QUICK. A foftly-sprighted man, is he not?

8

SIM. Ay, forfooth: but he is as tall a man of his hands, as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with a warrener.

Again, in Soliman and Perfeda, 1599, Bafilifco fays:

where is the eldeft fon of Priam,

"That Abraham-colour'd Trojan?"

I am not however, certain, but that Abraham may be a corruption of auburn.

Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1603:

And let their beards be of Judas his own colour."

Again, in A Chriftian turn'd Turk, 1612:

"That's he in the Judas beard."

Again, in The Infatiate Countess. 1613:

"I ever thought by his red beard he would prove a Judas." In an age, when but fmall part of the nation could read, ideas were frequently borrowed from reprefentations in painting or tapeftry. A cane-colour'd beard however, [the reading of the quarto, might fignify a beard of the colour of cane, i. e. a fickly yellow; for firaw-coloured beards are mentioned in A Midfummer Night's Dream. STEEVENS.

The words of the quarto,- -a whey-colour'd beard, ftrongly favour this reading; for whey and cane are nearly of the fame colour. MALONE.

The new edition of Leland's Collectanea, Vol. V. p. 295, afferts, that painters conftantly reprefented Judas the traytor with a red head. Dr. Plot's Oxfordshire, p. 153, fays the fame. This conceit is thought to have arifen in England, from our ancient grudge to the red-haired Danes. TOLLET.

See my quotation in King Henry VIII. A& V. fc. ii.

STEEVENS.

8 --as tall a man of his hands,] Perhaps this is an allufion to the jockey mealure, fo many hands high, used by grooms when fpeaking of horfes. Tall, in our author's time, fignified not only height of ftature, but floutnefs of body. The ambiguity of the phrafe feems intended. PERCY.

Whatever be the origin of this phrafe, it is very ancient, being afed by Gower:

A worthie knight was of his honde,

There was none fuche in all the londe."

De Confeffione Amantis, lib. v. fol. 118. b.

STEEVENS.

QUICK. How fay you?-O, I fhould remember him; Does he not hold up his head, as it were? and ftrut in his gait?

SIM. Yes, indeed, does he.

QUICK. Well, heaven fend Anne Page no worfe fortune! Tell mafter parfon Evans, I will do what I can for your mafter: Anne is a good girl, and I with

Re-enter RUGBY.

RUG. Out, alas! here comes my mafler.

QUICK. We fhall all be fhent: Run in here, good young man; go into this clofet. [Shuts Simple in the clofet.] He will not ftay long.-What, John Rugby! John, what, John, I say !-Go, John, go enquire for my mafter; I doubt, he be not well, that he comes not home:--and down, down, adown-a,* &c. [fings.

The tall man of the old dramatick writers, was a man of a bold, intrepid difpofition, and inclined to quarrel; fuch as is defcribed by Mr. Steevens in the fecond scene of the third a&t of this play.

M. MASON.

"A tall man of his hands fometimes meant quick-handed, active; and as Simple is here commending his mafter for his gymnaftick abilities, perhaps the phrafe is here ufed in that fenfe. See Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598, in v. " Manefco. Nimble or quick-handed; a tall man of his hands."

MALONE.

9 We Shall all be fhent:] i. e. Scolded, roughly treated. So, in the old Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date:

36 I can tell thee one thyng,

In fayth you wyll be fhent."

STEEVENS.

and down, down, adown-a, &c.] To deceive her master, The fings as if at her work. SIR J. HAWKINS.

This appears to have been the burden of fome fong then well known. In Every Woman in her Humour, 1609, fign. E 1. 01C of the characters fays, "Hey good boies! i'faith now a three man's E

Vol. V.

Enter Doctor CAIUS.3

CAIUS. Vat is you fing? I do not like defe toys; Pray you, go and vetch me in my clofet un boitier verd; * a box, a green-a box; Do intend vat I speak? a green-a box.

QUICK. Ay, forfooth, I'll fetch it you. I am glad he went not in himfelf; if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad.

[Afide. CAIUS. Fe, fe fe, fe; ma foi, il fait fort chaud. Je m'en vais à la Cour, la grande affaire.

fong, or the old downe adowne: well things must be as they may; fil's the other quart: mufkadine with an egge is fine, there's a time for all things, bonos nochios." REED.

