game.

The tail is

-curtail-dog-That is, a dog that misses his counted necessary to the agility of a greyhound. JOHN. • Curtail dog?' 'Curtail' should be written curt-tail, curt (curtus lat.) short. B.

Page. I never heard such a drawling, affecting rogue. Such a drawling affecting rogue.' Such a drawling, inanimate fellow, yet affecting to be humorous.

B.

Host. And thy name shall be Brook: It is a merry knight. Will you go an-heirs?

-Will you go AN-HEIRS? This nonsense is spoken to Shallow. We should read, Will you go on, HERIS? i. e. Will you go on, master? Heris, an old Scotch word for Master.. WARB.

The merry Host has already saluted them separately by titles of distinction; he, therefore, probably now addresses them collectively by a general one "Will you go on, heroes?" or, as probably--" Will you go on, hearts?" He calls Dr. Caius "Heart of Elder; " and adds, in a subsequent scene of this play, "Farewell my hearts." Again, in the Midsummer's Night Dream, Bottom says, "Where are these hearts 2" "My brave hearts," or 66 my bold hearts," is a common word of encouragement. A "heart of gold" expresses the more soft and amiable qualities, the Mores aurei of Horace; and a "heart of oak" is a frequent encomium of rugged honesty. Hanmer reads "Mynheers." STEEV.

Will you go an-heirs?] Perhaps we should read, "Will you go and hear us? So in the next page-" I had rather hear them scold than fight." MAL.

'Will you go an-heirs.' May we not better read, ' Ao you will go: eb, Sir? It should be remarked, that heirs and eh, Sir, are made up of precisely the same letters. Of the incorrectness of the Printers in Shakspeare's time we have proof in almost every page of his works. 'An you will go,' is an expression equivalent to Is it your pleasure to go,' or are you ready or willing to go? Eh, Sir?' What say you, Sir? 'An' appears redundant, but it was much employed in former days. B.

Ford. Though Page be a secure fool, and stand so firmly on his wife's frailty, yet I cannot put off my opinion so easily.

――stand so firmly on his wife's frailty, Thus all the copies. But Mr. Theobald has no conception how any man could stand firmly on his wife's frailty. And why? Because he had no conception how he could stand upon it, without knowing what it was. But if I tell a stranger, that the bridge he is about to cross is rotten, and he believes it not, but will go I not say, when I see him upon it, that he stands firmly on a rotten plank? Yet he has changed frailty for fealty, and the Oxford editor has followed him. But they took the phrase, to stand firmly on, to signify to insist upon; whereas it signifies to rest upon, which the character of a secure fool, given to him, shews. So that the common reading has an elegance that would be lost in the alteration. WARB.

on, may

The jealous Ford is the speaker, and all chastity in women appears to him him as frailty. He supposes Page therefore to insist on that virtue as steady, which he himself suspects to be without foundation. STEEV.

Stand so firmly on his wife's frailty.' Mr. Steevens should have been told that chastity cannot be frailty. We know what he means indeed, that there is only an appearance of chastity in women, and that all are frail. This is what Mr. Steevens would insinuate as being the opinion of Ford. But, like to his predecessor Theobald, the lucidus ordo is seldom discoverable in his writings. He is often, (an unfortunate situation for a Commentator) very often involved in smoke. B.

Pist. Why, then the world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open. I will retort the sum in equipage. I will retort the sum in equipage.] This is added from the old quarto of 1619, and means, I will pay you again in stolen goods. WARB. I rather believe he means, that he will pay him by waiting on him for nothing.

That equipage ever meant stolen goods, I am yet to learn. STEEV.

I will retort in equipage.' Warburton is without the smallest question right. Mr. Steevens's acuteness is sadly out of place. He is" yet to learn that equipage means stolen goods." But who has said that such is the meaning? I will retort the sum in equipage,' "I will repay you by furnishing necessaries, or things for your use." Now in what way was he to procure them? Why the world is his oyster, and he will open that oyster with his sword, i. e. He will rob and plunder. The necessaries (equipage) thus got possession of, can only be called stolen goods. But then it is by no means to follow that equipage must stand generally for stolen goods; nor would any other than Mr. Steevens, I believe, even for a moment have supposed that it could be so.

