Biron. Well said, old mocker; I must needs be friends with thee. Cost. I Pompey am, Pompey surnam'd the big,- Cost. It is great, sir ;-Pompey surnam'd the great ; That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe 10 sweat : And,travelling along this coast, Iheream 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 conquer ing might : My 'scutcheon plain declares, that I am Alisander, Boyet. Your nose says no, you are not ; for it stands too right. 6 Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most tender smelling knight. Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd : Proceed, good Alexander. Math. 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. 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,7 will be given to A-jax :8 he will [6] It should be remembered to relish this joke, that the head of Alexander was placed obliquely on his shoulders. STEEVENS. [7] This alludes to the arms given in the old history of the Nine Worthies, to « Alexander, the which did beare geules, a lion, or sei ante in a chayer, holding a battle-ax argent.” Leigh's Accidence of Armory, 1597. TOLLÉT. [8] There is a conceit of Ajax and a jakes. JOHNSON be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afеard to speak! Prin. Štand aside, good Pompey. Hercules. Whose club kill'dCerberus,that three-headed canus; Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus : Hol. Judas l am,- Hol. Not Iscariot, sir. Dum. Judas Machabæus clipt, is plain Judas. [9] That is, the part or character allotted to him in this piece is too con- 36 VOL. 11. : Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch. 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. Boyet. Therefore, as he is, an ass, let him go. Dum. For the latter end of his name. 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 Trojan? in respect of this. Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, 3 Gave Hector a gift, Dum. A gilt nutmeg. (2) 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. STEEV. (3) i. e. of lance-men. STEEV. [4] An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a common new. year's gift. A gilt nutmeg is mentioned by Ben Jonson as a present on the same occasion. The use, however,of an orange, &c. may be ascertained from The Second Booke of Notable Thinges, by Thomas Lupton, 4to. bl. 1: “Wyne wyll be pleasant in taste and savour if an orenge or a Lymon (stickt round about with cloaves) be hanged within the vessell that it touche not the wyne. And so the wyne wyll be preserved from foystines and evyll savour.” Dum. No, cloven. Arm. Peace ! Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion; From morn till night, out of his pavilion. Dum. That mint. Long. That columbine. 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 COSTARD. Prin. Speak, brave Hector; we are much delighted. Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector, she is gone ; she is two months on her way. Arm. What meanest thou ? Cost. Faith, unless you play the honest Trojan, the poor wench is cast away: she's quick ; the child brags in her belly already ; 'tis yours. Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among potentates? thou shalt die. Cost. Then shall Hector be whipp'd, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pompey that is dead by him. Dum. Most rare Pompey ! Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great Dum. Hector trembles. Biron. Pompey is mov’d:-More Atès, more Atès ;: stir them or ! stir them on! Dum. Hector will challenge him. (5) That is, more instigation. Ate was the mischievous goddess that in. cited bloodshed. JOHNSON a Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's belly than will sup a flea. Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Cost. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man; I'll slash ; I'll do it by the sword :-I pray you, let me borrow my arms again. 6 Dum. Room for the incensed worthies. Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat ? What mean you ? you will lose your reputation. Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me ; I will not combat in my shirt. Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath made the challenge. Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will. Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt; I go woolward for penance. Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen :? since when, I'll be sworn, he wore none, but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and that a'wears Dext his heart, for a favour. Enter MERCADE. Prin. Welcome, Mercade ; Mer. I am sorry, madam ; for the news I bring [6] The weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey. JOHNSON (7]. This may possibly allude to a story well known in our auihor's time, to this eff ct :-A Sp niard at Rome falling in a duel, as he lay expiring, an intimate friend, by chance, came by, and offered him his best services. The dying man told him he had but one request to make him, but conjured him, by th memory of their past friendship, punctually to comply with it, which was, not to suffer him iu be stript, but to bury him as he lay, in the habit he then had on When this as promised, the Spaniard closed his eyes, and exi: ed with great composure and resignation. But his friend's curiosity prevailing over his good faith, he had him stript, and found, to his great surprise, that he was without a shirt. WARB. To go. woolward, I believe. was a phase appropriated to pilgrims and penitentiaries. Skinner derives woolward from the Saxon wol plague: secondarily ony greut distress and weard, toward. Thus, says he. it signifies, "in magno discrimine on expectatione magni mali constitutus." I rather think it si ould be written woolward,and that it means clothed in wool, and not in linen. T. WARTON. |