(For they muft all be mafk'd and vizarded,) HOST. Which means the to deceive? father or mother? FENT. Both, my good hoft, to go along with me: And here it refts,-that you'll procure the vicar To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one,. And, in the lawful name of marrying, To give our hearts united ceremony. Much Ado about Nothing, 1623, we find, "he is turu'd orthographer," instead of turn'd. Again, in Othello :" to the contemplation, mark, and deuotement of her parts," inftead of denotement. Again, in King John: This expeditious charge, inftead of expedition's. Again, ibid: involuerable for invulnerable. Again, in Hamlet, 1605, we meet with this very word put by an error of the press for denote: 66 Together with all forms, modes, fhapes of grief, "That can deuote me truly." The prefent emendation, which was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens, is fully fupported by a fubfequent paffage, quoted by him: "the white will decipher her well enough." MALONE. 4 - quaint in green,] may mean fantastically dreft in green. So, in Milton's Mafque at Ludlow Caftle: -left the place, "And my quaint habits, breed astonishment." Quaintnefs, however, was anciently used to fignify gracefulnefs. So, in Greene's Dialogue between a He and She ConeyCatcher, 1592: "I began to think what a handfome man he was, and wished that he would come and take a night's lodging with me, fitting in a dump to think of the quaintnefs of his perfonage." In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A& III. sc. i. quaintly is ufed for ingeniously: a ladder quaintly made of cords." STEEVENS. In Daniel's Sonnets, 1594, it is used for fantaftick: "Prayers prevail not with a quaint difdayne." MALONE. HOST. Well, husband your device; I'll to the vicar: Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest. FENT. So fhall I evermore be bound to thee; Befides, I'll make a present recompenfe. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF and Mrs. QUICKLY. FAL. Pr'ythee, no more prattling ;-go.-I'll hold: 5 This is the third time; I hope, good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they fay, there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.-Away. QUICK. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns. FAL. Away, I fay; time wears: hold up your head, and mince." [Exit Mrs. QUICKLY. 5- I'll hold :] I fuppofe he means-I'll keep the appointment. Or he may mean-I'll believe. So, in K. Henry VIII: "Did you not of late days hear," &c.—" Yes, but held it not." STEEVENS. 6 they fay, there is divinity in odd numbers,] Alluding to the Roman adage 7 numero deus impare gaudet. hold up your head, and mince.] Virgil, Ecl. viii. STEEVENS. To mince is to walk with affected delicacy. So, in The Merchant of Venice: 66 turn two mincing steps "Into a manly ftride." STEEVENS, VOL. V. Enter FORD. How now, mafter Brook? Mafter Brook, the matter will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you fhall fee wonders. FORD. Went you not to her yesterday, fir, as you told me you had appointed? FAL. I went to her, mafter Brook, as you fee, like a poor old man: but I came from her, master Brook, like a poor old woman. That fame knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealoufy in him, master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. I will tell you.-He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman; for in the shape of man, mafter Brook, I fear not Goliath with a weaver's beam; because I know alfo, life is a fhuttle. I am in hafte; go along with me; I'll tell you all, master Brook. Since I plucked geefe,' played truant, and whipped top, I knew not what it was to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you ftrange things of this knave Ford: on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his wife into your hand.-Follow: Strange things in hand, mafter Brook! follow. [Exeunt. 8 because I know alfo, life is a fhuttle.] An allusion to the fixth verfe of the feventh chapter of the Book of Job: "My days are swifter than a weaver's Shuttle," &c. STEEVENS. 9 Since I plucked geefe,] To ftrip a living goose of his feathers, was formerly an act of puerile barbarity. STEEVENS. SCENE II. Windfor Park. Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLender. PAGE. Come, come; we'll couch i' the caftleditch, till we see the light of our fairies.-Remember, fon Slender, my daughter.' SLEN. Ay, forfooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word," how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; fhe cries, budget;3 and by that we know one another. SHAL. That's good too: but what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough.-It hath ftruck ten o'clock. PAGE. The night is dark; light and fpirits will become it well. Heaven profper our fport! No man means evil but the devil,4 and we fhall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. [Exeunt. -my daughter.] The word daughter was inadvertently omitted in the firft folio. The emendation was made by the editor of the fecond. MALONE. 2 —a nay-word,] i. e. a watch-word. Mrs. Quickly has already used it in this sense. STEEVENS. 3 mum; he cries, budget;] These words appear to have been in common use before the time of our author. "And now if a man call them to accomptes, and afke the cause of al these their tragical and cruel doings, he shall have a fshort answer with mum budget, except they will peradventure allege this," &c. Oration against the unlawful Infurrections of the Proteftants, bl. 1. 8vo. 1615, fign. C 8. REED. 4 No man means evil but the devil,] This is a double blunder; for fome, of whom this was fpoke, were women. We should read then, No ONE means, WARBURTON. SCENE III. The Street in Windfor. Enter Mrs. PAGE, Mrs. FORD, and Dr. CAIUS. MRS. PAGE. Mafter doctor, my daughter is in green: when you fee your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch it quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together. CAIUS. I know vat I have to do; Adieu. MRS. PAGE. Fare you well, fir. [Exit CAIUS. My husband will not rejoice fo much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break, MRS. FORD. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welch devil, Hugh? 5 There is no blunder. In the ancient interludes and moralities, the beings of fupreme power, excellence, or depravity, are occafionally styled men. So, in Much Ado about Nothing, Dogberry fays: "God's a good man." Again, in an Epitaph, part of which has been borrowed as an abfurd one, by Mr. Pope and his affociates, who were not very well acquainted with ancient phrafeology: "Do all we can, "That never fpareth none." Again, in Jeronimo, or The First Part of the Spanish Tragedy, 1605 : "You're the laft man I thought on, fave the devil.” STEEVENS. S and the Welch devil, Hugh ?] The former impreffions read-the Welch devil, Herne? But Falstaff was to represent Herne, and he was no Welchman. Where was the attention or fagacity of our editors, not to obferve that Mrs. Ford is en } |