chamber, at the round table, by a fea-coal fire, upon Wednesday in Whitfun-week, when the prince broke thy head for liking his father to a fingingman' of Windfor; thou didft fwear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady thy wife. Canft thou deny it? Did not goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then, and call me goffip Quickly? coming in to borrow a mefs of vinegar;3 telling us, fhe had a Again, in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613: "I am little better than a parcel-gilt bawd." Holinfhed, defcribing the arrangement of Wolfey's plate, fays: -and in the council-chamber was all white, and parcel-gilt plate." STEEVENS. Langham, defcribing a bride-cup, fays it was "foormed of a sweet fucket barrell, a faire turn'd foot fet too it, all feemly befylvered and parcel gilt." Again, in The XII merry Ieftes of the Widdow Edyth: "A ftandyng cup with a cover parcelt gilt." RITSON, Parcel-gilt means what is now called by artifts party-gilt; that is, where part of the work is gilt, and part left plain or ungilded. MALONE. I for liking his father to a finging man] Such is the reading of the first edition; all the reft have-for likening him to a finging man. The original edition is right; the Prince might allow familiarities with himself, and yet very properly break the knight's head when he ridiculed his father. JOHNSON. Liking is the reading of the quarto, 1600, and is better fuited to dame Quickly than likening, the word substituted instead of it, in the folio. MALONE. 2 goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife,] A Keech is the fat of an ox rolled up by the butcher into a round lump. 3- a mess of vinegar;] So, in Mucedorus: STEEVENS. "I tell you all the messes are on the table already, "There wants not so much as a mess of mustard." Again, in an ancient interlude published by Raftel; no title or date : "Ye mary fometyme in a meffe of vergeffe." good dish of prawns; whereby thou didst defire to eat fome; whereby I told thee, they were ill for a green wound? And didft thou not, when she was gone down ftairs, defire me to be no more fo familiarity with fuch poor people; faying, that ere long they fhould call me madam? And didft thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty fhillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath; deny it, if thou canft. FAL. My lord, this is a poor mad foul; and fhe fays, up and down the town, that her eldest son is like you: fhe hath been in good case, and, the truth is, poverty hath distracted her. But for these foolish officers, I beseech you, I may have redress against them. CH. JUST. Sir John, fir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the falfe way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words that come with fuch more than impudent faucinefs from you, can thrust me from a level confideration; you have, as it appears to me, practifed upon the eafy-yielding fpirit of this woman, and made her serve your uses both in purse and perfon. A mefs feems to have been the common term for a smalt proportion of any thing belonging to the kitchen. STEEVENS. So the scriptural term: "a mess of pottage." MALONE, 4 you have, &c.] In the firft quarto it is read thus: You have, as it appears to me, practifed upon the eafy-yielding Spirit of this woman, and made her ferve your uses both in purfe and perfon. Without this, the following exhortation of the Chief Juftice is lefs proper. JOHNSON. In the folio the words" and made her ferve" &c. were omitted. And in the fubfequent speech " the villainy you have done with her," is improperly changed to "the villainy you have done her." MALONE. HOST. Yea, in troth, my lord. CH. JUST. Pr'ythee, peace:-Pay her the debt you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done with her; the one you may do with sterling money, and the other with current repentance. FAL. My lord, I will not undergo this fneap 5 without reply. You call honourable boldness, impudent faucinefs: if a man will make court'fy, and fay nothing, he is virtuous: No, my lord, my humble duty remembered, I will not be your fuitor; I fay to you, I do defire deliverance from these officers, being upon hafty employment in the king's affairs. CH. JUST. You fpeak as having power to do wrong: but answer in the effect of your reputation, and fatisfy the poor woman. FAL. Come hither, hoftefs. [Taking her afide. this fneap-] A Yorkshire word for rebuke. PoPe. Sneap fignifies to check; as children eafily fneaped; herbs and fruits neaped with cold weather. See Ray's Collection. Again, in Brome's Antipodes, 1638: Again: Again: "Do you freap me too, my lord ?" "No need to come hither to be fneap'd." "c even as now I was not, "When you neap'd me, my lord." The word is derived from Snyb, Scotch. We still use fnub in the fame fenfe. STEEVENS. 6 anfwer in the effect of your reputation,] That is, answer in a manner suitable to your character. JOHNSON. Enter GowEr. CH. JUST. Now, mafter Gower; What news? Gow. The king, my lord, and Harry prince of Wales Are near at hand: the rest the paper tells. FAL. As I am a gentleman; HOST. Nay, you faid fo before. FAL. As I am a gentleman; words of it. -Come, no more HOST. By this heavenly ground I tread on, I muft be fain to pawn both my plate, and the tapestry of my dining-chambers. FAL. Glaffes, glaffes, is the only drinking: and for thy walls,-a pretty flight drollery, or the story of the prodigal, or the German hunting in waterwork, is worth a thousand of these bed-hangings, j I muft be fain to pawn-my plate, -Glaffes, glaffes, is the only drinking:] Mrs. Quickly is here in the fame ftate as the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, not having been paid for the diet, &c. of Mary Queen of Scots, while fhe was in his cuftody, in 1580, writes as follows to Thomas Bawdewyn : "I wold have you bye me glaffes to drink in Send me word what olde plat yeldes the ounce, for I wyll not leve me a cuppe of fylvare to drink in, but I wyll fee the next terme my creditors payde." See Lodge's Illustrations of English Hiftory, Vol. II. p. 252. STEEVENS. 8 German hunting in water-work,] i. e. in water colours. WARBURTON. So, in Holinfhed, p. 819: "The king for himfelf had a house of timber, &c. and for his other lodgings he had great and goodlie tents of blew waterwork garnished with yellow and white." It appears alfo from the fame Chronicle, p. 840, that thefe painted cloths were brought from Holland. The German hunting was therefore a subject very likely to be adopted by the artists of that country. and thefe fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou canft. Come, an it were not for thy humours, there is not a better wench in England. Go, wash thy face, and 'draw thy action: Come, thou must not be in this humour with me; doft not know me? Come, come, I know thou waft fet on to this. HOST. Pray thee, fir John, let it be but twenty nobles; i'faith I am loath to pawn my plate, in good earnest, la. FAL. Let it alone; I'll make other shift: you'll be a fool ftill. HOST. Well, you fhall have it, though I pawn my gown. I hope, you'll come to fupper: You'll pay me all together? FAL. Will I live?-Go, with her, with her; [To BARDOLPH.2] hook on, hook on. Drayton, in his 4th Eclogue, fpeaks contemptoufly of fuch hangings: "Nor painted rags then cover'd rotten walls." STEEVENS. The German hunting is, I fuppofe, hunting the wild boar. Shakspeare, in another place, fpeaks of " a full-acorn'd boar, a German one." FARMER. 9 thefe bed-hangings,] We should read dead-hangings, i. e. faded. WARBURTON. I think the prefent reading may well ftand. He recommends painted canvas instead of tapestry, which he calls bed-hangings, in contempt, as fitter to make curtains than to hang walls. I JOHNSON. 'draw thy action :] Draw means here withdraw. 2 To Bardolph.] In former editions the marginal direction is-To the Officers. MALONE. I rather fufpect that the words hook on, hook on, are addressed to Bardolph, and mean, go you with her, hang upon her, and |