wristband. 8 The work about the bosom of it. Bugle-bracelet, necklace-amber, Come, buy of me, come; come buy, come buy; Come buy, &c. Clo. If I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take no money of me; but being enthralled as I am, it will also be the bondage of certain ribands and gloves. Mop. I was promised them against the feast; but they come not too late now. Dor. He hath promised you more than that, or there be liars. Mop. He hath paid you all he promised you; may be, he has paid you more; which will shame you to give him again. 3 Clo. Is there no manners left among maids? Will they wear their plackets where they should bear their faces? Is there not a milking-time, when you are going to bed, or kiln-hole, to whistle off these secrets; but you must be tittle-tattling before all our guests? 'Tis well, they are whispering. Clamor your tongues, and not a word more. Mop. I have done. 4 Come, you promised me a tawdry lace, and a pair of sweet gloves. 1 A stick of metal or wood, used by the laundress in plaiting ruffles. 2 i. e. stomacher. 3 The kiln-hole generally means the fireplace for drying malt; still a noted gossiping place. 4 An expression taken from bell-ringing; now contracted to clam. The bells are said to be clammed, when, after a course of rounds or changes, they are all pulled off at once, and give a general clash or clam, by which the peal is concluded. As this clam is succeeded by a silence, it exactly suits the sense of the passage. 5 A tawdry lace was a sort of necklace worn by country wenches. 6 Sweet, or perfumed gloves, are often mentioned by Shakspeare; they were very much esteemed, and a frequent present in the Poet's time. |