Quick. A softly-sprighted man, is he not? Sim. Ay, forsooth: but he is as tall a man of his hands, as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with a warrener. Theobald's conjecture may be countenanced by a parallel expression in an old play called Blurt Master Constable, or, The Spaniard's Night Walk, 1602: 66 over all, "A goodly, long, thick, Abraham-colour'd beard." Again, in Soliman and Perseda, 1599, Basilisco says: 66 where is the eldest son of Priam, "That Abraham-colour'd Trojan?" I am not, however, certain, but that Abraham may be a corruption of auburn. So, in Reynolds's God's Revenge against Murder, Book IV, Hist. 16, "Harcourt had a light auburn beard, which (like a country gentleman) he wore negligently after the oval cut." Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1603: "And let their beards be of Judas his own colour." Again, in A Christian turn'd Turk, 1612: "That's he in the Judas beard." Again, in The Insatiate Countess, 1613: "I ever thought by his red beard he would prove a Judas." In an age, when but a small part of the nation could read, idea's were frequently borrowed from representations in painting or tapestry. A cane-colour'd beard, however, [the reading of the quarto] might signify a beard of the colour of cane, i. e. a sickly yellow; for straw-colour'd beards are mentioned in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Steevens. The new edition of Leland's Collectanea, Vol. V. p. 295, asserts, that painters constantly represented Judas the traitor with a red head. Dr. Plot's Oxfordshire, p. 153, says the same. This conceit is thought to have arisen in England, from our ancient grudge to the red-haired Danes. Tollet. 2 See my quotation in King Henry VIII, Act V, sc. ii. Steevens. as tall a man of his hands,] Perhaps this is an allusion to the jockey measure, so many hands high, used by grooms when speaking of horses. Tall, in our author's time, signified not only height of stature, but stoutness of body. The ambiguity of the phrase seems intended. Percy. Whatever be the origin of this phrase, it is very ancient, being used by Gower: "A worthie knight was of his honde, "There was none suche in all the londe." De Confessione Amantis, lib. v, fol. 118, b. Steevens. The tall man of the old dramatic writers, was a man of a bold, intrepid disposition, and inclined to quarrel; such as is described by Steevens in the second scene of the third act of this play. M. Mason. Quick. How say you?-O, I should remember him; Does he not hold up his head, as it were? and strut in his gait? Sim. Yes, indeed, does he. Quick. Well, heaven send Anne Page no worse fortune! Tell master parson Evans, I will do what I can for your master: Anne is a good girl, and I wish— Re-enter RUGBY. Rug. Out, alas! here comes my master. Quick. We shall all be shent:3 Run in here, good young man; go into this closet. [Shuts SIMPLE in the closet.] He will not stay long.-What, John Rugby! John, what, John, I say!-Go, John, go inquire for my master; I doubt, he be not well, that he comes not home: —and down, down, adown-a,4 &c. [Sings. Enter Doctor CAIUS.5 Caius. Vat is you sing? I do not like dese toys; "A tall man of his hands" sometimes meant quick-handed, active; and as Simple is here commending his master for his gymnastic abilities, perhaps the phrase is here used in that sense. See Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598, in v. " Manesco. Nimble or quick-handed; a tall man of his hands.” Malone. 3 We shall all be shent :] i. e. Scolded, roughly treated. in the old Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date: 66 I can tell thee one thyng, "In fayth you wyll be shent." So, Again, in Chapman's version of the twenty-third book of Homer's Odyssey: 66 such acts still were shent, "As simply in themselves, as in th' event." Steevens. and down, down, adown-a, &c.] To deceive her master, she sings as if at her work. Sir John Hawkins. This appears to have been the burden of some song then well known. In Every Woman in her Humour, 1609, sign. E 1, one of the characters says, 66 Hey good boies! i' faith now a three man's song or the old downe adowne: well, things must be as they may; fil's the other quart: muscadine with an egg is fine; there's a time for all things, bonos nochios." Reed. 5 Enter Doctor Caius.] It has been thought strange that our author should take the name of Caius [an eminent physician who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, and founder of Caius College in our university] for his Frenchman in this comedy; but Shakspeare was little acquainted with literary history; and without doubt, from this unusual name, supposed him to have been a foreign quack. Add to this, that the doctor was handed down as a kind of Rosicrucian: Mr. Ames had in MS. one of the "Secret Writings of Dr. Caius." Farmer. Pray you, go and vetch me in my closet un boitier verd ;6 a box, a green-a box; Do intend vat I speak? a green-a box. Quick. Ay forsooth, I'll fetch it you. I am glad he went not in himself: if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad. [Aside. Caius. Fe, fe, fe, fe! ma foi, il fait fort chaud. Je m'en vais à la Cour, la grand affaire. Quick. Is it this, sir? Caius. Ouy; mette le au mon pocket; Depeche, quickly:-Vere is dat knave Rugby? Quick. What, John Rugby! John! Rug. Here, sir. 