I will example it. Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy. The fox, the ape, and the humble bee, Were still at odds, being but three. There's the moral: Now the l'envoy. Moth. I will add the l'envoy; Say 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, Staying 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 faft and loofe: Let me fee a fat l'envoy; ay, 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 fhin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. Coft. True, and I for a plantain; thus came your 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 Coftard broken in a fhin? Moth. I will tell you fenfibly. Coft. Thou haft no feeling of it, Moth. I will speak that l'envoy. And he ended the market.] Alluding to the English proverbThree women and a goofe make a market. Tre donne et un occa fan an mercato. Ital. Ray's Proverbs. STEEVENS. 5 bow was there a Coftard broken in a fin.] Coftard is the name of a fpecies of apple. JOHNSON. X I Coftard running out, that was fafely within, Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Arm. By my sweet foul, I mean, fetting thee at Itberty; enfreedoming thy perfon; thou wert immur'd, reftrained, captivated, bound. Caft. 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 beft ward of mine honour, is rewarding my dependants. Moth, follow. Moth. Like the fequel, I. Signior Coftard, adieu. [Exit. [Exit. Coft. My fweet ounce of man's flesh! my in-cony Jew !7 Now 16 Like the fequel, I.] Sequele, in French, fignifies a great man's train. The joke is, that a fingle page was all his train. WARBURTON. I believe this joke exifts only in the apprehenfion of the commentator. Sequelle, in French, is never employed but in a derogatory fenfe. They ufe it to exprefs the gang of a highwayman, but not the train of a lord. Moth ufes the fequel only in the literary acceptation. STEEVENS. 7 my in-cony Jew!] Incony or kony in the north fignifies, fine, delicate as a kony thing, a fine thing. It is plain therefore, we fhould read, my in-cony jewel. WARBURTON. I know not whether it be right, however fpecious, to change Jew to jewel. Few, in our author's time, was, for whatever rea fon, apparently a word of endearment. So in Midfummer-Night's Dream, Moft tender Juvenile, and eke mot lovely Jew. JOHNSON. The 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 fairer name than a French crown. I will never buy and fell out of this word. 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-farthing-worth of filk. The word is ufed again in the 4th act. -moft incony vulgar wit. In the old comedy called Blurt Mafter Conftable, I meet with it again. A maid is fpeaking to her mistress about a gown : -it makes you have a moft inconie body. Cony and incony have the fame meaning. So Metaphor fays in "O fuperdainty canon, vicar inconey." 99 So in the Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599. So in Heywood's Jew of Malta, 1633. "While I in thy in-cony lap do tumble." Again in Doctor Dodypoll, com. 16co. "A cockcomb inceny, but that he wants money," STEEVENS. 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 any regard to common fenfe, or meaning. The reform, that I have made, flight as it is, makes it both intelligible and humourous. THEOBALD. Coft. Ceft. I thank your worship: God be with you. Biron. Oftay, flave; I must 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, fir? Biron. O, this afternoon. Coft. Well, I will do it, fir: Fare you well. Biren. O, thou knoweft not what it is. ing. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, flave, it is but this: The princefs comes to hunt here in the park: When tongues fpeak fweetly, then they name her name, And Rofaline they call her: afk for her; Coft. Guerdon,-O fweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: Most fweet guerdon! I will do it, fir, in print.'-Guerdon, remuneration. Biron. O! and I, forfooth, in love! [Exit. in print.] i. e. exactly, with the utmoft nicety. It has been propofed to me to read in point, but, I think, without neceffity, the former expreffion being ftill in ufe. STEEVENS. This This wimpled,' whining, purblind wayward boy; This fignior Junio's giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; I 2 Regent This wimpled] The wimple was a hood or veil, which fell over the face. Had Shakespeare been acquainted with the flammeum of the Romans, or the gem which reprefents the marriage of Cupid and Pfyche, his choice of the epithet would have been much applauded by all the advocates in favour of his learning. In Ifaiah, chap. iii. v. 22. we find-" the mantles, and the "wimples, and the crifping-pins ;" and, in The Devil's Charter, 1607, to wimple is ufed as a verb. "Here, I perceive a little rivelling "Above my forehead, but I wimple it, "Either with jewels, or a lock of hair." STEEVENS. This fignior 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 contrast of terms in giant-dwarf, fo, probably, there fhould be in the word immediately preceding them; and therefore that we should restore, This fenior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid. i. e. this old young man. And there is, indeed, afterwards, in this play, a defcription of Cupid which forts very aptly with such an emendation. That was the way to make his Godhead wax, For he hath been five thousand years a boy. The conjecture is exquifitely well imagined, and ought by all means to be embraced unless there is reason to think, that, in the former reading, there is an allufion to fome tale, or character in an old play. I have not, on this account, ventured to disturb 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 distraction with one of Bonduca's daughters; and become an arrant whining flave to this paffion. He is afterwards cured of his infirmity, and is as abfolute a tyrant against the fex. Now, with regard to these two extremes, Cupid might very probably be ftiled Junius's giant-dwarf: a giant in his eye, while the dotage was upon him; but fhrunk into a dwarf, fo foon as he had got the better ofit. THEOBALD. Mr. Upton has made a very ingenious conjecture on this pasfage. He reads, This fignior Julio's giant-dwarf Shakespeare, fays he, intended to compliment Julio Romano, who drew |