poor rogues, upon my reputation and credit, and as I hope to live. 1 Sold. Shall I fet down your answer fo? Par. Do; I'll take the facrament on't, how and which way you will. Ber. All's one to him. What a paft-faving flave is this! 1 Lord. You are deceived, my lord; this is monfieur Parolles, the gallant militarist, (that was his own phrafe,) that had the whole theorick 2 of war in the knot of his fcarf, and the practice in the chape of his dagger. 2 Lord. I will never truft a man again, for keeping his fword clean; nor believe he can have every thing in him, by wearing his apparel neatly. 1 Sold. Well, that's fet down. Par. Five or fix thoufand horfe, I faid,-I will fay true,or thereabouts, fet down,-for I'll speak truth. I Lord. He's very near the truth in this. Ber. But I con him no thanks for't, 3 in the nature he delivers it.+ Par. Poor rogues, I pray you, fay. 1 Sold. Well, that's fet down. Par. I humbly thank you, fir: a truth's a truth, the rogues are marvellous poor. 1 Sold. Demand of him, of what ftrength they are a-foot. What fay you to that? Par. By my troth, fir, if I were to live this present hour,s I will 9 In the old copy these words are given by mistake to Parolles. The prefent regulation, which is clearly right, was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. It will be better to give these words to one of the Dumains, than to Bertram. RITSON. 2 i. e. theory. MALONE. In 1597 was published "Theorique and Practife of Warre, &c. Tranflated by Sir Edward Hoby, Knight." 4to. REED. 3 To con thanks exactly answers the French scavoir gré. To con is to know. STEEVENS. 4 He has fad truly that our numbers are about five or fix thousand; but having defcribed them as "weak and unferviceable," &c. 1 am not mach obliged to him. MALONE. Rather, perhaps, because his narrative, however near the truth, was uttered for a treacherous purpose. STEEVENS. 5 I do not understand this paffage. Perhaps (as an anonymous cor refpondent I will tell true. Let me fee: Spurio a hundred and fifty, Sebaftian fo many, Corambus fo many, Jaques fo many; Guitian, Cofmo, Lodowick, and Gratii, two hundred fifty each mine own company, Chitopher, Vaumond, Bentii, two hundred and fifty each: fo that the mutter file, rotten and found, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll; half of the which dare not shake the fnow from off their caffocks, left they thake themselves to pieces. 6 Ber. What fhall be done to him? 1 Lord. Nothing, but let him have thanks. Demand of him my conditions, and what credit I have with the duke. 1 Sold. Well, that's fet down. You shall demand of him, whether one Captain Dumain be i'the camp, a Frenchman; what his reputation is with the duke, what his valour, honefty, and expertness in wars; or whether he thinks, it were not poffi ble, with well-weighing fums of gold, to corrupt him to a revolt. What fay you to this? what do you know of it? Par. I befeech you, let me anfwer to the particular of the intergatories: Demand them fingly. 1 Sold. Do you know this captain Dumain? Par. I know him: he was a botcher's 'prentice in Paris, from whence he was whipp'd for getting the fheriff's fool9 with refpondent obferves) we should read :-if I were to live but this prefent hour. STEEVENS. Perhaps he meant to say-if I were to die this prefent hour. But fear may be fuppofed to occafion the mistake, as poor frighted Scrub cries, 66 Spare all I have, and take my life." TOLLET. 6 Caffick fignifies a horfeman's loofe coat, and is used in that fenfe by the writers of the age of Shakspeare. STEEVENS. 7e. my difpofition and character. MALONE. 8 i. e. interrogatories. REED. 9 We are not to fuppofe that this was a fool kept by the Sheriff for his diverfion. The custody of all ideots, &c. poffeffed of landed property, belonged to the King, who was intitled to the income of their lands, but obliged to find them with neceffaries. This prerogative, when there was a large eftate in the cafe, was generally granted to fome court-favourite, or other perfon who made fuit for and had intereft enough to obtain it, which was called begging a fool. But where the land was of inconfiderable value, the natural was maintained out of the profits, by the fheriff, who accounted for them to the crown. As for those unhappy creatures who had neither poffeffions nor relations, they feem to have been confidered as a fpecies of property, being fold or given with as little ceremony, treated as capriciously, and very often, it is to be feared, left to perish as miferably, as dogs or cats. RITSON. with child; a dumb innocent, that could not fay him, nay. [DUMAIN lifts up his hand in anger. Ber. Nay, by your leave, hold your hands; though I know, his brains are forfeit to the next tile that falls.3 1 Sold. Well, is this captain in the duke of Florence's camp? Par. Upon my knowledge, he is, and loufy. Lord. Nay, look not fo upon me; we shall hear of your lordship 4 anon. 1 Sold. What is his reputation with the duke? Par. The duke knows him for no other but a poor officer of mine; and writ to me this other day, to turn him out o'the band: I think, I have his letter in my pocket, 1 Sald. Marry, we'll fearch. Par. In good fadness, I do not know; either it is there, or it is upon a file, with the duke's other letters, in my tent. Sold. Here 'tis; here's a paper; Shall I read it to you? Par. I do not know, if it be it, or no. Ber. Our interpreter does it wel. I Lord. Excellently. 