P. HEN. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? FAL. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. pleasure of King Henry V. to abuse,) feeing the vicinity of founds intrench on the memory of that worthy knight." Here we see the affertion is, not that Sir John Oldcaftle did firft bear the brunt in Shakspeare's play, but in all plays, that is, on the stage in general, before Shakspeare's character had appeared; owing to the malevolence of papifts, of which religion it is plain Fuller fuppofed the writers of thofe plays in which Oldcastle was exhibited, to have been; nor does he complain of Shakspeare's altering the name of his character from Oldcastle to Falstaff, but of the metathefis of Faftolfe to Falftaff. Yet I have no doubt that the words above cited, "put out" and "put in," and " by fome alteration of his name," that these words alone, mifunderstood, gave rife to the mifapprehenfion that has prevailed fince the time of Mr. Rowe, relative to this matter. For what is the plain meaning of Fuller's words?" Sir John Faftolfe was in truth a very brave man, though he is now reprefented on the ftage as a cowardly braggart. Before he was thus ridiculed, Sir John Oldcastle, being hated by the papifts, was exhibited by popish writers, in all plays, as a coward. Since the new character of Falstaff has appeared, Oldcastle has no longer borne the brunt, has no longer been the object of ridicule: but, as on the one hand I am glad that his memory has been relieved,' that the plays in which he was reprefented have been expelled from the fcene, fo on the other, I am forry that fo refpectable a character as Sir John Faftolfe has been brought on it, and fubftituted buffoon in his place;' for however our comick poet [Shakspeare] may have hoped to escape cenfure by altering the name from Faftolfe to Falstaff, he is certainly culpable, fince fome imputation muft neceffarily fall on the brave knight of Norfolk from the fimilitude of the founds." Falftaff having thus grown out of, and immediately fucceeding, the other character, (the Oldcastle of the old K. Henry V.) having one or two features in common with him, and being probably reprefented in the fame drefs, and with the fame fictitious belly, as his predeceffor, the two names might have been indifcriminately ufed by Field and others, without any mistake, or intention to deceive. Perhaps, behind the fcenes, in confequence of the circumstances already mentioned, Oldcastle might have been a cant appellation for Falftaff, for a long time. Hence the name might have been prefixed inadvertently, in fome play-houfe copy, to one of the speeches in The Second Part of K. Henry IV. P. HEN. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would ftretch; and, where it would not, I have ufed my credit. FAL. Yea, and so used it, that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent,-But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rufty curb of old father If the verfes be examined, in which the name of Falftaff occurs, it will be found, that Oldcastle could not have stood in thofe places. The only answer that can be given to this, is, that Shakspeare newwrote each verfe in which Falftaff's name occurred; a labour which thofe only who are entirely unacquainted with our author's hiftory and works, can fuppofe him to have undergone.-A paffage in the Epilogue to The Second Part of K. Henry IV. rightly underftood, appears to me ftrongly to confirm what has been now fuggefted. See the note there. MALONE. 5 And is not a buff jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance?] To understand the propriety of the Prince's anfwer, it must be remarked that the sheriff's officers were formerly clad in buff. So that when Falstaff asks, whether his hoftefs is not a fweet wench, the Prince asks in return whether it will not be a fweet thing to go to prifon by running in debt to this fweet wench. JOHNSON. The following paffage from the old play of Ram-Alley, may ferve to confirm Dr. Johnson's obfervation: "Look, I have certain goblins in buff jerkins, Again, in The Comedy of Errors, A&t iv: [Enter Serjeants. "A devil in an everlasting garment hath him, Durance, however, might also have fignified fome lasting kind of ftuff, fuch as we call at prefent, everlasting. So, in Weftward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "Where did't thou buy this buff? Let me not live but I will give thee a good fuit of durance, Wilt thou take my bond?" &c. Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "Varlet of velvet, my moccado villain, old heart of durance, my ftrip'd canvas shoulders, and my perpetuana pander." Again, in The Three Ladies of London, 1584: "As the taylor that out of feven yards, stole one and a half of durance." STEEVENS. antick the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. P. HEN. No; thou fhalt. FAL. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.+ P. HEN. Thou judgeft falfe already; I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and fo become a rare hangman. FAL. Well, Hal, well; and in fome fort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. P. HEN. For obtaining of fuits?" FAL. Yea, for obtaining of fuits: whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat, or a lugg'd bear. 4- I'll be a brave judge.] This thought, like many others, is taken from the old play of Henry V: "Hen. V. Ned, fo foon as I am king, the first thing I will do fhall be to put my lord chief justice out of office; and thou shalt be my lord chief justice of England. "Ned. Shall I be lord chief justice? By gogs wounds, I'll be the bravest lord chief justice that ever was in England." STEEVENS. 