Fal. I did not think, master Silence had been a man of this mettle. Sil. Who I? I have been merry twice and once, ere now. Re-enter DAVY. Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats for you. Shal. Davy, 8 [Setting them before BARD. Davy. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight. [to BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir? Sil. A cup of wine, that's brisk and fine, And drink unto the leman mine; And a merry heart lives long-a.9 Fal. Well said, master Silence. [Singing. Sil. And we shall be merry;—now comes in the sweet of the night.1 Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence! I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom. Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.—Welcome, my little tiny thief; [to the Page] and welcome, See also Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, Vol. XII, p. 403, last edition. Reed. 8 leather-coats] The apple commonly denominated russetine, in Devonshire, is called the buff-coat. Henley. 9 - a merry heart lives long-a.] "A merry heart is the life of the flesh." Proverbs xiv, 30. "Gladness prolongs his days." Eccles. xxx, 22. Steevens. 1 — now comes in the sweet of the night.] So Falstaff, in a former scene of this play: "Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night." Steevens. I believe the latter words [those in the speech of Silence] make part of some old ballad. In one of Autolycus's songs we find "Why then comes in the sweet of the year." The words, And we shall be merry, have a reference to a song, of which Silence has already sung a stanza. His speeches in this scene are, for the most part, fragments of ballads. Though his imagination did not furnish him with any thing original to say, he could repeat the verses of others. Malone. 2 Fill the cup, &c.] This passage has hitherto been printed as prose, but I am told that it makes a part of an old song and have therefore restored it to its metrical form. Steevens. indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes3 about London. Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die.4 Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together. Ha! will you not, master Bardolph ? Bard. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot. Shal. I thank thee:-The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that: he will not out; he is true bred. Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir. Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry. [knocking heard] Look who 's at door there: Ho! who knocks? [Exit DAVY. Fal. Why, now you have done me right. [To SIL. who drinks a bumper. Sil. Do me right,5 And dub me knight:6 [Singing. Samingo.7 3 cavaleroes] This was the term by which an airy, splendid, irregular fellow was distinguished. The soldiers of King Charles were called Cavaliers from the gaiety which they affected in opposition to the sour faction of the parliament. Johnson. 4 I hope to see London once ere I die.] Once, I believe, here signifies some time, or—one time or another. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Fenton says: "I pray thee, once to-night give my sweet Nan this ring." Steevens. 5 Do me right,] To do a man right, and to do him reason, were formerly the usual expressions in pledging healths. He who drank a bumper, expected a bumper should be drank to his toast. So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Captain Otter says in the drinking scene: "Ha' you done me right, gentlemen?” Again, in The Bondman, by Massinger: "These glasses contain nothing;-do me right, "As ere you hope for liberty." Steevens. And dub me knight:] It was the custom of the good fellows of Shakspeare's days to drink a very large draught of wine, and sometimes a less palatable potation, on their knees, to the health of their mistress. He who performed this exploit was dubb'd a knight for the evening. So, in The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608: "They call it knighting in London, when they drink upon their knees. -Come follow me ; I'll give you all the degrees of it in order." Malone. 7 Samingo.] He means to say, San Domingo. Hanmer. Is 't not so? Fal. 'Tis so. Sil. Is 't so? Why, then say, an old man can do somewhat. Re-enter Davy. Davy. An it please your worship, there's one Pistol come from the court with news. Fal. From the court? let him come in. How now, Pistol? Enter PISTOL. Pist. God save you, sir John! . Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol? Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good." In one of Nashe's plays, entitled Summer's last Will and Testament, 1600, Bacchus sings the following catch: "Monsieur Mingo for quaffing doth surpass "God Bacchus, do me right, "And dub me knight, "Domingo." Steevens. Samingo, that is, San Domingo as some of the commentators have rightly observed. But what is the meaning and propriety of the name here, has not yet been shown. Justice Silence is here introduced as in the midst of his cups: and I remember a black-letter ballad, in which either a San Domingo, or a signior Domingo, is celebrated for his miraculous feats in drinking. Silence, in the abundance of his festivity, touches upon some old song, in which this convivial saint or signior was the burden. Perhaps too the pronunciation is here suited to the character. T. Warton. That is, to the present situation of Silence; who has drunk so deeply at supper, that Falstaff afterwards orders him to be carried to bed. Malone. 