3 Enter Do&or Caius.] It has been thought ftrange, that our author fhould take the name of Caius [an eminent phyfician who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, and founder of Caius College in our univerfity] for his Frenchman in this Comedy; but Shakfpeare was little acquainted with literary hiftory; and without doubt, from this unusual name, fuppofed him to have been a foTeign quack. Add to this, that the dodor was handed down as a kind of Roficrucian: Mr. Ames had in MS. one of the Secret Writings of Dr. Caius." FARMER.

This character of Dr. Caius might have been drawn from the life; as in facke of Dover's Quest of Enquirie, 1604, (perhaps a republication,) a ftory called The Foole of Winfor begins thus: Upon a time there was in Winfor a certain fimple outlandishe doclor of phifike belonging to the deane," &c.

STLEVENS.

4 -un boilier verd;] Boitier in French fignifies a case of furgeon's inftruments. GREY.

I believe it rather means a box of falve, or cafe to hold fimples, for which Caius profeffes to feek. The fame word, fomewhat curtailed, is used by Chaucer, in The Pardoneres Prologue, v. 12241:

"And every boift ful of thy letuarie."

Again, in The Skynners' Play, in the Chefter Colle&ion of Myfteries, MS. Hail. p. 149: Mary Magdalen fays:

66

To balme his bodye that is fo brighte,

Boyfte here have I brought." STERVENS.

QUICK. Is it this, fir?

CAIUS. Ouy; mette le au mon pocket; Depeche, quickly-Vere is dat knave Rugby?

QUICK. What, John Rugby! John !

RUG. Here, fir.

CAIUS. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby: Come, take-a your rapier, and come after my heel to de court.

RUG. 'Tis ready, fir, here in the porch.

CAIUS. By my trot, I tarry too long:-Od's me! Qu'ay j'oublié? dere is fome fimples in my clofet, dat I vill not for the varld I fhall leave behind. QUICK. Ah me! he'll find the young man there, and be mad.

CAIUS. O diable, diable! vat is in my closet?Villainy! larron! [Pulling Simple out.] Rugby, iny rapier.

QUICK. Good mafter, be content.

CAIUS. Verefore fhall I be content-a?

QUICK. The young man is an honeft man. CAIUS. Vat fhall de honeft man do in my closet? dere is no honeft man dat fhall come in my clofet. QUICK. I beseech you, be not fo flegmatick; hear the truth of it: He came of an errand to me from parfon Hugh.

CAIUS. Vell.

SIM. Ay, forfooth, to defire her to

QUICK. Peace, I pray you.

CAIUS. Peace-a your tongue:-Speak-a your tale. SIM. To defire this honeft gentlewoman, your maid, to speak a good word to mistress Anne Page for my master, in the way of marriage.

QUICK. This is all, indeed, la; but I'll ne'er put my finger in the fire, and need not.

CAIUS. Sir Hugh fend-a you?-Rugby, baillez me fome paper; Tarry you a little-a while. [writes. QUICK. I am glad he is fo quiet: if he had been thoroughly moved, you fhould have heard him so loud, and fo melancholy;-But notwithstanding, man, I'll do your mafter what good I can: and the very yea and the no is, the French Doctor, my mafter,I may call him my mafter, look you, for I keep his houfe; and I wafh, wring, brew, bake, fcour, drefs meat and drink,' make the beds, and do all myself;

SIM. 'Tis a great charge, to come under one body's hand.

QUICK. Are you avis'd o'that? you fhall find it a great charge: and to be up early, and down late; but notwithstanding, (to tell you in your ear; I would have no words of it;) my mafter himfelf is in love with mistress Anne Page: but notwithflanding that,-1 know Anne's mind,-that's neither here nor there.

CAIUS. You jack'nape; give-a dis letter to Sir Hugh; by gar, it is a fhallenge: I vill cut his troat in de park; and I vill teach a fcurvy jacka-nape priest to meddle or make :-you may be gone; it is not good you tarry here:-by gar, I vill cut all his two ftones; by gar, he fhall not have a flone to trow at his dog. [Exit SIMPLE. QUICK. Alas, he fpeaks but for his friend.

--dress meat and drink,] Dr. Warburton thought the word drink ought to be expunged; but by drink Dame Quickly might have intended potage and foup, of which her mafter may be fuppofed to have been as fond as the rest of his countrymen.

MALONE.