Slen. Where's Simple, my man? cousin ? Can you tell, Evans. Peace, I pray you. Now let us understand. There is three umpires in this matter, as I understand; that is, Master Page, fidelicet 140 Master Page; and there is myself, fidelicet. 1 myself; and the three party is, lastly and finally, Page. We three, to hear it and end it between them. 145 Evans. Fery goot: I will make a prief of it in my notebook; and we will afterwards ork upon the cause with as great discreetly as we can. Fal. Pistol! 143. Garter] Q3, Gater Ff, more violent operations, perhaps, than we associate with it. Wheatley says: "It is evidently an oath. Professor Hales suggests that it may be a corruption of God's liche or body (cf. Ods bodikins)." I entirely disagree. A passage in Look About You (Haz. Dods. vii. 481), 1600, is illustration: "I'll mar the hermit's tale. Off, gown; hold, buckler: slice it, Bilbo blade." "Pauca" is an abbreviation of "pauca verba "above (line 123). 134, 135. that's my humour] that's my fancy or whim. Humour (moisture) was primarily applied by the medieval physiologists to the four chief fluids of the body-"sanguine,” “ phlegmatic," 66 choleric," and "melancholic." Thence, about Shakespeare's time [New Eng. Dict. gives an unsatisfactory 1565 example], the word was applied to a piece of caprice or conduct caused by a peculiar mood or disposition; a whim or vagary; as in Love's Labour's Lost, III. line 23 (1588). Hence, immediately, the abuse of the word was excessive. As Gifford says: 150 "It was applied upon all occasions with as little judgment as wit. Every coxcomb had it always in his mouth: and every particularity he affected was denominated by the name of humour." For a defence of the word's proper uses, see Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, Induction (1599). For illustration, every play of this period almost might be referred to. Nym is one of the best. 143. Garter] Halliwell-Phillips cites a document (printed in his folio edition of Shakespeare) in which "mine host of the Garter," in 1561, was one Richard Gallis, a leading inhabitant, and three times Mayor of Windsor. "Such a personage would naturally be on familiar terms with his guests." The inn is marked as well as the White Hart in Norden's map of "Windsor and the Little Park" in 1607. Not improbably the site was that of the present Star and Garter. See note at "witch," IV. ii. 180, for more about Gallis. And see Introduction. Pist. He hears with ears. Evans. The tevil and his tam! what phrase is this, Fal. Pistol, did you pick Master Slender's purse? 151. hears with ears] From Job xiii. 152. The tevil and his tam!] See my note to Othello, IV. i. The devil and his wife. The frequent occurrence of this phrase at this time (circa 1600) may be ascribed perhaps to the popularity of the old play, "Grim, the Collier of Croydon, or The Devil and his Dam" (circa 1600). 153, 154. affectations] Not in the Quarto. This word, in Shakespeare, makes its first "printed " appearance in the Folio of 1623. It occurs in Love's Labour's Lost and Hamlet, but the Quartos have "affection." The earliest sense was "a striving after " (1549, New Eng. Dict.). In the present use (as in the text) it occurs in Nashe's Christ's Teares (1593). Compare Gabriel Harvey, An Advertisement to Paphatchet, 1589 (Grosart, ii. 135): "What is the principall cause of this... but affectation of Nouelty, without ground?" And Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, III. ii. "What is that humour? . it is a gentleman-like monster, bred in the special gallantry of our time, by affectation; and fed by folly." 155.] Compare this line, and line 188, below, with lines 127-129. 156. by these gloves] Affected oaths formed one of the "humours" of the 155 time. Carlo Buffone, in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, I. i. (1599), tells the hind, Sogliardo, who wants to be " an accomplished gentleman, that is, a gentleman of the time," "and ever (when you lose) have two or three peculiar oaths to swear by, that no man else swears.' There are several points in common between these plays and those of Shakespeare, levelled at the abuse of the word "humour." Slender, with "his own great chamber," reminds one of a sort of milk-and-water Stephen in Every Man in his Humour. 