Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now fhalt thou be moved.-Give me a cup of fack, to make mine eyes look red, that it may be thought I have wept; for I muft fpeak in paffion, and I will do it in king Cambyfes' vein. P. Hen. Well, here is my leg. Fal. And here is my fpeech :-Stand afide, nobility. Hoft. This is excellent fport, i'faith. Fal. Weep not, fweet queen, for trickling tears are vain. Hoft. O the father, how he holds his countenance! Fal. For God's fake, lords, convey my triftful queen, For tears do ftop the flood-gates of her eyes. Hoft. O rare! he doth it as like one of thefe harlotry players, as I ever fee. Fal. Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle. -king Cambyfes- A lamentable tragedy, mixed full of pleafant mirth, containing the life of Cambyfes king of Perfia. By Thomas Preston. THEOBALD. I queftion if Shakespeare had ever feen this tragedy; for there is a remarkable peculiarity of measure, which, when he profeffed to fpeak in king Cambyfes vein, he would hardly have miffed, if he had known it. JOHNSON. There is a marginal direction in the old play of king Cambifes: "At this tale tolde, let the queen weep ;" which I fancy is alluded to, though the measure is not preferved. FARMER. See a note on the Midjummer Night's Dream, act IV. scene the laft. STEEVENS. 2 -my leg.] That is, my obeifance to my father. JOHNSON. -the flood-gates of her eyes.] This paffage is probably a burlefque on the following in Prefton's Cambyfes: 3 Queen. These words to hear makes filling teares iffue from chryftall eyes." STEEVENS. -harlotry players,] This word is ufed in the Plowman's Tale: "Soche barlotre men &c." Again, in P. P. fol. 27. "I had lever here an harlotry, or a fomer's game." Junius explains the word by "inhonefta paupertinæ fortis feditas." STEEVENS. brain. brain 4. Harry, I do not only marvel where thou fpendeft thy time, but alfo how thou art accompanied: for though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the fafter it grows, yet youth, the more it is wafted, the fooner it wears. That thou art my fon, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion; but chiefly, a villainous trick of thine eye, and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be fon to me, here lies the point ;Why, being fon to me, art thou fo pointed at? Shall the bleffed fun of heaven prove 7 a micher, and eat black ♦ -tickle-brain-] This appears to have been the nick name of fome strong liquor. So, in A new Trick to cheat the Devil 1636: "A cup of Nipfitate brisk and neat, "The drawers call it tickle-brain." In the Antipodes, 1638, fettle-brain is mentioned as another potation. STEEVENS. sHarry, I do not only marvel &c.] A ridicule on the public oratory of that time. WARBURTON. -though the camomile, &c.] This whole fpeech is fupremely comic. The fimile of camomile used to illustrate a contrary effect, brings to my remembrance an observation of a late writer of fome merit, whom the defire of being witty has betrayed into a like thought. Meaning to enforce with great vehemence the mad temerity of young foldiers, he remarks, that "though Bedlam be in the road to Hogfden, it is out of the way to promotion." JOHNSON. In The More the Merrier, a collection of epigrams, 1608, is the following paffage: The camomile fhall teach thee patience, "Which thriveth best when trodden most upon." Again, in The Fawne, a comedy, by Marston, 1606: "For indeed, fir, a reprefs'd fame mounts like camomile, the more trod down the more it grows." STEEVENS. The style immediately ridiculed, is that of Lilly in his Euphues: "Though the camomile the more it is troden and preffed downe, the more it fpreadeth; yet the violet the oftner it is handled and touched, the fooner it withereth and decayeth, &c." FARMER. a micher, i. e. truant; to mich, is to lurk out of fight, a hedge-creeper. WARBURTON. 7 The allufion is to a truant boy, who, unwilling to go to school, and afraid to go home, lurks in the fields, and picks wild fruits. JOHNSON. In black-berries? a queftion not to be afk'd. Shall the fon of England prove a thief, and take purfes? a queftion to be afk'd. There is a thing, Harry, which thou haft often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; fo doth the company thou keepeft: for, Harry, now I do not fpeak to thee in drink, but in tears; not in pleasure, but in paffion; not in words only, but in woes alfo:-And yet there is a virtuous man, whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name. P. Henry. What manner of man, an it like your majefty? Fal. A goodly portly man, i'faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleafing eye, and a moft noble carriage; and, as I think, his age fome fifty, or, by'r-lady, inclining to threefcore; and now remember me, his name is Falftaff: if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry, I fee virtue in his looks. If then the fruit may be known by the tree, as the tree by the fruit, then, pe In A Comment on the Ten Commandments, printed at London in 1493, by Richard Pynfon, I find the word thus used: "They make Goddes houfe a den of theyves; for commonly in fuch feyrs and markets, wherefoever it be holden, ther ben many theyves, michers, and cutpurfe." Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "Pox on him, micher, I'll make him pay for it." Again, in Lilly's Mother Bombie, 1594: "How like a micher he stands, as though he had truanted from honesty." 66 that mite is miching in this grove." ibidem. "The micher hangs down his head." Again, in Ram-alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611: Look to it micber." Again, in the old Morality of Hycke Scorner: "Wanton wenches and alfo michers." STEEVENS. If then the fruit &c.] This paffage is happily restored by fir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON. I am afraid here is a profane allufion to the 33d verse of the 12th chapter of St. Matthew. STEEVENS. remptorily I fpeak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the reft banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where haft thou been this month? P. Henry. Doft thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father. Fal. Depofe me? if thou doft it half fo gravely, fo majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet-fucker, or a poulter's hare. P. Henry. Well, here I am fet. . ୨ Fal. And here I ftand :-judge, my mafters. P. Henry. Now, Harry? whence come you? P. Henry. The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are falfe :-nay, I'l tickle ye for a young prince, i'faith. P. Henry. Sweareft thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil haunts thee, in the likeness of a fat old man; a tun of man is thy com So 9 rabbet-fucker,] Is, I fuppofe, a fucking rabbet. The jeft is in comparing himself to fomething thin and little. a poulterer's have; a hare hung up by the hind legs without a skin, is long and flender. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon is right: for in the account of the ferjeant's feast, by Dugdale, in his Orig. Juridiciales, one article is a dozen of rabbet-fuckers. Again, in The Two Angry Women of Abington: "Clofe as a rabbit-fucker from an old coney." Again, in The Wedding, by Shirley, 1626: "Thefe whorion rabbit-fuckers will never leave the ground." Again, in Lyliy's Endymion, 159: "I prefer an old concy before a rabbit-fucker." Again, in The Tryal of Chivalry, 1599: -a bountiful benefactor for fending thither fuch rabbit-fuckers." Again, in the Witty Fair One, 1633: "Thou thouidit hunt, as I do, thefe wanton rabbit-fuckers." A poulterer was formerly written-a poulter, and fo the old copies of this play. Thus in Pierce Penileffe his Supplication to ide Devil, 1595: "We must have our tables furnitht like poulters' ftalics." STEEVENS. panion. panion. Why doft thou converfe with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beaftlinefs, that fwoln parcel of dropfics, that huge bombard of fack, that ftuft cloak-bag of guts, that roafted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father raian, that vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to tafte fack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villainy? wherein villainous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing? Fal. I would, your grace would take me with you; Whom means your grace? P. Henry. That villainous abominable mif-leader of youth, Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. Fal. My lord, the man I know. P. Henry. I know, thou doft. Fal. But to fay, I know more harm in him than in myfelf, were to fay more than I know. That he is old, (the more the pity) his white hairs do witness bolting-butch-] Bolting-hutch is, I think, a meal bag. JOHNSON. a bolting-hutch- ] Is the wooden receptacle into which the meal is bolted. STEEVENS. 2 Manning-tree ox] Of the Manning tree ox I can give no account, but the meaning is clear. JOHNSON. Manning-trec in Effex, and the neighbourhood of it, is famous for richness of pasture. The farms thereabouts are chiefly tenanted by graziers. Some ox of an unufual fize was, I fuppofe, roafted there on an occafion of public festivity, or expofed for money to public fhow. STEEVENS. 3 -cunning, -] Cunning was not yet debased to a bad meaning it fignified knowing, or fkilful. 4 : JOHNSON. take me with you; -] That is, go no faster than I can follow you. Let me know your meaning. JOHNSON. Lilly in his Endimion, fays: "Tufh, tufh, neighbours, take me with you." FARMER. The expreffion is fo common in the old plays, that it is unneceffary to introduce any more quotations in fupport of it. STEEVENS. |
