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FAB. A good note: that keeps you from the blow of the law.

SIR To. Thou comeft to the lady Olivia, and in my fight fhe ufes thee kindly: but thou lieft in thy throat, that is not the matter I challenge thee for.

FAB. Very brief, and exceeding good fenfe-lefs. SIR TO. I will way-lay thee going home; where if it be thy chance to kill me,

FAB. Good.

SIR TO. Thou kill'ft me like a rogue and a villain. FAB. Still you keep o'the windy fide of the law: Good.

SIR TO. Fare thee well; And God have mercy upon one of our fouls! He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better, and fo look to thyself. Thy friend, as thou ufeft him, and thy fworn enemy, ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.

SIR TO. If this letter move him not, his legs cannot: I'll give't him.

MAR. You may have very fit occafion for't; he is now in fome commerce with my lady, and will by and by depart.

5 He may have mercy upon mine;] We may read-He may have mercy upon thine, but my hope is better. Yet the passage may well enough ftand without alteration.

It were much to be wished that Shakspeare, in this, and some other paffages, had not ventured fo near profaneness. JOHNSON.

The prefent reading is more humourous than that fuggefted by Johnfon. The man on whofe foul he hopes that God will have mercy, is the one that he fuppofes will fall in the combat: but Sir Andrew hopes to escape unhurt, and to have no present occasion for that blefling.

The fame idea occurs in Henry V. where Mrs. Quickly, giving an account of poor Falstaff's diffolution, fays: "Now I, to comfort him, bid him not think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any fuch thoughts yet." M. MASON.

SIR TO. Go, fir Andrew; fcout me for him at the corner of the orchard, like a bum-bailiff: fo foon as ever thou seeft him, draw; and, as thou draw'st, fwear horrible: for it comes to pass oft, that a terrible oath, with a fwaggering accent fharply twang'd off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earn'd him. Away.

SIR AND. Nay, let me alone for fwearing. [Exit. SIR TO. Now will not I deliver his letter: for the behaviour of the young gentleman gives him out to be of good capacity and breeding; his employment between his lord and my niece confirms no lefs; therefore this letter, being fo excellently ignorant, will breed no terror in the youth, he will find it comes from a clodpole. But, fir, I will deliver his challenge by word of mouth; fet upon Ague-cheek a notable report of valour; and drive the gentleman, (as, I know, his youth will aptly receive it,) into a moft hideous opinion of his rage, fkill, fury, and impetuofity. This will fo fright them both, that they will kill one another by the look, like cockatrices.

Enter OLIVIA and VIOLA.

FAB. Here he comes with your niece: give them way, till he take leave, and presently after him. SIR TO. I will meditate the while upon fome horrid meffage for a challenge.

[Exeunt SIR TOBY, FABIAN, and MARIA. OLI. I have faid too much unto a heart of ftone, And laid mine honour too unchary out:"

-fwear horrible:] Adjectives are often used by our author

and his contemporaries, adverbially. MALONE.

6

too unchary out:] The old copy reads-on't. emendation is Mr. Theobald's. MALONE.

The

There's fomething in me, that reproves my fault;
But fuch a headstrong potent fault it is,
That it but mocks reproof.

VIO. With the fame 'haviour that your paffion bears,

Go on my master's griefs.

OLI. Here, wear this jewel for me, tis my picture; Refuse it not, it hath no tongue to vex you: And, I beseech you, come again to-morrow. What shall you ask of me, that I'll deny; That honour, fav'd, may upon asking give? VIO. Nothing but this, your true love for my master.

OLI. How with mine honour may I give him that Which I have given to you?

V10.

I will acquit you.

OLI. Well, come again to-morrow: Fare thee

well;

A fiend, like thee, might bear my foul to hell. [Exit.

Re-enter SIR TOBY BELCH, and FABIAN.

SIR TO. Gentleman, God fave thee.

V10. And you, fir.

SIR TO. That defence thou haft, betake thee to't: of what nature the wrongs are thou haft done him, I know not; but thy intercepter, full of defpight, bloody as the hunter, attends thee at the orchard

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wear this jewel for me,] Jewel does not properly fignify a fingle gem, but any precious ornament or fuperfluity.

JOHNSON.