5 For obtaining of fuits?] Suit, fpoken of one that attends at court, means a petition; used with respect to the hangman, means the clothes of the offender. JOHNSON. So, in an ancient Medley, bl. 1: "The broker hath gay cloaths to fell "Which from the hangman's budgett fell." STEEVENS. Sce Vol. IV. p. 325, n. 5. The fame quibble occurs in Hoffman's Tragedy, 1631: "A poor maiden, miftrefs, has a fuit to you; and 'tis a good fuit,-very good apparel." MALONE. 6 a gib cat,] A gib cat means, I know not why, an old cat. JOHNSON. A gib cat is the common term in Northamptonshire, and all adjacent counties, to express a he cat. PERCY. "As melancholy as a gib'd cat" is a proverb enumerated among others in Ray's Collection. In A Match at Midnight, 1633, P. HEN. Or an old lion; or a lover's lute." FAL. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.R P. HEN. What fay'ft thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? * is the following paffage: "They fwell like a couple of gib'd cats, met both by chance in the dark in an old garret." So, in Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, 1653: "Some in mania or melancholy madnefs have attempted the fame, not without fuccefs, although they have remained fomewhat melancholy like gib'd cats." I believe after all, a gib'd cat is a cat who has been qualified for the feraglio; for all animals fo mutilated, become drowsy and melancholy. To glib has certainly that meaning. So, in The Winter's Tale, Act II. fc. i: "And I had rather glib myself than they "Should not produce fair iffue." In Sidney's Arcadia, however, the fame quality in a cat is mentioned, without any reference to the confequences of caftration: "The hare, her fleights; the cat, his melancholy." STEEVENS. Sherwood's English Dictionary at the end of Cotgrave's French one, fays: "Gibbe is an old he cat." Aged animals are not fo playful as thofe which are young; and glib'd or gelded ones are duller than others. So we might read: -as melancholy as a gib cat, or a glib'd cat. 7 8 TOLLET. or a lover's lute.] See Vol. IV. p. 472, n. 9. MALONE. Lincolnshire bagpipe.] "Lincolnshire bagpipes" is a proverbial faying. Fuller has not attempted to explain it; and Ray only conjectures that the Lincolnshire people may be fonder of this inftrument than others. DOUCE. I fufpect, that by the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe, is meant the dull croak of a frog, one of the native musicians of that waterish County. STEEVENS. 9 —a bare,] A hare may be confidered as melancholy, because she is upon her form always folitary; and, according to the phyfick of the times, the flesh of it was fuppofed to generate melancholy. JOHNSON. The following paffage in Vittoria Corombona, &c. 1612, may prove the best explanation: "like your melancholy hare, "Feed after midnight." Again, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song the fecond: "The melancholy hare is form'd in brakes and briers." FAL. Thou haft the most unfavoury fimiles; and art, indeed, the most comparative, rafcalliest,fweet young prince,-But, Hal, I pry'thee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God, The Egyptians in their Hieroglyphics expreffed a melancholy man by a bare fitting in her form. See Pierii Hieroglyph. Lib. XII. 2 STEEVENS. the melancholy of Moor-ditch?] It appears from Stowe's Survey, that a broad ditch, called Deep-ditch, formerly parted the hofpital from Moor-fields; and what has a more melancholy appearance than stagnant water? This ditch is alfo mentioned in The Gul's Hornbook, by Decker, 1609: it will be a forer labour than the cleanfing of Augeas' ftable, or the fcowring of Moor-ditch." Again, in Newes from Hell, brought by the Divel's Carrier, by Thomas Decker, 1606: "As touching the river, looke how Moor-ditch fhews when the water is three quarters dreyn'd out, and by reason the ftomacke of it is overladen, is ready to fall to cafting. So does that; it ftinks almoft worse, is almoft as poyfonous, altogether fo muddy, altogether fo black." STEEVENS. So, in Taylor's Pennyleffe Pilgrimage, quarto, 1618: "my body being tired with travel, and my mind attired with moody, muddy, Moore-ditch melancholy." MALONE. Moor-ditch, a part of the ditch furrounding the city of London, between Bishopfgate and Cripplegate, opened to an unwholesome and impaffable morafs, and confequently not frequented by the citizens, like other fuburbial fields which were remarkably pleasant, and the fashionable places of refort. T. WARTON. 3fimiles;] Old copies-fmiles. of the fecond folio. MALONE. Corrected by the editor 4the most comparative,] Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warburton after him, read-incomparative, I fuppofe for incomparable, or peerless; but comparative here means quick at comparisons, or fruitful in fimiles, and is properly introduced. JOHNSON. This epithet is ufed again, in Act III. fc. ii. of this play, and apparently in the same sense: 66 -ftand the pufh "Of every beardlefs vain comparative." And in Love's Labour's Loft, A& V. fc. ult. Rosaline tells Biron that he is a man " Full of comparisons and wounding flouts." STEEVENS. |