157. great chamber] About the end of the fifteenth century a great improvement in the furnishing and luxury of the chamber (bedroom) took place amongst the upper classes. Large rich chairs, settles, chests and coffers, ornamental candlesticks, etc., were kept there. In Wright's History of Domestic Manners, chap. xix., a sketch of this development is well set forth. Slender's vanity associates him with this form of opulence. But it may mean "reception room, Mr. Craig thinks, an instance of which use occurs (at court) in Nashe's Unfortunate Traveller. And Ben Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour (end of Act IV.), 1599: "arrived at the court-gate, and going up to the great chamber.' as 158. mill-sixpences] Money, milled (struck in a mill), was coined in England in Queen Elizabeth's time (1561). In Jonson's Gipsies Metamorphosed (1621), Clod is robbed of a purse containing "a mill-sixpence of two Edward shovel-boards, that cost me two shilling and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, 160 by these gloves. Fal. Is this true, Pistol? Evans. No; it is false, if it is a pick-purse. Pist. Ha, thou mountain-foreigner! Sir John and master mine, I combat challenge of this latten bilbo. 159. two Edward shovel-boards] Two faire shovell boord shillings Q I. 167.] Prose in F 1. my mother's I loved as dearly." Owing to its expense in coinage this money was struck for a short time only in Elizabeth's reign. They may have acquired a higher value (as Clod's evidently did) on account of their rarity. 159. Edward shovel-boards] Old broad shillings of Edward VI.'s time, worn smooth (not being milled), and used for the game of shovel-board. They were kept for that purpose as late as Shadwell's time, according to a passage in his Miser, 111. i., 1672. But Shadwell often remembers his Shakespeare. The game is described in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes. We are told in the Introduction (p. 16, ed. 1876) that it “ was formerly in great request among the nobility and gentry; and few of their mansions are without a shovel-board, which was a fashionable piece of furniture. The great hall was usually the place for its reception." A description of one is given from Dr. Plot's History of Staffordshire, "ten yards one foot and one inch long," at Chartley. This game is said to be distinct from the vulgar sport of "slide-thrift " or "shovegroat," mentioned in 2 Henry IV. II. iv. 186, and still existing. This latter game was prohibited by law, and called a new game in 33rd of Henry VIII. Probably it was invented as a cheap imitation of the former. The two are frequently confounded by commentators, but Douce distinguished them, 165 164 though there is still some confusion. The term "shove-groat shilling" occurs in Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, iii. 2. Middleton mentions the "shovelboard shilling" in Roaring Girl, v. I (1607). Burton, writing in 1621 (Anatomie of Melancholy (p. 344, ed. 1854) says: "The ordinary recreations which we have in winter are cards, tables and dice, shovel-board, chess play," etc. Armin, in Foole upon Foole (1605), speaks of "slide-groat." See Nares for more examples. Pepys went to Hackney (June 11, 1664) "and there light and played at shuffleboard, _eat_cream and good cherries." And Dryden, in Prologue to King Arthur, 1691, speaks of "a long shovel-board in hall of knight or lord." That these smooth, large coins were in demand for the game is perhaps the reason of the high price Slender paid his friend for them. in 160. Yead] Presumably for "Edward." Compare "Yedward" 1 Henry IV. 1. ii. 149. Halliwell gives the latter as Cheshire dialect. It is given also ("Yed") in Leicester and Derby Glossaries. 164. mountain-foreigner] Equivalent to "wild Welshman.' Compare the use of "mountaineer" in Cymbeline, IV. ii. 100, 120, etc. 165. I combat challenge] The orthodox expression in trial by combat by law. Compare Court and Times of James I., i. 152 (1611), for a late Word of denial in thy labras here! Word of denial: froth and scum, thou liest ! Slen. By these gloves, then, 'twas he. Nym. Be avised, sir, and pass good humours: I will say "marry trap" with you, if you run 170 the nuthook's humour on me; that is the very note of it. 171. nuthook's] base Q 1. example: "protested. . . he would never put his life upon a lawyer's mercenary tongue, and then challenged the combat which could not be denied in law, and so was granted in Easter term" [Egerton and Morgan]. 