So, in Markham's Arcadia, 1607: "She gave him a very fine jewel, wherein was fet a moft rich diamond. See alfo Mr. T. Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry, Vol. I. p. 121. STEEVENS. 8thy intercepter,] Thus the old copy. modern editors read-interpreter. STEEVENS.

Most of the

end: difmount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy affailant is quick, fkilful, and deadly.

V10. You mistake, fir; I am fure, no man hath any quarrel to me; my remembrance is very free and clear from any image of offence done to any man.

SIR TO. You'll find it otherwife, I affure you: therefore, if you hold your life at any price, betake you to your guard; for your oppofite hath in him what youth, ftrength, skill, and wrath, can furnish man withal.

V10. I pray you, fir, what is he?

SIR TO. He is knight, dubb'd with unhack'd rapier, and on carpet confideration; but he is a

9 He is knight, dubb'd with unhack'd rapier, and on carpet confideration;] That is, he is no foldier by profeffion, not a knight banneret, dubbed in the field of battle, but, on carpet confideration, at a feftivity, or on fome peaceable occafion, when knights receive their dignity kneeling, not on the ground, as in war, but on a carpet. This is, I believe, the original of the contemptuous term a carpet knight, who was naturally held in fcorn by the men of war. JOHNSON.

In Francis Markham's Booke of Honour, fo. 1625, p. 71, we have the following account of Carpet Knights. "Next unto these (i. e. thofe he diftinguishes by the title of Dunghill or Truck Knights) in degree, but not in qualitie, (for thefe are truly for the most part vertuous and worthie) is that rank of Knights which are called Carpet Knights, being men who are by the prince's grace and favour made knights at home and in the time of peace by the impofition or laying on of the king's fword, having by fome fpecial fervice done to the commonwealth, or for fome other particular virtues made known to the foveraigne, as alfo for the dignitie of their births, and in recompence of noble and famous actions done by their ancestors, deferved this great title and dignitie." He then enumerates the feveral orders of men on whom this honour was ufually conferred; and adds" thofe of the vulgar or common fort are called Carpet Knights, becaufe (for the most part) they receive their honour from the king's hand in the court, and upon carpets, and fuch like ornaments belonging to the king's ftate and greatneffe; which hawfoever a curious envie may wreft to an ill fenfe, yet queftionleffe there is no fhadow of dif

devil in private brawl: fouls and bodies hath he divorced three; and his incenfement at this moment is fo implacable, that fatisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and fepulchre: hob, nob,' is his word; give't, or take't.

grace belonging unto it, for it is an honour as perfect as any honour whatfoever, and the fervices and merits for which it is received, as worthy and well deferving both of the king and country, as that which hath wounds and fcarres for his witneffe."

REED.

Greene ufes the term-Carpet-knights, in contempt of those of whom he is speaking; and, in The Downfal of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601, it is employed for the fame purpose:

foldiers, come away:

"This Carpet-knight fits carping at our fears."

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In Barrett's Alvearie, 1580: thofe which do not exercife themselves with fome honeft affaires, but ferve abhominable and filthy idleness, are, as we ufe to call them, Carpet-knightes." B. ante O. Again, among fir John Harrington's Epigrams, B. IV. Ep. 6. Of Merit and Demerit:

That captaines in those days were not regarded, "That only Carpet-knights were well rewarded." The old copy reads-unhatch'd rapier. STEEVENS.

with unhatch'd rapier,] The modern editors read— unhack'd. It appears from Cotgrave's Dictionary in v. hacher, [to hack, hew, &c.] that to hatch the hilt of a fword, was a technical term.-Perhaps we ought to read-with an hatch'd rapier, i. e. with a rapier, the hilt of which was richly engraved and ornamented. Our author, however, might have used unbatch'd in the fenfe of unback'd; and therefore I have made no change.

MALONE.

2 hob, nob,] This adverb is corrupted from hap ne hap; as would ne would," will ne will; that is, let it happen or not; and fignifies at random, at the mercy of chance. See Johnson's Dictionary. So, in Lilly's Euphues and his England, 4to. bl. 1. 1580: "Thus Philautus determined, hab nab, to fend his letters," &c. STEEVENS.

Is not this the origin of our hob nob, or challenge to drink a glafs of wine at dinner? The phrafe occurs in Ben Jonfon's Tale of a Tub:

66

I put it

"Ev'n to your worship's bitterment, hab nab.

"I fhall have a chance o'the dice for't, I hope."

M. MASON.

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