Arm. By virtue, thou enforcest laughter; thy silly thought, my spleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous smiling: O, pardon me, my stars! Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy, and the word, l'envoy, for a salve?

Moth. Do the wise think them other? is not l'envoy a salve?

Arm. No, page: it is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain

Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been sain. I will example it:

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three.

There's the moral: Now the l'envoy.

Moth. I will add the l'envoy: Say the moral again.

is clearly the meaning of Costard's speech, which provokes the illustrious Armado to laugh at the inconsiderate, who takes salve for l'envoy, and the word l'envoy for salve.

But when Moth, who is an arch and sensible character, says, in reply to Armado:-" Do the wise think them other? Is not l'envoy a salve?" we must not suppose that this question is owing to his simplicity, but that he intended thereby either to lead the Knight on to the subsequent explanation of the word l'envoy, or to quibble in the manner stated in the notes upon the English word salve and the Latin salvé; a quibble which operates upon the eye, not the ear:-Yet Steevens has shown it was not a new

one.

If this quibble was intended, which does not evidently appear to be the case, the only way that I account for it, is this:

As the l'envoy was always in the concluding part of a play or poem, it was probably in the l'envoy that the poet or reciter took leave of the audience, and the word itself appears to be derived from the verb envoyer, to send away. Now the usual salutation amongst the Romans at parting, as well as meeting, was the word salvé. Moth, therefore considers the l'envoy as a salutation or salvé, and then quibbling on this last word, asks if it be not a salve.

I do not offer this explanation with much confidence, but it is the only one that occurs to me. M. Mason.

I will example it: &c.] These words, and some others, are not in the first folio, but in the quarto of 1598. I still believe the old passage to want regulation, though it has not sufficient merit to encourage the editor who should attempt it:

There is in Tusser an old song, beginning

"The ape, the lion, the fox, and the asse,

"Thus sets forth man in a glasse," &c.

Perhaps some ridicule on this ditty was intended. Steevens.

Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three:.:
Moth. Until the goose came out of door,

And stay'd the odds by adding four. muting Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy.

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three:

Arm. Until the goose came out of door,
Staying the odds by adding four.

Moth.A good l'envoy, ending in the goose;
Would you desire more? ]

Cost. The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose, that 's flat:

Sir, your pennyworth is good, an your goose be fat.— To sell a bargain well, is as cunning as fast and loose: Let me see a fat l'envoy; ay, that's a fat goose.

Arm. Come hither, come hither: How did this argument begin?

Moth. By saying that a Costard was broken in a shin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy.

Cost. True, and I for a plantain; Thus came your

argument in;

Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you bought; And he ended the market.7

Arm. But tell me; how was there a Costard broken in a shin?8

Moth. I will tell you sensibly.

Cost. Thou hast no feeling of it, Moth; I will speak that l'envoy:

I, Costard, running out, that was safely within,
Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin.

7 And he ended the market.] Alluding to the proverb-Three women and a goose, make a market. Tre donne et un occa fan un mercato. Ital. Ray's Proverbs. Steevens.

8

how was there a Costard broken in a shin?] Costard is the name of a species of apple. Johnson.

It has been already observed that the head was anciently called the costard. So, in King Richard III: “Take him over the costard with the hilt of thy sword." A costard likewise signified a crab-stick. So, in The Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher: "I hope they'll crown his service —."

"With a costard." Steevens.

Arm. A good L'enway.

yendesire more?

olloth. Ending in goose; would you desire

Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Cost. Till there be more matter in the shin. Arm. Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee. marry Cost. O, marry me to one Frances;-I smell some l'envoy, some goose, in this.

Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean, setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person; thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound.

Cost. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose.

free

Arm. I give the thy liberty, set thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this: Bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta: there is remuneration; [Giving him money] for the best ward of mine honour, is rewarding my dependents. Moth, follow. [Exit.

Moth. Like the sequel, I.9-Signior Costard, adieu.
Cost. My sweet ounce of man's flesh! my incony
Jew!1.
[Exit MOTH.

9 Like the sequel, I.] Sequele, in French, signifies a great man's train. The joke is, that a single page was all his train. Theobald.

I believe this joke exists only in the apprehension of the commentator. Sequelle, by the French, is never employed but in a derogatory sense. They use it to express the gang of a highwayman, but not the train of a lord; the followers of a rebel, and not the attendants on a general. Thus, Holinshed, p. 639:"to the intent that by the extinction of him and his sequeale, all civil warre and inward division might cease," &c. Moth uses sequel only in the literary acceptation.