165. latten bilbo] Latten was a soft composition of metals much in use, but very unsuitable to make bilbos or swords of. Pistol calls Slender a worthless sword, with a reference to his leanness. But he probably recalls "the dagger (or sword) of lath (with a pun), the weapon of the stage. I suppose one was hanging by Slender's side, and he uses it as an apt illustration of his figure. "A dagger of lath" is mentioned in Twelfth Night, IV. ii. 161, and 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 151; "sword of lath" in 1 Henry VI. IV. ii. 2, etc. "Lean as a lath" was a common simile; "long like a lath and of proportion little better," Armin, Nest of Ninnies (Grosart, p. 52), 1608. Household articles (such as spoons, candlesticks, and basins) were made of "latten" at this time. In Soliman and Perseda (Haz. Dods. v. 276, 1592), the braggart Basilisco wears a coloured lath in his scabbard, and when 'twas found upon him, he said he was wrathful, he might not wear iron." 66 Studley, line 573 (1598), William Sharp of London furnishes Thomas Stucley with his bill for "bilboes, foxes, and Toledo blades." 166. labras] lips. Pistol's plural of L. "labrum" instead of "labra." In the Quarto the expression is "Even in thy gorge." 66 170. marry trap] The interjection marry was joined familiarly in several retorts, as marry faugh,' 66 and marry gip,' marry muff," all of which are frequent at this time. If this be the explanation of Nym's slang, the following line illustrates trap" from Harington, Orlando Furioso, xxiii. 2, 1599 (?): "Who so sets a trap may catch himself." The sense being that if Slender tries to play the catchpoll (or nuthook) he may be in trouble. But it is more likely the expression was in use at the very popular game of "trap," where much dexterity was required. Shirley speaks of "trap" as an old game (Hyde Park, ii. 4), and see Malcontent, I. i., 1604. See Halliwell in v. "Trap-ball." The more recent phrase "to understand trap," is not a great deal later. I find it in Crowne's City Politicks, Act I., 1688. 171. nuthook's humour] "base humours" in Quarto. Nuthook occurs again as a name for a beadle in 2 Henry IV. v. iv. The word was in use for one who hooked down nuts, in which sense Nares gives two examples. Thence it was applied to a catchpoll by analogy (poll=nut or nott). Slen. By this hat, then, he in the red face had it; for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk, yet I am not altogether 175 an ass. Fal. What say you, Scarlet and John? Bard. Why, sir, for my part, I say the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five sentences. Evans. It is his five senses: fie, what the ignorance is! Bard. And being fap, sir, was, as they say, cashiered; and so conclusions passed the careires. 184. careires] car-eires Ff, Q 3; careers Capell. 177. Scarlet and John] Robin Hood's two companions were Will Scarlet and Little John. "Scarlet" refers to Bardolph's colour, "his face is all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs, and flames of fire," Henry V. III. vi. "And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John," 2 Henry IV. v. iii. 107. It is from the old ballad of Robin Hood and the Pindar of Wakefield. 183. fap] drunk. New Eng. Dict. has a recent example (1818). No other has been found, and the later one is probably founded on this. 183. cashiered] deprived of cash, uncashed, hence 'stript " is probably Bardolph's sense. So Schmidt says, and New Eng. Dict. accepts. Compare the following lines from Robert Davenport, A New Trick to catch the Devil, i. 2 (1639): "'tis my Lord 180 "strip" it occurs in Look About You stuffe" (i.e. melted). This passage 184. passed the careires] A technical phrase for a feat in horsemanship, of which numerous examples have been adduced. Compare Henry V. II. i. Must deale in wholesale with her for the applied sense (used by Pistol): And I am quite cashiered,' where he means he has no cash to deal with. Cashiered in the sense of dismissed occurs in Greene's Quip, etc., 1592 (Harl. Misc. ii. 244); and see below, I. iii. 6. In the literal sense of "The king is a good king, but it must be as it may he passes some humours and careers. I will quote one early example which is not in the notes of the commentators: "her [C. of Pembroke] hoattest fury may fitly be resembled to the passing of a brave |