Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapfter is a good trade: An old cloak makes a new jerkin; a wither'd fervingman, a fresh tapfter: Go; adieu. Bard. It is a life that I have defir'd: I will thrive. [Exit Bard. Pift. O bafe Gongarian wight! wilt thou the fpigot wield? Nym. He was gotten in drink: Is not the humour conceited? His mind is not heroic, and there's the ✦ humour of it. Froth and live is fenfe, but a little forced; and to make it fo we muft fuppofe the Hoft could guess by his dexterity in frothing a pot to make it appear fuller than it was, how he would afterwards fucceed in the world. Falstaff himfelf complains of limed fack. 2 STEEVENS. a wither'd fervingman, a fresh tapfter:] This is not improbably a parody on the old proverb-" A broken apothecary, a new doctor." See Ray's Proverbs, 3d edit. p. 2. STEEVENS. 3 O bafe Gongarian wight! &c.] This is a parody on a line taken from one of the old bombaft plays, beginning: "O bafe Gongarian, wilt thou the distaff wield ?" I had marked the paffage down, but forgot to note the play. The folio reads Hungarian. Hungarian is likewife a cant term. So in the Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1626, the merry Hoft says, "I have knights and colonels in my houfe, and must tend the Hungarians." Again: "Come ye Hungarian pilchers." Again, in Weftward Hoe, 1607: "Play you louzy Hungarians." STEEVENS. The Hungarians, when infidels, over-ran Germany and France, and would have invaded England, if they could have come to it. See Stowe, in the year 930, and Holinfhed's Invafions of Ireland, p. 56. Hence their name might become a proverb of baseness. Stowe's Chronicle, in the year 1492, and Leland's Collectanea, vol. i. p. 610, fpell it Hongarian (which might be misprinted Gongarian) and this is right according to their own etymology. Hon gyars, i. e. domus fuæ ftrenui defenfores. Tollet. The word is Gongarian in the first edition, and should be con tinued, the better to fix the allufion. FARMER. 4 -humour of it.] This fpeech is partly taken from the corrected copy, and partly from the flight fketch in 1602. I mention it, that those who do not find it in either of the common old editions, may not fufpect it to be spurious. STEEVENS. Fale Fal. I am glad, I am fo acquit of this tinderbox; his thefts were too open: his filching was like an unskilful finger, he kept not time. Nym. The good humour is, to fteal ' at a minute's reft. Pift. Convey, the wife it call: Steal! foh; a fico for the phrafe! Fal. Well, firs, I am almoft out at heels. Pift. Why then, let kibes enfue. Fal. There is no remedy; I must cony-catch, Ì must shift. Pift. 7 Young ravens must have food. Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town? Pift. I ken the wight; he is of fubftance good. Fal. My honeft lads, I will tell you what I am about. Pift. Two yards, and more. at a minute's reft.] Our author probably wrote: at a minim's reft. LANGTON. This conjecture feems confirmed by a paffage in Romeo and Ju liet: 66 refts his minim," &c. It may however mean, that, like a fkilful harquebuzier, he takes a good aim, though he has refted his piece for a minute only. So in Daniel's Civil Wars, &c. b. vi: "To fet up's reft to venture now for all." STEEVENS At a minute's reft.] A minim was anciently, as the term imports, the shortest note in mulick. Its meaíure was afterwards, as it is now, as long as while two may be moderately counted. In Romeo and Juliet, act II. fc. iv. Mercutio fays of Tibalt, that in fighting he refts his minim, one, two, and the third in your bofom. A minute contains fixty feconds, and is a long time for an action fuppofed to be inftantaneous. Nym means to fay that the perfection of stealing is to do it in the fhortest time poffible. 6 SIR J. HAWKINS. Convey, the wife it call:] So in the old morality of Hycke Scorner, bl. 1. no date : Syr, the horefones could not convaye clene; "For an they could have carried by craft as I can, &c.” STEEVENS. 7 Young ravens must have food.] An adage. See Ray's Proverbs. STEEVENS. VOL. I. R Fal. 8 Fal. No quips now, Piftol: Indeed, I am in the waift two yards about: but I am now about no wafte; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife; I fpy entertainment in her; fhe difcourfes, the carves, fhe gives the leer of invitation: I can conftrue the action of her famiHar ftile; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be English'd rightly, is, I am fir John Falstaff's. Pift. He hath ftudy'd her will, and tranflated her will; out of honefty into English. I Nym. The anchor is deep: Will that humour pafs? Fal. -about no wafte;· -] I find the fame play on words in Heywood's Epigrams, 1562: "Where am I leaft, husband? quoth he, in the waist; And again, in The Wedding, a comedy, by Shirley, 16:6: "Something given to the waft, for he lives within no "reasonable compass." STEEVENS. fhe carves,] It fhould be remembered, that anciently the young of both fexes were inftructed in carving, as a neceffary accomplishment. In 1508, Wynkyn de Worde published "A Boke of Kervinge." So in Love's Labour's Loft, Biron fays of Boyet, the French courtier: 66 He can carve too, and lifp." STEEVENS. The anchor is deep: Will that humour pafs?] I fee not what relation the anchor has to tranflation. Perhaps we may read, the author is deep; or perhaps the line is out of its place, and should be inferted lower after Falstaff has faid, Sail like my pinnace to thofe golden fhores. It may be obferved, that in the tracts of that time anchor and author could hardly be diftinguished. JOHNSON. The anchor is deep:] Dr. Johnfon very acutely propofes "the author is deep." He reads with the firft copy," he hath ftudy'd her well."