NYM. The humour rises; 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 most judicious eyliads': sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, sometimes my portly belly". PIST. Then did the sun on dung-hill shine". FAL. O, she did so course o'er my exteriors with such a greedy intention, that the appetite of her This is the reading of the folio. MALONE. The old quarto reads: "As many devils attend her!" &c. STEEVENS. 7-eyliads:] This word is differently spelt in all the copies. It occurs again, in King Lear, Act IV. Sc. V. : "She gave strange ciliads, and most speaking looks, I suppose we should write oëillades, French. STEEVENS. 8 sometimes THE BEAM OF HER VIEW GILDED my foot, sometimes my portly belly.] So, in our author's 20th Sonnet: An eye more bright than their's, less false in rolling, "Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth." MALONE. 9 Then did the sun on dung-hill shine.] So, in Lyly's Euphues, 1581: 66 I "The sun shineth upon the dunghill." HOLT WHITE. that HUMOUR.] What distinguishes the language of Nym from that of the other attendants on Falstaff, is the constant repetition of this phrase. In the time of Shakspeare such an affectation seems to have been sufficient to mark a character. In Sir Giles Goosecap, a play of which I have no earlier edition than that of 1606, the same peculiarity is mentioned in the hero of the piece : - his only reason for every thing is, that we are all mortal; then hath he another pretty phrase too, and that is, he will tickle the vanity of every thing." STEEVENS. 2-intention,] i. e. eagerness of desire. So, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Address to the Sun: 66 Even to horror bright, "A blaze burns from his golden burgonet; "Which to behold, exceeds the sharpest set "Of any eye's intention." STEEVENS. So, in Cupid's Whirligig, 1607: "With a greedy eye feeds on my exteriors." HENDERSON. eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning glass! Here's another letter to her: she bears the purse' too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty". I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me*: they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to mistress Page; and thou this to mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive. PIST. Shall I sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all! NYM. I will run no base humour: here, take the humour-letter; I will keep the 'haviour of reputa tion. FAL. Hold, sirrah, [to RoB.] bear you these letters tightly; 3 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 passage, perhaps, may furnish a probable conjecture that it could not appear till after the year 1598. The mention of Guiana, then so lately discovered to the English, was a very happy compliment to Sir 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 address of the poet was likely, I imagine, to have a proper impression on the people, when the intelligence of such a golden country was fresh in their minds, and gave them expectations of immense gain. THEOBALD. 4 I will be CHEATER to them both, and they shall be EXCHEQUERS to me;] The same joke is intended here, as in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Act II.: "I will bar no honest man my house, nor no cheater.”—By which is meant Escheatour, an officer in the Exchequer, in no good repute with the common people. WARBURTON. 5 - bear you these letters TIGHTLY;] i. e. cleverly, adroitly. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Antony, putting on his armour, says: My queen's a squire 66 "More tight at this, than thou." MALONE. No phrase is so common in the eastern counties of this kingdom, and particularly in Suffolk, as good tightly, for briskly and effectually. HENLEY. It is used in this sense in Don Sebastian, by Dryden, Act II. Sc. II: "-tightly, I say, go tightly to your business." REED. Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores.- And high and low beguile the rich and poor 9: my PINNACE-] A pinnace seems anciently to have signified a small vessel, or sloop, attending on a larger. So, in Rowley's When You See Me You Know Me, 1613: 66 was lately sent "With threescore sail of ships and pinnaces." Again, in Muleasses the Turk, 1610: "Our life is but a sailing to our death Through the world's ocean: it makes no matter then, "Whether we put into the world's vast sea Shipp'd in a pinnace, or an argosy." At present it signifies only a man of war's boat. A passage similar to this of Shakspeare occurs in The Humourous Lieutenant, by Beaumont and Fletcher : 66 this small pinnace "Shall sail for gold." STEEVENS. A pinnace is a small vessel with a square stern, having sails and oars, and carrying three masts; chiefly used (says Rolt, in his Dictionary of Commerce,) as a scout for intelligence, and for landing of men. MALONE. -the HUMOUR of THIS age,] Thus the 4to. 1619: The folio reads the honor of the age. STEEVENS. • Let vultures GRIPE thy guts!] This hemistich is a burlesque on a passage in Tamburlaine, or The Scythian Shepherd, of which play a more particular account is given in one of the notes to Henry IV. Part II. Act II. Sc. IV. STEEVENS. I suppose the following is the passage intended to be ridiculed: and now doth ghastly death 66 "With greedy talents [talons] gripe my bleeding heart, "And like a harper [harpy] tyers on my life." Again, ibid. : 66 Griping our bowels with retorted thoughts." MALONE. 