Mr. Heath observes that the meaning of Moth is," I follow you as close as the sequel does the premises." Steevens.

Moth alludes to the sequel of any story, which follows a preceding part, and was in the old story-books introduced in this manner: "Here followeth the sequel of such a story, or adventure." So, Hamlet says: "But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admonition?" M. Mason.

1

my incony Jew!] Incony or cony in the North, signifies, fine, delicate-as a kony thing, a fine thing. It is plain, therefore, we should read:

my incony jewel." Warburton.

I know not whether it be right, however specious, to change Few to Jewel. Few, in our author's time, was, for whatever reason, apparently a word of endearment. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"Most briskly juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew." Johnson 8. It is pom the insertion of this word, only, that tostands mis apyrehension or juka c. arise.

Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings-remuneration.- What's the price of this inkle? a penny:—No, I'll give you a remuneration: why, it carries it. Remuneration!-why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word. Enter BIRON.

Biron. O, my good knave Costard! exceedingly well

met.

Cost. Pray you, sir, how much carnation ribbon may a man buy for a remuneration?

Biron. What is a remuneration?

Cost. Marry, sir, half-penny farthing.

Biron. O, why then, three-farthings-worth of silk
Cost. I thank your worship: God be with you!
Biron. O, stay, slave; I must employ thee:
As thou wilt win my favour, good my knave,
Do one thing for me that I shall entreat.
Cost. When would you have it done, sir?
Biron. O, this afternoon.

Cost. Well, I will do it, sir: Fare you well.
Biron. O, thou knowest not what it is.
Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it.
Biron. Why, villain, thou must know first.

The word is used again in the 4th Act of this play: most incony vulgar wit."

In the old comedy called Blurt Master Constable, 1602, I meet with it again. A maid is speaking to her mistress about a gown: it makes you have a most inconie body."

66

Cony and incony have the same meaning. So, Metaphor says, in Jonson's Tale of a Tub:

"O superdainty canon, vicar inconey." Again, in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599:

"O, I have sport inconey i'faith."

Again, in Marlowe's Few of Malta, 1633:

"While I in thy incony lap do tumble."

Again, in Doctor Dodypoll, a comedy, 1600:

"A cockscomb incony, but that he wants money."

Steevens.

There is no such expression in the North as either kony or incony. The word canny, which the people there use, and from which Dr. Warburton's mistake may have arisen, bears a variety of significations, none of which is fine, delicate, or applicable to a thing of value. Dr. Johnson's quotation by no means proves Few to have been a word of endearment. Ritson.

Cost, I will come to your worship to-morrow morning. Biron. It must be done this afternoon.

Hark, slave,

The princess comes to hunt here in the park,

And in her train there is a gentle lady;

When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name,
And Rosaline they call her: ask for her;
And to her white hand see thou do commend

This seal'd-up counsel. There's thy guerdon; go.
[Gives him money.

Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: 2 Most sweet guerdon!-I will do it, sir, in print. 3-Guerdon-remuneration.

[Exit.

Biron. O!—And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip;

A

very beadle to a humorous sigh;

A critick; nay, a night-watch constable;

A domineering pedant o'er the boy,

Than whom no mortal so magnificent!4

This wimpled, whining, purplind, wayward boy;

2 Cost. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: &c.] Guerdon, i. e. reward. So, in The Spanish Tragedy:

Speak on, I'll guerdon thee whate'er it be." Perhaps guerdon is a corruption of regardum, middle Latin.

Steevens.

think, without ne

3 in print.] i. e. exactly, with the utmost nicety. It has been proposed to me to read-in point, but cessity, the former expression being still in use. So, in Blurt Master Constable, 1602:

"Next, your ruff must stand in print.”

Again, in Woman is a Weathercock, 1612:

this doublet sits in print, my lord." Steevens. 4 Than whom no mortal so magnificent!] Magnificent here means, glorying, boasting. M. Mason.

Terence also uses magnifica verba, for vaunting, vainglorious words. Usque adeo illius ferre possum ineptias & magnifica verba. Eunuch, Act IV, sc. vi. Steevens.

5 This wimpled,] The wimple was a hood or veil which fell over the face. Had Shakspeare been acquainted with the flammeum of the Romans, or the gem which represents the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, his choice of the epithet would have been much applauded by all the advocates in favour of his learning. In Isaiah, iii, 22, we find: " the mantles, and the wimples,