in the smirch'd worm-eaten tapestry, where his codpiece seems as massy as his club? Con. All this I see; and see, that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man: But art not thou thyself giddy with the fashion too, that thou hast shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion? Bora. Not so neither: but know, that I have to-night wooed Margaret, the lady Hero's gentlewoman, by the name of Hero; she leans me out at her mistress' chamber-window, bids me a thousand times good night,—I tell this tale vilely:-I should first tell thee, how the prince, Claudio, and my master, planted, and placed, and possessed by my master Don John, saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter. Con. And thought they, Margaret was Hero? Bora. Two of them did, the prince and Claudio; but the devil my master knew she was Margaret; and partly by his oaths, which first possessed them, partly by the dark night, which did deceive them, but chiefly by my villainy, which did confirm any slander that Don John had made, away went Claudio enraged; swore he would meet her as he was appointed, next morning at the temple, and there, before the whole congregation, shame her with what he saw over-night, and send her home again without a husband. 1 Watch. We charge you in the prince's name, stand. 2 Watch. Call up the right master constable: We have here recovered the most dangerous piece of lechery that ever was known in the commonwealth. 1 Watch. And one Deformed is one of them; I know him, he wears a lock." shaved to make him look like a woman, while he remained in the service of Omphale, his Lydian mistress. Had the shaven Hercules been meant to represent Sampson, he would probably have been equipped with a jaw bone instead of a club. Steevens. 6 smirch'd-] Smirch'd is soiled, obscured. So, in As you Like it, Act I, sc. iii: 7 "And with a kind of umber smirch my face." Steevens. wears a lock.] So, in The Return from Parnassus, 1606: "He whose thin fire dwells in a smoky roofe, "Must take tobacco, and must wear a lock." See Dr. Warburton's note, Act V, sc. i. Steevens. 8 Con. Masters, masters, 8. 2 Watch. You'll be made bring Deformed forth, I warrant you. Con. Masters, 1 Watch. Never speak; we charge you, let us obey you to go with us. Bora. We are like to prove a goodly commodity, being taken up of these men's bills. Con. A commodity in question,1 I warrant you. Come, we 'll obey you. SCENE IV. A Room in LEONATO's House. [Exeunt. Enter HERO, MARGARET, and URSULA. Hero. Good Ursula, wake my cousin Beatrice, and de sire her to rise. Urs. I will, lady. Hero. And bid her come hither. Urs. Well. 8 Con. Masters, masters, &c.] In former copies: Con. Masters. [Exit URS. 2 Watch. You'll be made bring Deformed forth, I warrant you. Con. Masters never speak, we charge you, let us obey you to go with s.] The regulation which I have made in this last speech, though against the authority of all the printed copies, I flatter myself, carries its proof with it. Conrade and Borachio are not designed to talk absurd nonsense. It is evident therefore, that Conrade is attempting his own justification; but is interrupted in it by the impertinence of the men in office. Theobald. 9a goodly commodity, being taken up of these men's bills.] Here is a cluster of conceits. Commodity was formerly as now, the usual term for an article of merchandise. To take up, besides its common meaning, (to apprehend) was the phrase for obtaining goods on credit. "If a man is thorough with them in honest taking up, (says Falstaff) then they must stand upon security." Bill was the term both for a single bond, and a halberd. We have the same conceit in King Henry VI, P. II: "My lord, When shall we go to Cheapside, and take up commodities upon our bills?" Malone. 1 A commodity in question,] i. e. a commodity subject to judicial trial or examination. Thus Hooker: "Whosoever be found guilty, the communion book hath deserved least to be called in question for this fault." Steevens. Marg. Troth, I think, your other rabato2 were better. Hero. No, pray thee, good Meg, I'll wear this. Marg. By my troth, it's not so good; and I warrant, your cousin will say so. Hero. My cousin's a fool, and thou art another; I'll wear none but this. Marg. I like the new tire within excellently, if the hair were a thought browner:3 and your gown 's a most rare fashion, i' faith. I saw the duchess of Milan's gown, that they praise so. Hero. O, that exceeds, they say. Marg. By my troth it's but a night-gown in respect of yours: Cloth of gold, and cuts, and laced with silver; set with pearls, down sleeves, side-sleeves, and skirts 2 4 rabato-] An ornament for the neck, a collar-band or kind of ruff. Fr. Rabat. Menage saith it comes from rabattre, to put back, because it was at first nothing but the collar of the shirt or shift turn'd back towards the shoulders. T. Hawkins. This article of dress is frequently mentioned by our ancient comic writers. So, in the comedy of Law Tricks, &c. 1608: "Broke broad jests upon her narrow heel, "Pok'd her rabatoes, and survey'd her steel." Again, in Decker's Guls Hornbook, 1609:—“Your stiff-necked rebatoes (that have more arches for pride to row under, than can stand under five London-bridges) durst not then," &c. Again, in Decker's Untrussing the Humorous Poet: “What a miserable thing it is to be a noble bride! There's such delays in rising, in fitting gowns, in pinning rebatoes, in poaking," &c. The first and last of these passages will likewise serve for an additional explanation of the poking sticks of steel, mentioned by Autolycus in The Winter's Tale. Steevens. 