8 no man to good.] I once thought that we should readwhich blows to no man good. But a more attentive review of ancient Pistol's language has convinced me that it is very dangerous to correct it. He who in quoting from Marlowe's Tamburlaine, introduces hollow-pamper'd jades, instead of "Holla, ye pamper'd jades," may be allowed to change the order of the words in this common proverbial saying. Since this note was written, I have found that I suspected Pistol of inaccuracy without reason. He quotes the proverb as it was used by our old English writers, though the words are now differently arranged. So, in A Dialogue both pleasaunt and pietifull, by William Bulleyne, 1564, sig. F 5: "No winde but it doth turn some man to good." Malone. -Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm. Sil. By'r lady, I think 'a be; but goodman Puff of Barson.9 Pist. Puff? Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!· And golden times, and happy news of price. Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of this world. Pist. A foutra for the world, and worldlings base! I speak of Africa, and golden joys. Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news? Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof.1 9 Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.2 [Sings. but goodman Puff of Barson.] A little before, William Visor of Woncot is mentioned. Woodmancot and Barton (says Mr. Edwards's MSS.) which I suppose are these two places, and are represented to be in the neighbourhood of Justice Shallow, are both of them in Berkeley hundred in Glostershire. This, I imagine, was done to disguise the satire a little; for Sir Thomas Lucy, who, by the coat of arms he bears, must be the real Justice Shallow, lived at Charlecot, near Stratford, in Warwickshire. Steevens. Barston is a village in Warwickshire, lying between Coventry and Solyhull. Percy. Mr. Tollet has the same observation, and adds that Woncot may be put for Wolphmancote, vulgarly Ovencote, in the same county. Shakspeare might be unwilling to disguise the satire too much, and therefore mentioned places within the jurisdiction of Sir Thomas Lucy. Steevens. Mr. Warton, in a note on The Taming of the Shrew, says, that Wilnecote, (or Wincot) is a village in Warwickshire, near Stratford. I suppose, therefore, in a former scene, we should read Wincot instead of Woncot. Malone. 1 Let king Cophetua &c.] Lines taken from an old bombast play of King Cophetua; of whom we learn from Shakspeare, there were ballads too. Warburton. This is mere conjecture, for no such play is extant. From a passage in King Richard II, it may indeed be surmized that there was such a piece. See Love's Labour's Lost, Vol. IV, p. 58, n. 8. Johnson. 2 Scarlet, and John ] This scrap (as Dr. Percy has observed in the first Volume of his Reliques of Ancient English Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And shall good news be baffled? Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.3 Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding. Fist. Why then, lament therefore. Shal. Give me pardon, sir;-If, sir, you come with news from the court, I take it, there is but two ways; either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king, in some authority. Pist. Under which king, Bezonian? speak, or die. Shal. Under king Harry. Pist. Shal. Harry the fourth. Harry the fourth? or fifth? A foutra for thine office! Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king; Poetry) is taken from a stanza in the old ballad of Robin Hood and the Pindar of Wakefield. Steevens. 3 in Furies' lap.] Should not we read?-in Fury's lap. Ritson. 4 Why then, lament therefore.] This was perhaps intended to be ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in his Poetaster, 1602: Why then, lament therefore. Damn'd be thy guts "Unto king Pluto's hell.” He might, however, have meant nothing more than to quote a popular play. Malone. 5 Bezonian?] So again, Suffolk says, in The Second Part of Henry VI: "Great men oft die by vile Bezonians " It is a term of reproach, frequent in the writers contemporary with our poet. Bisognoso, a needy person; thence metaphorically, a base scoundrel. Theobald. Nash, in Pierce Pennylesse his Supplication &c. 1595, says: "Proud lordes do tumble from the towers of their high descents and be trod under feet of every inferior Besonian." In The Widow's Tears, a comedy, by Chapman, 1612, the primitive word is used: spurn'd out by grooms, like a base Besogno!" And again, in Sir Giles Goosecap, a comedy, 1606: ". If he come like to your Besogno, your boor, so he be rich, they care not." Steevens. 6 fig me, like The bragging Spaniard.] To fig, in Spanish, higas dar, is to |