-And from this equivocal word, Nym catches the idea of deepness. But it is almeft impoffible to afcertain the diction of this whimfical character: and I meet with a phrafe in Fenner's Comptor's Commonwealth, 1617, which perhaps may fupport the old reading, “Malter Decker's Bellman of London, hath fes Fal. Now, the report goes, fhe has all the rule of her husband's purfe; fhe hath a legion of angels. Pift. As many devils entertain; and, To her, boy, fay I. 2 Nym. The humour rifes; it is good: humour me the angels. : Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her and here another to Page's wife; who even now gave me good eyes too, examin'd my parts with moft judicious eyliads fometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, fometimes my portly belly. Pift. Then did the fun on dung-hill shine. Fal. fet forth the vices of the time fo lively, that it is impoffible the anchor of any other man's braine can found the fea of a more deepe and dreadful mifcheefe." FARMER. -studied her will, and tranflated her will-is the reading of the first folio, 1623. The contested part of the paffage may mean, His hopes are well founded. So in the Knight of the Burning Peftle, by B. and Fletcher: 66-Now my latest hope "Forfake me not, but fling thy anchor out, "And let it hold." Tranflation is not ufed in its common acceptation, but means to explain, as one language is explained by another. So in Hamlet: thefe profound heaves - "You must tranflate, 'tis fit we understand them." Again, in Troilus and Creffida: "Did in great Ilion thus tranflate him to me." STEEVENS. As many devils entertain; &c.] The old quarto reads: As many I would read with the quarto-As many devils attend her! i. e. let as many devils attend her. MUSGRAVE. 3 + eyliads: -] This word is differently fpelt in all the copies. I fuppofe we thould write oëïllades, French. STEEVENS. that humour.] What diftinguishes the language of Nym from that of the other attendants on Falstaff, is the conftant repetition of this phrafe. In the time of Shakespeare fuch an affectation feems to have been fufficient to mark a character. In Sir Giles Goofecap, a play of which I have no carlier edition than that Tal. O, fhe did fo courfe-o'er my exteriors with fuch a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did feem to fcorch me up like a burning-glass ! Here's another letter to her: fhe bears the purfe too; fhe is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be cheater to them both, and they fhall be exchequers to me; they fhall be my Eaft and Weft Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to miftrefs Page; and thou this to mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive. Pift. Shall I fir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my fide wear fteel? then, Lucifer take all ! Nym. I will run no bafe humour: here, take the humour letter; I will keep the haviour of reputation. Fal. Hold, firrah, bear you thefe letters tightly; of 1606, the fame peculiarity is mentioned in the hero of the piece: his only reafon for every thing is, that we are all mortal; then hath he another pretty phrafe too, and that is, he will tickle the vanity of every thing." STEEVENS. 6 5 intention,] i. e. eagernefs of defire. STEEVENS. -She is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty.] If the tradition be true (as I doubt not but it is) of this play being wrote at queen Elizabeth's command, this paffage, perhaps, may furnish a probable conjecture that it could not appear till after the year 1598. The mention of Guiana, then fo lately discovered to the English, was a very happy compliment to fir Walter Raleigh, who did not begin his expedition for South America till 1595, and returned from it in 1596, with an advantageous account of the great wealth of Guiana. Such an addrefs of the poet was likely, Iimagine, to have a proper impreflion on the people, when the intelligence of fuch a golden country was fresh in their minds, and gave them expectations of immenfe gain. THEOBALD. 7 I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me;] The fame joke is intended here, as in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, act II: "I will bar no honeft man my house, nor no cheater."By which is meant Efcheatour, an officer in the Exchequer, in no good repute with the common people. WARDUR Ton. 8 -tightly ;] Thus the folio; the 4to. rightly. STEEVENS. |