1 Sold. Dian. The count's a fool, and full of gold,s Par. 2 Innocent does not here fignify a person without guilt or blame; but means, in the good natured language of our ancestors, an ideot or natural fool. Agreeably to this fenfe of the word is the following entry of a burial in the parish register of Charlewood in Surrey :-" Thomas Sole, an innocent about the age of fifty years and upwards, buried 19th September, 1605." WHALLEY. Mr. Douce obferves to me, that the term-innocent, was originally French. STEEVENS. 3 In Lucian's Contemplantes, Mercury makes Charon remark a man that was killed by the falling of a tile upon his head, wilft he was in the act of putting off an engagement to the next day :-uɛlažu néfovlos, àñò τὸ τέγος κεραμὶς ἐπιπεσέσα, ἐκ διδ ̓ ὅτε κινήσανος, ἀπέκτεινεν αυτόν. See the life of Pyrrhus in Plutarch. Pyrrhus was killed by a tile. S. W. 4 The old copy has Lord. In the Mfs. of our author's age they scarcely ever wrote Lordship at full length. MALONE. 5 Dian. The count's a fool, and full of gold.] After this line there is apparently a line loft, there being no rhyme that corresponds to gold. JOHNSON. I believe this line is incomplete. The poet might have written: Dian. The count's a fool, and full of golden store-or ore; and this addition rhymes with the following alternate verfes. STIEVENS. may Par. This is not the duke's letter, fir; that is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence, one Diana, to take heed of the allurement of one count Roufillon, a foolish idle boy, but, for all that, very ruttish: I pray ya, fir, put it up again. 1 Sold. Nay, I'll read it first, by your favour. Par. My meaning in't, I proteft, was very honeffin the be half of the maid: for I knew the young count to be a dan gerous and lafcivic us boy; who is a whale to virginity, and devours up all the try it finds. Ber. Damnable, both fides rogue! 1 Sold. When he fwears oaths, bid him drop gold, and take it, After he fcores, he never pays the Score: Half won, is match well made; match, and well make it ;6 He ne'er pays after debts, take it before; And May we not suppose the former part of the letter to have been profe, as the concluding words are? The fonnet intervenes. The feigned letter from Olivia to Malvolio, is partly profe, partly verfe. MALONE. 6 This line has no meaning that I can find. I read, with a very slight alteration Half won is match well made; watch, and well make it." That is, a match well made is balf won; watch, and make it well. : This is, in my opinion, not all the error. The lines are misplaced, and fhould be read thus: Haf wen is match well made; watch, and well make it ; When be fwears oarbs, bid bim drop gold, and take it, After be fcores, be never pays the fcore: He ne er pays after-debts, take it before, And fay That is, take his money, and leave him to himself. When the players had loft the fecond line, they tried to make a connection out of the reft. Part is apparently in couplets, and the whole was probably un form. Perhaps we should read: Half won is match well made, match an' we'll make it. JOHNSON. i. c. if we mean to make any match of it at all. STEEVENS. There is no need of change. The meaning is, “A match well made, is half won ; make your match therefore, but make it well." M. MASON, The verfes having been defigned by Parolles as a caution to Diana, after informing her that Bertram is both rich and faithless, he admonishes her not to yield up her virtue to his oaths, but his gold; and having enforced this advice by an adage, recommends her to comply with his importunity, provided half the fum for which she shall ftipulate be previously paid her Half won is match well made; match, and well make it. HENLEY. Gain And fay, a foldier, Dian, told thee this, Thine, as he vow'd to thee in thine ear, PAROLLES. Ber. He fhall be whipp'd through the army, with this rhyme in his forehead. 2 Lord. This is your devoted friend, fir, the manifold linguift, and the armipotent foldier. Ber. I could endure any thing before but a cat, and now he's a cat to me. 1 Sold. I perceive, fir, by the general's looks, we fhall be fain to hang you. Par. My life, fir, in any cafe: not that I am afraid to die but that, my offences being many, I would repent out the remainder of nature: let me live, fir, in a dungeon, i'the ftocks, or any where, fo I may live. 1 Sold. We'll fee what may be done, so you confefs freely; therefore, once more to this captain Dumain: You have anfwer'd to his reputation with the duke, and to his valour : What is his honesty? 8 Par. He will teal, fir, an egg out of a cloister; 3 for rapes Gain half of what he offers, and you are well off; if you yield to him, make your bargain fecure. MALONE. 7 The meaning of the word mell, from meler, French, is obvious. STEEVENS. Mr. Theobald and the fubfequent editors read-boys are but to kiss. I do not fee any need of change, nor do I believe that any oppofition was intended between the words mell and kifs. Parolles wishes to recommend himself to Diana, and for that purpose advises her to grant her favours to men, and not to boys. To mell is ufed by our author's contemporaries in the fenfe of meddling, without the indecent idea which Mr. Theobald fuppofed to be couched under the word in this place. MALONE. 8 I know not that clifter, though it may etymologically fignify any thing but, is used by our author otherwife than for a monaftery, and therefore I cannot guefs whence this hyperbole could take its original: perhaps it means only this: He will fteal any thing, however trifling, from any place, bowever boly. JOHNSON. Robbing the fpital, is a common phrafe, of the like import. M. MASON. |