9 - for GOURD, and FULLAM holds, And HIGH and Low beguile the rich and poor;] Fullam is a cant term for false dice, high and low. Torriano, in his Italian Dictionary, interprets Pise by false dice, high and low men, high Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack, NYм. I have operations in my head', which be humours of revenge. PIST. Wilt thou revenge? NYм. By welkin, and her star! PIST. With wit, or steel? NYM. With both the humours, I: I will discuss the humour of this love to Page 2. fullams and low fullams. Jonson, in his Every Man out of his Humour, quibbles upon this cant term: "Who, he serve? He keeps high men and low men, he has a fair living at Fullam."-As for gourd, or rather gord, it was another instrument of gaming, as appears from Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady: ". And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now, but gords or nine-pins." WARBURTON. 66 In the London Prodigal I find the following enumeration of false dice: "I bequeath two bale of false dice, videlicit, high men and low men, fulloms, stop cater-traies, and other bones of function." Green, in his Art of Juggling, &c. 1612, says: "what should I say more of false dice, or fulloms, high men, lowe men, gourds, and brizled dice, graviers, demies, and contraries ?" 66 Again, in The Bellman of London, by Decker, 5th edit. 1640: among the false dice are enumerated, a bale of fullams.""A bale of gordes, with as many high-men as low-men for passage." STEEVENS. Gourds were probably dice in which a secret cavity had been made; fullams, those which had been loaded with a small bit of lead. High men and low men, which were likewise cant terms, explain themselves. High numbers on the dice, at hazard, are from five to twelve, inclusive; low, from aces to four. MALONE. High and low men were false dice, which, being chiefly made at Fulham, were thence called high and low Fulhams. high Fulhams were the numbers, 4, 5, and 6. See the manner in which these dice were made, in The Complete Gamester, p. 12, edit. 1676, 12mo. Douce. I 66 The in my head,] These words, which are omitted in the folio, were recovered by Mr. Pope from the early quarto. MALONE. "I will discuss the humour of this love to PAGE.] The folio reads: " to Ford:" but the very reverse of this happens. See Act II. where Nym makes the discovery to Page, and not to Ford, as here promised; and Pistol, on the other hand, to Ford, PIST. And I to Ford shall eke unfold, 3 His dove will prove, his gold will hold, NÝм. My humour shall not cool: I will incense Page to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness, for the revolt of mien is dangerous: that is my true humour. and not to Page. Shakspeare is frequently guilty of these little forgetfulnesses. STEEVENS. The folio reads-to Ford; and in the next line-and I to Page, &c. But the reverse of this (as Mr. Steevens has observed) happens in Act II. where Nym makes the discovery to Page, and Pistol to Ford. I have therefore corrected the text from the old quarto, where Nym declares he will make the discovery to Page; and Pistol says, "And I to Ford will likewise tell-." MALONE. 3 I will INCENSE Page, &c.] To incense in Shakspeare's age, meant to instigate. See Minsheu's Dictionary in voc. MALONE. So, in K. Henry VIII.: 66 I have "Incens'd the lords of the council, that he is In both passages, to incense has the same meaning as to instigate. STEEVENS. 4 YELLOWNESS,] Yellowness is jealousy. JOHNSON. So, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608 : "If you have me you must not put on yellows.” Again, in The Arraignment of Paris, 1584: 5 66 Flora well, perdie, "Did paint her yellow for her jealousy." STEEVENS. 66 the revolt of MIEN-] The revolt of mine" is the old reading. Revolt of mien, is change of countenance, one of the effects he has just been ascribing to jealousy." STEEVENS. 66 This Mr. Steevens truly observes to be the old reading, and it is authority enough for "the revolt of mien" in modern orthography. Know you that fellow that walketh there?-says Eliot, 1593-he is an alchymist by his mine, and hath multiplied all to moonshine." FARMER. Nym means, I think, to say, that kind of change in the complexion, which is caused by jealousy, renders the person possessed by such a passion dangerous; consequently Ford will be likely to revenge himself on Falstaff, and I shall be gratified. I believe our author wrote-that revolt, &c. though I have not disturbed the text-y and y' in the MSS. of his time were easily confounded. MALONE. |