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, sir, here in the porch. Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long:-Od's me! Qu'ay j'oublié ? dere is some simples in my closet, dat I vill not for the varld I shall 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 my rapier, Quick. Good master, be content. Caius. Verefore shall I be content-a? Quick. The young man is an honest man. 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 story called The Foole of Winsor begins thus: "Upon a time there was in Winsor a certain simple outlandishe doctor of physicke belonging to the deane," &c. Steevens. 6 un boitier verd;] Boitier in French signifies a case of surgeon's instruments. Grey. I believe it rather means a box of salve, or case to hold simples, for which Caius professes to seek. The same word, somewhat curtailed, is used by Chaucer, in The Pardoneres Prologue, v. 12,241: "And every boist ful of thy letuarie.” Again, in The Skynners' Play, in the Chester Collection of Mysteries, MS. Harl. p. 149, Mary Magdalen says: "To balme his bodye that is so brighte, Boyste here have I brought." Steevens. out of honesty into English. 4 Nym. The anchor is deep: Will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's purse; she hath legions of angels.5 say 6 Pist. As many devils entertain; and, To her, boy, I. Nym. The humour rises; it is good: humour me the angels. Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her and here "You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them." Again, in Troilus and Cressida : "Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me." Steevens. 4 The anchor is deep:] I see not what relation the anchor has to translation. Perhaps we may read-the author is deep; or perhaps the line is out of its place, and should be inserted lower, after Falstaff has said: "Sail like my pinnace to those golden shores." It may be observed, that in the hands of that time anchor and author could hardly be distinguished. Johnson. "The anchor is deep," may mean-his hopes are well founded. So, in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, by Beaumont and Fletcher: 66 Now my latest hope, "Forsake me not, but fling thy anchor out, Again, as Mr. M. Mason observes, in Fletcher's Woman Hater: "Farewel, my hopes; my anchor now is broken." en In the year 1558 a ballad, entitled "Hold the ancer fast," is tered on the books of the Stationers' Company. Steevens. Dr. Johnson very acutely proposes "the author is deep." He reads with the first copy, "he hath studied her well."—And from this equivocal word, Nym catches the idea of deepness. But it is almost impossible to ascertain the diction of this whimsical character: and I meet with a phrase in Fenner's Comptor's Commonwealth, 1617, which may perhaps support the old reading: "Master Decker's Bellman of London, hath set forth the vices of the time so lively, that it is impossible the anchor of any other man's braine could sound the sea of a more deepe and dreadful mischeefe." Farmer. Nym, I believe, only means to say, the scheme for debauching Ford's wife is deep; well laid. Malone. 5- she hath legions of angels.] Thus the old quarto. The folio reads " he hath a legend of angels." Steevens. 6 As many devils entertain;] i. e. do you retain in your service as many devils as she has angels. So, in The two Gentlemen of Verona: another to Page's wife; who even now gave me good eyes too, examin'd my parts with most judicious eyliads:7 sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, sometimes my portly belly. Pist. Then did the sun on dung-hill shine.9 Nym. I thank thee for that humour.1 2 Fal. O, she did so course o'er my exteriors with such a greedy intention, that the appetite of her 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 3 "Sweet lady, entertain him for your servant." This is the reading of the folio. Malone. The old quarto reads: 7 "As many devils attend her!" &c. Steevens. eyliads] This word is differently spelt in all the copies. It occurs again, in King Lear, Act IV, sc. v; "She gave strange ailiads, and most speaking looks, I suppose we should write oëïllades, French. Steevens. 8 - sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, some times 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. 66 Then did the sun on dung-hill shine.] So, in Lyly's Euphues, 1581: "The sun shineth upon the dunghill." Holt White. 1 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; 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 |