B.

Fal. Go.-A short knife and a throng,-to your manor of Pickt-hatch, go.

A short knife and a throng:] So Lear: "When cut-purses come not to throngs." WARB.

Part of the employment given by Drayton, in The Mooncalf, to the Baboon, seems the same with this recommended by Falstaff:

"He like a gypsy oftentimes would go,

"All kinds of gibberish he hath learn'd to know: "And with a stick, a short string, and a noose, "Would show the people tricks at fast and loose." Theobald has throng instead of thong. The latter seems right. LANGT. Both the folio and quarto read throng. MAL.

"A short knife and a throng.” "Thong" is quite out of the question. Yet Mr. Steevens by talking of purse-strings is, evidently, of the same opinion as Mr. Langton. Falstaff would say: "Go! and with a short knife: so that when you meet with people in a throng, you may cut their purses." The passage in Lear shows that such is the meaning. B.

SHAK.

I.

R

Fal. And yet you rogue will ensconce your rags, your cat-a-mountain looks, your red-lattice phrases, and your bold-beating oaths, under the shelter of your

honour !

Ensconce your rags, &c.] A sconce is a petty fortification. To ensconce, therefore, is to protect as with a fort. The word occurs again in K. Hen. IV. Part I. STEEV.

"Ensconce your rags." "Rags," should be rages (Subst. and Dissyl.) i. e. tricks, deceits. The word is used by Chaucer and other old writers in that sense. The editors, however, by printing rags, must be of opinion that Falstaff is talking of Pistol's tatters. But this is extremely absurd. The context will show that rages is the proper reading. B.

Fal. Ha! Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, have I encompass'd you? go to; via!

Go to via!] This cant phrase of exultation is common in the old plays. So, in Blurt Master Constable :

STEEV.

"Via for fate! Fortune, lo! this is all." Markham uses this word as one of the vocal helps necessary for reviving a horse's spirits in galloping large rings when he grows slothful. Hence this cant phrase (perhaps from the Italian, via) may be used on other occasions to quicken or pluck up courage. See Vol. II. 499. TOL.

"Via." This should not be called a cant term of exultation. It is the Latin via, meaning access. Falstaff would say: I have gained. my point. I am allowed admission to her. B.

Host. To see thee fight, to see thee foin.

To see thee foin.] To foin, I believe, was the ancient term for making a thrust in fencing, or tilting.

STEEV.

- 1 rather think that foil is the proper word here-i. e. to see thee overcome or conquer thine enemy. The foining, or fencing, of Caius, is afterwards spoken of. B.

Host. Pardon, guest justice :-A word, monsieurmock-water.

Caius. Mock-vater! vat is dat ?

Host. Mock-water, in our English tongue, is valour, bully.

Mock-water.] The host means, I believe, to reflect on the inspection of urine, which made a considerable part of practical physic in that time; yet I do not well see the meaning of mock-water. JOHN.

"Mock-water" is here used equivocally. It no doubt alludes, in the first instance, to the inspection of urine, as Dr. Johnson supposes. But what does the host mean, it will be asked, by saying that mock-water is valor? It is said of a bold and resolute fellow that he is ready to go through fire and water; that nothing

can divert him from his purposes. Mock-water may therefore, in the second instance, be applied to one who defies the elements→→ to the man who smiles at danger. B.

Host. I will bring thee where Mistress Ann Page is, at a farm-house a-feasting; and thou shalt woo her: Cry'd game, said I well?

In old editions, "I will bring thee where Ann Page is, at a farmhouse a feasting; and thou shalt woo her: cry'd game, said I well?" Mr. Theobald alters this nonsense to try'd game; that is, to nonsense of a worse complexion. Shakspeare wrote and pointed thus, CRY AIM, said I well? i. e. consent to it, approve of it. Have not I made a good proposal? for to cry aim signifies to consent to, or approve of any thing. So again in this play: "And to these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall CRY AIM," i. e. approve them. And again, in King John, act II. sc. ii.

