2. Moth. Minimè, honeft master: or rather, master, no. Moth. You are too fwift, Sir, to say fo3. Is that lead flow, Sir, which is fir'd from a gun? He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he: Moth. Thump then, and I fly. [Exit. Arm. A moft acute Juvenile, voluble and free of grace i By thy favour, fweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face. Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd. SCENE II. Re-enter Moth and Coftard. Moth. A wonder, mafter, here's a Coftard broken in a fhin. Arm. Some enigma, fome riddle; come,—thy lenvoy-begin. Coft. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no falve in the male, Sir. O Sir, plantan, a plain plantan; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, or falve, Sir, but plantan. ↑ No falve in the male, Sir.] The old folio reads, no falve in thee male, Sir, which in another folio, is no falve in the male, Sir. What it can mean is not packet or bag was a word then in easily discovered: if mail for a use, no falve in the mail may mean no falve in the mountebank's budget. Or fhall we read, no egma, no riddle, no l'envoy-in the vale, Sir-O, Sir, plantain. The matter is not great, but one would with for fome meaning or other. Arm. Arm. By virtue, thou enforceft laughter; thy filly thought, my fpleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous fmiling: O pardon me, my ftars! Doth the inconfiderate tafte falve for l'envoy, and the word l'envoy for a falve? Moth. Doth the wife think them other? is not l'envoy a falve? Arm. No, page, it is an epilogue or difcourfe, to make plain Some obfcure precedence that hath tofore been fain. The fox, the ape, and the humble bee, There's the moral, now the l'envoy. Moth. I will add the l'envry; fay the moral again. Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, Were still at odds, being but three. Moth. Until the goofe came out of door, And stay'd the odds by adding four. A good l'envoy, ending in the goofe; would you defire more? Coft. The boy hath fold him a bargain; a goofe, that's flat; Sir, your penny-worth is good, an' your goofe be fat. To fell a bargain well is as cunning as fast and loose. Let me fee a fat l'envoy; that's a fat goofe. Arm. Come hither, come hither; How did this argument begin? Moth. By faying, that a Coftard was broken in a shin. Then call'd you for a l'envoy. Coft. True, and I for a plantan; Thus came the argument in; Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goofe that you bought, And he ended the market. Arm. But tell me; how was there a broken in a fhin? * Coftard * Coftard is the name of a fpecies of apple. Moth. Moth. I will tell you fenfibly. Caft. Thou haft no feeling of it, Moth. I will speak that l'envoy. Coftard running out, that was fafely within, Fell over the threshold, and broke my fhin. Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Coft. 'Till there be more matter in the fhin. Arm. Sirrah, Costard, I will infranchise thee. Coft. O, marry me to one Francis; I fmell fome l'envoy, fome goofe in this. Arm. By my fweet foul, I mean, setting thee at lberty; enfreedoming thy perfon; thou wert immur'd, reftrained, captivated, bound. Coft. True, true, and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose. Arm. I give thee thy liberty, fet thee from durance, and, in lieu thereof, impofe on thee nothing but this; bear this fignificant to the country-maid Jaquenetta; there is remuneration; [Giving him fomething.] for the best ward of mine honours is rewarding my depen dants. Moth, follow.[Exite Moth. Like the fequel, I. Signior Coftard, adieu. Exit. Coft. My fweet ounce of man's flesh, my in-cony Jew! 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 incle? a penny: No, I'll give you a remuneration: why, it carries it.-Remuneration !-why, it is a Like the fequel, I.] Sequele, in French, fignifies a great man's train. The joke is, that a fingle page was all his train. 8 - * WARBURTON. 9 My in-cony SEW!] Incony or kony in the north fignifies, fine, delicate as a kony thing, a fine thing. It is plain therefore, we fhould read, my-incony JEWEL. WARBURTON. Cony has the fignification here given it, but incony I never heard nor read elsewhere. I know not whether it be right, however fpecious, to change few to jewel. Jew, in our author's time, was, for whatever reason, apparently a word of endearment. So in Midsummer Night's Dream; Moft tender Juvenile, and ide most lovely Jew. 9 fairer name than a French crown'. I will never buy and fell out of this word. SCENE III. Enter Biron. Biron. O my good knave Coftard, exceedingly well met. Coft. Pray you, Sir, how much carnation ribbon may a man buy for a remuneration? Biron. What is a remuneration? Coft. Marry, Sir, half-penny farthing. Biron. O why then three farthings worth of filk. Coft. I thank your worship. God be with you. Biron. O ftay, flave, I muft employ thee: As thou wilt win my favour, my good knave, Do one thing for me that I fhall intreat. Coft. When would you have it done, Sir? Biron. O, this afternoon. Coft. Well, I will do it, Sir. Fare you well. Coft. I fhall know, Sir, when I have done it. Coft. I will come to your worship to-morrow morn ing Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, flave, it is but this: The Princess comes to hunt here in the park : And in her train there is a gentle lady; When tongues speak fweetly, then they name her name, 1 No, I'll give you a remuneration: Why? It carries its remuneration. Why? It is a fairer name than a French crown.] Thus this paffage has hitherto been writ, and pointed, without VOL. II. any regard to common fenfe, or meaning. The reform, that I have made, flight as it is, makes it both intelligible and humourous. THEOBALD. L And And Rofaline they call her; afk for her, And to her fweet hand fee thou do commend This feal'd-up counsel. There's thy guerdon; go. [gives him a fhilling. Coft. Guerdon,O fweet guerdon ! better than remuneration, eleven pence farthing better: moft fweet guerdon! I will do it, Sir, in print. Guerdon, [Exit. remuneration. Biron. O! and I, forfooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humourous figh: This whimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy, This Signior Junio's giant dwarf, Dan Cupid] It was fome time ago ingeniously hinted to me, (and I readily came into the Opinion ;) that as there was a Contraft of Terms in giant-dwarf, fo, probably, there fhould be in the Word immediately preceding them; and therefore that we fhould restore, This Senior-junior,giant-dwarf, i. e. this old young Man. And That was the way to make bis Godhead wax, For he hath been five thousand year's a Boy. The Conjecture is exquifitely well imagined, and ought by all means to be embrac'd, unless there is reafon to think, that, in Regent the former Reading, there is an Attufion to fome Tale, or Character in an old Play. I have not, on this Account, ventured to difturb the Text, because there feems to me some reason to fufpect, that our Author is here alluding to Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca. In that Tragedy there is the Character of one Junius, a Roman Captain, who falls in love to Diftraction with one of Bonduca's daughters; and becomes an arrant whining Slave to this Paffion. He is afterwards cured of his Infirmity, and is as abfolute a Tyrant against the Sex. Now, with regard to these two Extremes, Cupid might very probably be ftiled Junius's gi ant-dwarf: a Giant in his Eye, while the Dotage was upon him; but shrunk into a Dwarf, fo foon as he had got the better of it. |