Prin. Only for praise: and praise we may afford To any lady, that fubdues a lord. Enter Coftard. Prin. Here comes a member of the commonwealth.9 Coft. Good dig-you-den all! Pray you, which is the head lady? Prin. Thou shalt know her, fellow, by the reft that have no heads. Coft. Which is the greatest lady, the higheft? Prin. The thickeft, and the tallest. Coft. The thickest, and the talleft! it is fo; truth is truth. An' your waist, miftrefs, were as flender as my wit,' One o' thefe maids girdles for your waist should be 9 fit. -a member of the commonwealth.] Here, I believe, is a kind of jeft intended; a member of the common-wealth is put for one of the common people, one of the meaneft. JOHNSON. An' your waist, miftrefs, were as fender as my wit, One o' thefe maids girdles for your waist should be fit.] And was not one of her maid's girdles fit for her? It is plain that my and your have all the way changed places, by fome accident or other; and that the lines fhould be read thus, An' my wafte, miftrefs, was as flender as your wit, One of thefe maids girdles for my waste shou'd be fit. The lines are humourous enough, both as reflecting on his own grofs fhape, and her flender wit. WARBURTON. This conjecture is ingenious enough, but not well confidered. It is plain that the ladies girdles would not fit the princess. For when the has referred the clown to the thick ft and the tallest, he turns immediately to her with the blunt apology, truth is truth; and again tells her, you are the thickeft here. If any alteration is to be made, I should propofe, An' your waist, mifirefs, were as flender as your wit. This would point the reply; but perhaps he mentions the slendernefs of his own wit to excufe his bluntnefs. JOHNSON. Are not you the chief woman? you are the thickest here. Prin. What's your will, fir? what's your will? Coft. I have a letter from monfieur Biron, to one lady Rofaline. Prin. Othy letter, thy letter: he's a good friend of mine. Stand afide, good bearer.-Boyet, you can carve ; Boyet. I am bound to ferve. This letter is miftook, it importeth none here; Prin. We will read it, I fwear. 3 Break the neck of the wax, and every one give ear. Boyet reads. BY heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely. More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than truth itself, have commiferation on thy he roical vaffal. The magnanimous and moft illuftrate Break up this capon.] i. e. open this letter. Our poet ufes this metaphor, as the French do their poulet ; which fignifies both a young fowl and a love-letter. Poulet, amatoria litera, fays Richelet; and quotes from Voiture, Repondere au plus obligeant poulet du monde; to reply to the most obliging letter in the world. The Italians use the fame manner of expreffion, when they call a love-epistle, una pollicetta amorofa. I owed the hint of this equivocal ufe of the word to my ingenious friend Mr. Bishop. THEOBALD. To break up was a peculiar phrase in carving. PERCY. 3 Break the neck of the wax, -] Still alluding to the capon. JOHNSON. More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer, &c.] I would read, fairer than fair, more beautiful, &c. T. T. king Cophetua fet eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and be it was that might rightly fay, veni, vidi, vici; which to anatomize in the vulgar, (O bafe and obfcure vulgar !) videlicet, be came, faw, and overcame: he came, one; faw, two; overcame, three. Who came? the King. Why did be come? to fee. Why did he fee? to overcome. To whom came be? to the beggar. What faw be? the beggar. Whom overcame be? the beggar. The conclufion is victory; on whofe fide? the King's; the captive is enrich'd: on whofe fide? the beggar's. The catastrophe is a nuptial: on whofe fide? the king's? no, on boib in one, or one in both. I am the king; (for so ftands the comparison) thou the beggar, for fo witneffeth thy lowlinefs. Shall I command thy love? I may. Shall I enforce thy love? I could. Shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; for tittles? titles: for thy felf? me. Thus expelling thy reply, I prophane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy pilure, and my heart on thy every part. Thine in the dearest defign of industry, DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO. Thus doft thou hear the Nemean lion roar 'Gainft thee, thou lamb, that standest as his prey; 5 king Cophetua.] This story is again alluded to in Henry IV. Let king Copbetua know the truth thereof. But of this king and beggar, the ftory, then doubtless well known, is, I am afraid, loft. Zenelophon has not appearance of a female name, but fince I know not the true name, it is idle to guess. JOHNSON. The ballad of King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid may be feen in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. The beggar's name was Penelophon, here corrupted. PERCY. The poet alludes to this fong in Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV. 2d part, and Richard II. STEEVENS. Thus doft thou bear, &c.] Thefe fix lines appear to be a quotation from fome ridiculous poem of that time. WARBURTON. Sub Submiffive fall his princely feet before, And he from forage will incline to play. But if thou ftrive (poor foul) what art thou then? Food for his rage, repafture for his den. Prin. What plume of feathers is he, that indited this letter? What vane? what weathercock? did you ever hear better? Boyet. I am much deceived, but I remember the ftile. Prin. Elfe your memory is bad, going o'er it ere while." Boyet. This Armado is a Spaniard, that keeps here in court, 8 A phantafme, a Monarcho; and one that makes sport leigh, -ere while.] Just now; a little while ago. So RaHere lies Hobbinol our shepherd, while e'er. JOHNSON. -] Sir T. Hanmer reads, JOHNSON. -a monarcho;— -a mammuccio.. The allufion is to a fantastical character of the time." Popular applaufe (fays Meres) dooth nourish fome, neither do they gape after any other thing, but vaine praife and glorie,as in our age Peter Shakerlye of Paules, and Monarcho that lived about the court." p. 178. FARMER. In Nafh's Have with you to Saffron-Walden, 1595, I meet with the fame allufion." but now he was an infulting monarch "above Monarcho the Italian, that ware crownes in his fhoes, and quite renounced his natural English accents and geftures, and "wrefted himself wholly to the Italian puntilio's, &c." 66 An allufion of a fimilar kind remains unexplained in Ben Jonfon's Alchemist, act i. fc. 1. —and a face cut for thee, "Worfe than Gamaliel Ratfey's." Gamaliel Ratfey was a famous highwayman, who always robbed in a mask. I once had in my poffeffion a pamphlet containing his life and exploits, in the title-page of which he is reprefented with this ugly visor on his face. STEEVENS. To the prince, and his book-mates. Coft. I told you; my lord. Prin. To whom fhouldft thou give it? Prin. From which lord, to which lady? Coft, From my lord Biron, a good mafter of mine, To a lady of France, that he call'd Rosaline. Prin. Thou haft mistaken this letter. Come, lords, away. 9 Here, fweet, put up this'; 'twill be thine another day. [Exit Princess attended. Boyet. Who is the fhooter? who is the fhooter? Rof. Shall I teach you to know? Boyet. Ay, my continent of beauty. Rof. Why, the that bears the bow. Finely put off. Boyet. My lady goes to kill horns: but, if thou marry, Hang me by the neck, if horns that year mifcarry. Finely put on !— Rof. Well then, I am the fhooter, Boyet. And who is your deer? Rof. If we chufe by horns, yourfelf; come not near, Finely put on, indeed !— Mar. You ftill wrangle with her, Boyet, and fhe ftrikes at the brow. Boyet. But the herself is hit lower. Have I hit her now? Rof. Shall I come upon thee with an old faying, 9 yather, Come, lords, away.] Perhaps the Princefs faid Come, ladies, away. The rest of the fcene deferves no care. JOHNSON. that |