3 If the hair were a thought browner:] i. e. the false hair attached to the cap; for we learn from Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, 1595, p. 40, that ladies were "not simplie content with their own haire, but did buy up other haire either of horses, mares, or any other strange beasts, dying it of what collour they list themselves." Steevens. 4 side-sleeves,] Side-sleeves, I believe, mean long ones. So, in Greene's Farewel to Follie, 1617: "As great selfe-love lurketh in a side-gowne, as in a short armour." Again, in Laneham's Account of Queen Elizabeth's entertainment at Kenelworth-Castle, 1575, the minstrel's "gown had side-sleeves down to the midleg." Clement Paston (See Paston Letters, Vol. I, p. 145, 2nd edit.) had "a short blue gown that was made of a side-gown." i. e. of a long one. Again, in The last Voyage of Cap round, underborne with a bluish tinsel: but for a fine, quaint, graceful, and excellent fashion, yours is worth ten on 't. Hero. God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is exceeding heavy! Marg. 'Twill be heavier soon, by the weight of a man. Hero. Fie upon thee! art not ashamed? Marg. Of what, lady? of speaking honourably? Is not marriage honourable in a beggar? Is not your lord honourable without marriage? I think, you would have me say, saving your reverence,-a husband: an bad thinking do not wrest true speaking, I'll offend no body: Is there any harm in—the heavier for a husband? None, I think, an it be the right husband, and the right wife; taine Frobisher, by Dionyse Settle, 12mo. bl. 1. 1577: "They make their apparell with hoodes and tailes, &c. The men have them not so syde as the women.' Such long sleeves, within my memory, were worn by children, and were called hanging-sleeves; a term which is preserved in a line, I think, of Dryden: "And miss in hanging-sleeves now shakes the dice." Side or Syde in the north of England, and in Scotland, is used for long when applied to a garment, and the word has the same signification in the Anglo-Saxon and Danish. Vide Glossary to Gawaine Douglas's Virgil. To remove an appearance of tautology, as down-sleeves may seem synonymous with side-sleeves, a comma must be taken out, and the passage printed thus-"Set with pearls down sleeves, or down th' sleeves." The second paragraph of this note is copied from the Edinburgh Magazine, for Nov. 1786. Steevens. Side-sleeves were certainly long-sleeves, as will appear from the following instances. Stowe's Chronicle, p. 327, tempore Hen. IV; "This time was used exceeding pride in garments, gownes with deepe and broad sleeves commonly called poke sleeves, the servants ware them as well as their masters, which might well have been called the receptacles of the devil, for what they stole they hid in their sleeves, whereof some hung downe to the feete, and at least to the knees, full of cuts and jagges, whereupon were made these verses: [i. e. by Tho. Hoccleve.] "Now hath this land little neede of broomes "To sweepe away the filth out of the streete "Sen side-sleeves of penilesse groomes "Will it up licke be it drie or weete." Again, in Fitzherbert's Book of Husbandry: "Theyr cotes be so syde that they be fayne to tucke them up whan they ride, as women do theyr kyrtels whan they go to the market," &c. Reed. otherwise 'tis light, and not heavy: Ask, my lady Beatrice else, here she comes. Enter BEATRICE. Hero. Good morrow, coz. Beat. Good morrow, sweet Hero. Hero. Why, how now, do you speak in the sick tune? Beat. I am out of all other tune, methinks. Marg. Clap us into-Light o' love; that goes without a burden; do you sing it, and I'll dance it. Beat. Yea, Light o' love, with your heels?—then if your husband have stables enough, you'll see he shall lack no barns.6 Marg. O illegitimate construction! I scorn that with my heels. Beat. 'Tis almost five o'clock, cousin; 'tis time you were ready. By my troth I am exceeding ill:-hey ho! Marg. For a hawk, a horse, or a husband?7 5 Beat. For the letter that begins them all, H. Light o' love;] This tune is alluded to in Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen. The gaoler's daughter, speaking of a horse, says: "He gallops to the tune of Light o' love." It is mentioned again in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "Best sing it to the tune of Light o' love." And in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher. Again, in A Gorgious Gallery of gallant Inventions, &c. 4to. 1578: "The lover exhorteth his lady to be constant to the tune of "Attend go play thee "Not Light of love, lady," &c. Steevens. 6 -no barns.] A quibble between barns, repositories of corn, and bairns, the old word for children. Johnson. So, in The Winter's Tale: 7 Mercy on us, a barn! a very pretty barn!" Steevens. hey ho! Marg. For a hawk, a horse, or a husband?] "Heigh ho for a husband, or the willing maid's wants made known," is the title of an old ballad in the Pepysian Collection, in Magdalen College, Cambridge. Malone. 8 For the letter that begins them all, H.] This is a poor jest, somewhat obscured, and not worth the trouble of elucidation. Margaret asks Beatrice for what she cries, hey ho; Beatrice answers, for an H, that is for an ache, or pain. Johnson. Heywood, among his Epigrams, published in 1566, has one on the letter H: "His worst among letters in the cross-row; |