"It ill becomes this presence to CRY AIM

"To these ill-tuned repetitions."

i.e. to approve of, or encourage them. The phrase was taken, originally, from archery. When any one had challenged another to shoot at the butts (the perpctual diversion, as well as exercise, of that time,) the standers-by used to say one to the other, Cry aim, i. e. accept the challenge. Thus Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Fair Maid of the Inn, Act V. make the Duke say:

Must I cry AIME

"To this unheard of insolence?".

But the Oxford editor transforms it to Cock o' the Game; and his improvements of Shakspeare's language abound with these modern elegancies of speech, such as mynheers, bull-baitings, &c. WARB.

"Thou shalt woo her, aud cry amie." Amie, Fr. a word of endearment. Thou shalt woo her, says the host, and cry amie,i.e. salute her with the title of lovely mistress, eh, said I well? That this is the true reading the context will clearly show. The terms aim and aime are confounded by the editors. They are differently spelled in the several passages which are cited, and certainly have different meaning. "Cry aim" in King John should be cry aien. See my note in King John, Act II. Scene 2. In the Fair Maid of the Inne, the signification of "Must I cry aime," is: "Must I say content, or, that I like such proceedings ?" A French expression. The same of Massinger. B.

Ford. Well; I will take him, then torture my wife, pluck the borrow'd veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page, divulge Page himself for a secure and wilful Actæon; and to these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall cry aim.

So seeming Mistress Page.] Seeming is specious. So, in K. Lear: "If ought within that little seeming substance." STEEV. "The so seeming Mistress Page." Notes like this are merely seeming, and may be considered as an affront to the reader. B.

Shall cry aim.] i. e. shall encourage. The phrase is taken from archery See a note on the first scene of this act, and another in K. John, Act II. Sc. i. STEEV.

"

"Shall cry aim." Cry aim," is certainly taken from archery. But " "cry aim does not appear to be the proper reading here. It is inconsequent. I would, therefore, alter it to "cry aien." To all this my neighbours will cry " again:" go on thus; keep to this. Aien with old writers is again. B.

Fal. Thou hast the right arched bent of the brow, that becomes the ship-tire, the tire valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance.

That becomes the ship-tire, the tire-VALIANT, or any Venetian attire.] The old quarto reads, " tire-vellet," and the old folio reads, " or any tire of Venetian admittance." So that the true reading of the whole is this, that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-VALIANT, or any tire of Venetian admittance." The speaker tells his mistress, she had a face that would become all the head dresses in fashion. The ship-tire was an open head dress, with a kind of scarf depending from behind. Its name of shiptire was, I presume, from its giving the wearer some resemblance of a ship (as Shakspeare says) "in all her trim :" with all her pennants out, and flags and streamers flying.

I suppose Shakspeare wrote tire-varlant. As the ship-tire was an open head-dress, so the tire-vailant was a close one; in which the head and breast were covered as with a veil. And these were in fact, the two different head-dresses then in fashion, as we may see by the pictures of that time one of which was so open, that the whole neck, breasts, and shoulders, were opened to view the other, so securely inclosed in kerchiefs, &c. that nothing could be seen above the eyes, or below the chin. WARB.

Instead of tire-valiant I would read tire-volant. Stubbs, who describes most minutely every article of female dress, has mentioned none of these terms, but speaks of vails depending from the top of the head, and flying behind in loose folds. The word volant was in use before the age of Shakspeare. I find it in Wilfride Holme's Fall and evil Successe of Rebellion, 1537:

"high volant in any thing divine."

STEEV.

"That becomes the ship-tire," &c. "Tire-volant" i. e. a flying, or rather streaming head dress, is certainly right. A French writer in his Histoire de Venize, when speaking of the head-tire of the women, calls it Coeffure Ailée. This reading, "tire volant," (as. Venetian attire is spoken of,) will, I think, be admitted. B.

Fal. I see what thou wert, if fortune thy foe were not; nature is thy friend: Come, thou canst not hideit.

Fortune thy foe.] The first and second folio read :-I see what thou wert if Fortune thy foe were not Nature thy Friend. The passage is not in the early quarto. REED.

"Fortune thy foe." The folio reading is the true one. There should be a comma at were. Falstaff is aiming at a high-strained