a tinker's wife within a mile where my land and living lies; and, having flown over many knavish professions, he settled only in rogue: some call him Autolycus.

CLO. Out upon him! prig, for my life, prig: he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings. AUT. Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue that put me into this apparel.

CLO. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia; if you had but looked big and spit at him, he'd have run.

AUT. I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter; I am false of heart that way; and that he knew, I warrant him.

CLO. How do you now?

AUT. Sweet sir, much better than I was; I can stand and walk: I will even take my leave of you, and pace softly towards my kinsman's.

CLO. Shall I bring thee on the way?
AUT. No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir.

FLO.

Apprehend Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves, Humbling their deities to love, have taken The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune A ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god, Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain, As I seem now: (6)—their transformations Were never for a piece of beauty rarer, Nor in a way so chaste, since my desires Run not before mine honour, nor my lusts Burn hotter than my faith.

PER. O, but, sir, Your resolution cannot hold, when 't is Oppos'd, as it must be, by the power of the king; One of these two must be necessities,

With these forc'd thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not
The mirth o' the feast: or I'll be thine, my fair,
Or not my father's; for I cannot be
Mine own, nor anything to any, if

I be not thine: to this I am most constant,
Though destiny say No. Be merry, gentle!"
Strangle such thoughts as these with anything
That you behold the while. Your guests are
coming:

Lift up your countenance, as it were the day
Of celebration of that nuptial which
We two have sworn shall come.

At

upper end o' the table, now, i' the middle; On his shoulder, and his; her face o' fire With labour, and the thing she took to quench it, She would to each one sip. You are retir'd As if you were a feasted one, and not The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid These unknown friends to us welcome; for it is A way to make us better friends, more known. Come, quench your blushes, and present yourself That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come

swoon, I think,

To show myself a glass.]

So Hanmer; and to our mind the emendation is so convincingly true, that we are astonished it should ever have been questioned.

The old copies have, "-- sworne, I think."

b Be merry, gentle!] Mr. Collier's annotator, in his rage for reformation, changes this to, "Be merry, girl." The meaning is obviously, Be merry, gentle one!

POL. Then make your garden rich in gillyvors, And do not call them bastards.

PER.

I'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
No more than, were I painted, I would wish
This youth should say, 't were well; and only
therefore

Desire to breed by me.-Here's flowers for you :
Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram ;
The marigold," that goes to bed wi' the sun,
And with him rises weeping; these are flowers
Of middle summer, and, I think, they are given
To men of middle age: ye're very welcome.

CAM. I should leave grazing, were I of your
flock,

And only live by gazing.

Out, alas!

PER. You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through.-Now, my fair'st friend,

I would I had some flowers o' the spring, that might

Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,
That wear upon your virgin branches yet
Your maidenheads growing:-0, Proserpina,(7)
For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou lett'st
fall

From Dis's waggon! daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take

The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength,—a malady
Most incident to maids ;--bold oxlips, and
The crown-imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,
To make you garlands of; and, my sweet friend,
To strew him o'er and o'er !
FLO.
What! like a corse?
PER. No, like a bank for love to lie and play

"which peeps so fairly," &c. But the rhythm does not require the addition; we need only make a slight transposition, and read,

"And the true blood which through it fairly peeps."

d As little skill-] As little reason, &c.

SERV. O master, if you did but hear the pedler at the door, you would never dance again after a tabor and pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you he sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money he utters them as he had eaten ballads, and all men's ears grew to his tunes.

CLO. He could never come better: he shall come in I love a ballad but even too well, if it be doleful matter merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.

SERV. He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves he has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange; with such

a That makes her blood look out:] Theobald's correction; the old text having,-"look on 't." The misprint was not uncommon: thus, in "Cymbeline," Act II. Sc. 3,

"Must wear the print of his remembrance out,"

and in "Twelfth Night," Act III. Sc. 4,

"And laid mine honour too unchary out,"

where, in both instances, the old editions have "on't." ba foul gap-] Mr. Collier's annotator would read,—a foul jape, that is, a broad jest; but a "foul gapi means a gross paren

POL. This is a brave fellow.

CLO. Believe me, thou talkest of an admirableconceited fellow. Has he any unbraided wares? SERV. He hath ribands of all the colours i' the rainbow; points, more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle, though they come to him by the gross; inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns; why, he sings 'em over, as they were gods or goddesses; you would think, a smock were a she-angel, he so chants to the sleeve-hand, and the work about the square on 't.

f

e

CLO. Pr'ythee, bring him in; and let him approach singing.

PER. Forewarn him that he use no scurrilous words in 's tunes. [Exit Servant. CLO. You have of these pedlers, that have more in them than you'd think, sister. PER. Ay, good brother, or go about to think.

Enter AUTOLYCUs, singing.

Lawn as white as driven snow;
Cyprus black as e'er was crow;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses;
Masks for faces and for noses;
Bugle-bracelet, necklace-amber,
Perfume for a lady's chamber;
Golden quoifs and stomachers,
For my lads to give their dears;
Pins and poking-sticks of steel; (8)
What maids lack from head to heel:
Come, buy of me, come; come buy, come buy;
Buy, lads, or else your lasses cry: come, buy.

CLO. If I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take no money of me; but being enthralled as I am, it will also be the bondage of certain ribands and gloves.

MOP. I was promised them against the feast; but they come not too late now.

DOR. He hath promised you more than that, or there be liars.