Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Biron. Well said, old mocker; I must needs be friends with thee.

Cost. I Pompey am, Pompey surnam'd the big, —
Dum. The great.

Cost. It is great, sir;-Pompey surnam'd the great; That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe to

sweat:

And, travelling along this coast, I here am come by chance; And lay my arms before the legs of this sweet lass of France. If your ladyship would say, Thanks, Pompey, I had done. Prin. Great thanks, great Pompey.

Cost. 'Tis not so much worth; but, I hope, I was perfect: I made a little fault in, great.

Biron. My hat to a halfpenny, Pompey proves the best worthy.

Enter NATHANIEL arm'd, for Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's

commander;

By east, west, north, and south, I spread my conquering might: My 'scutcheon plain declares, that I am Alisander.

ing chiefly plotted and composed by ignorant people, were seldom committed to writing, at least with the view of preservation, and are of course rarely discovered in the researches of even the most industrious antiquaries. And it is certain that nothing of the kind (except the speeches in this scene, which were intended to burlesque them) ever appeared in print." This observation belongs to Mr. Ritson, who has printed a genuine specimen of the poetry and manner of this rude and ancient drama, from an original manuscript of Edward the Fourth's time. (Tanner's MSS. 407.) Reed.

6 With libbard's head on knee.] This alludes to the old heroic habits, which on the knees and shoulders had usually by way of ornament, the resemblance of a leopard's or lion's head. Warburton.

In the church of Westley Waterless, Cambridgeshire, the brass figure of Sir John de Creke, has libbards faces at the joints of his shoulders and elbows.

The libbard, as some of the old English glossaries inform us, is the male of the panther.

This ornament is mentioned is Sir Giles Goosecap, 1606:

66 -posset cuppes carved with libbard's faces, and lyon's heads with spouts in their mouths, to let out the posset-ale most artificially."

Again, in the metrical Chronicle of Robert de Brunne: "Upon his shoulders a shelde of stele,

"With the 4 libbards painted wele." Steevens.

Boyet. Your nose says, no, you are not; for it stands too right.7

Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most tendersmelling knight.

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd: Proceed, good Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I liv'd, I was the world's commander;

Boyet. Most true, 'tis right; you were so, Alisander.
Biron. Pompey the great,
Cost.

8

Your servant, and Costárd. Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander. Cost. O, sir, [to NATH.] you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this: your lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close-stool, will be given to A-jax: he will be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander, [NATH. retires.] There, an 't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dash'd! He is a marvellous good neighbour, insooth; and a very good bowler: but, for Alisander, alas, you see, how 'tis ;;—a little o'erparted:1-But there are worthies a coming will speak their mind in some other sort.

7 it stands too right.]. It should be remembered, to relish this joke, that the head of Alexander was obliquely placed on his shoulders. Steevens.

8 ·lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close-stool,] This alludes to the arms given in the old history of The Nine Worthies, to "Alexander, the which did beare geules, a lion, or seiante in a chayer, holding a battle-ax argent." Leigh's Accidence of Armory, 1597, p. 23. Tollet.

9 - A-jax;] There is a conceit of Ajax and a jakes.

Johnson. This conceit, paltry as it is, was used by Ben Jonson, and Camden the antiquary. Ben, among his Epigrams, has these two

lines:

"And I could wish, for their eternis'd sakes,

"My muse had plough'd with his that sung A-jax." So, Camden, in his Remains, having mentioned the French word pet, says, "Enquire, if you understand it not, of Cloacina's chaplains, or such as are well read in A-jax." Steevens.

1a little o'er-parted:] That is, the part or character allotted to him in this piece is too considerable. Malone.

Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey.

Enter HOLOFERNES arm'd, for Judas, and MOTн arm'd, for Hercules.

Hol. Great Hercules is presented by this imp,

Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-headed canus; And, when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp,

Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus:

Quoniam, he seemeth in minority;

Ergo, I come with this apology.—

Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish. [Exit MoтH. Hol. Judas I am,

Dum. A Judas!

Hol. Not Iscariot, sir.

Judas I am, ycleped Machabæus.

Dum. Judas Machabæus clipt, is plain Judas.
Biron. A kissing traitor:-How art thou prov'd Judas?
Hol. Judas I am,-

Dum. The more shame for you, Judas.

Hol. What mean you, sir?

Boyet. To make Judas hang himself.

Hol. Begin, sir; you are my elder.

Biron. Well follow'd: Judas was hang'd on an elder. Hol. I will not be put out of countenance.

Biron. Because thou hast no face.

Hol. What is this?

Boyet. A cittern head.2

Dum. The head of a bodkin.

Biron. A death's face in a ring.

Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce seen. Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's faulchion.

Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask.3

66

24 cittern head.] So, in Fancies Chaste and Noble, 1638: A cittern-headed gew-gaw." Again, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: "Fiddling on a cittern with a man's broken head at it." Again, in Ford's Lover's Melancholy, 1629: "I hope the chronicles will rear me one day for a head-piece

[ocr errors]

"Of woodcock without brains in it; barbers shall wear thee on their citterns, &c. Steevens.

3

on a flask.] i. e. a soldier's powder-horn. So, in Romeo

and Juliet:

[ocr errors]

-like powder in a skilless soldier's flask, "Is set on fire."

Steevens.

Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.^

Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.

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.

Biron. False; we have given thee faces.

Hol. But you have out-fac'd them all.

Biron. An thou wert a lion, we would do so. Boyet. Therefore, as he is, an ass, let him go. And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou stay? Dum. For the latter end of his name.

Biron. For the ass to the Jude: give it him:-Jud-as,

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. Boyet. But is this Hector?

Dum. I think, Hector was not so clean-timber'd.

Long. His leg is too big for Hector.

Dum. More calf, certain.

Boyet. No; he is best endued in the small.

Biron. This cannot be Hector.

Dum. He's a god or a painter; for he makes faces. Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances 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 Trojan," &c. Steevens.

6

of lances -] i. e. of lance-men. So, in King Lear: “And turn our imprest lances in our eyes." Steevens.

[blocks in formation]

The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty,

Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion;

A man so breath'd, that certain he would fight, yea,
From morn till night, out of his pavilion.

[blocks in formation]

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.

8 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.

« AnteriorContinuar »