is trodden on, the fafter it grows, yet youth, the more it is wafted, the fooner it wears. That thou art my fon, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion; but chiefly, a villainous trick of thine eye, and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be fon to me, here lies the point;-Why, being fon to me, art thou fo pointed at? Shall the bleffed fun of heaven' prove a micher, and eat black brings to my remembrance an observation of a late writer of fome merit, whom the defire of being witty has betrayed into a like thought. Meaning to enforce with great vehemence the mad temerity of young foldiers, he remarks, that "though Bedlam be in the road to Hogfden, it is out of the way to promotion." JOHNSON. In The More the Merrier, a collection of epigrams, 1608, is the following paffage: The camomile fhall teach thee patience, "Which thriveth best when trodden moft upon." Again, in Parafitafter, or the Fawne, a comedy by Marston, 1606: For indeed, fir, a reprefs'd fame mounts like camomile, the more trod down, the more it grows." STEEVENS. The ftyle immediately ridiculed, is that of Lyly, in his Euphues: "Though the camomile the more it is trodden and preffed downe, the more it spreadeth; yet the violet the oftener it is handled and touched, the fooner it withereth and decayeth," &c. FARMER. 3 Shall the bleed fun of heaven-] Thus the first quarto. In the fecond quarto, 1599, the word fun was changed to son, which confequently is the reading of the fubfequent quartos and the folio: and fo I fufpect the author wrote. The orthography of these two words was formerly fo unfettled, that it is often from the context alone one can determine which is meant. MALONE. 4 —a micher,] i. e. truant; to mich is to lurk out of fight, a hedge-creeper. WARBURTON. The allufion is to a truant boy, who unwilling to go to school, and afraid to go home, lurks in the fields, and picks wild fruits. JOHNSON. In A Comment on the Ten Commandments, printed at London in 1493, by Richard Pynfon, I find the word thus ufed: They make Goddes house a den of theyves; for commonly in fuch feyrs and markets, wherefoever it be holden, ther ben many theyves, michers, and cutpurfe." berries? a question not to be ask'd. Shall the fon of England prove a thief, and take purses? a queftion to be afk'd. There is a thing, Harry, which thou haft often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile;' fo doth the company thou keepeft: for, Harry, now I do not fpeak to thee in drink, but in tears; not in pleafure, but in paffion; not in words only, but in woes alfo :-And yet there is a virtuous man, whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name. P. HEN. What manner of man, an it like your majesty ? FAL. A good portly man, i'faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age fome fifty, or, by'r-lady, inclining to threefcore; and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man fhould be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "Pox on him, micher, I'll make him pay for it." Again, in Lyly's Mother Bombie, 1594: How like a micher he stands, as though he had truanted from honesty." Again, in the old Morality of Hycke Scorner: “Wanton wenches and also michers." STEEVENS. A micher, I believe, means only a lurking thief distinguished from one more daring. Lambard in his Eirenarcha, 1610, p. 186. fpeaking of the powers which may be exercifed by one juftice, fays, he may charge the constables to arreft fuch as fhall be fufpected to be " draw-latches, waftors, or robertfmen, that is to fay, either miching or mightie theeves, for the meaning muft remaine howfoever the word be gone out of use." REED. this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile ;] Alluding to an ancient ballad beginning: "Who toucheth pitch must be defil'd." STEEVENS. Or perhaps to Lyly's Euphues: "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled." HOLT WHITE. Harry, I fee virtue in his looks. If then the tree" may be known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then, peremptorily I fpeak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the reft banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where haft thou been this month? P. HEN. Doft thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father. FAL. Depofe me? if thou doft it half fo gravely, fo majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet-fucker,' or a poul ter's hare. 6 P. HEN. Well, here I am fet. FAL. And here I ftand:-judge, my masters. -If then the tree &c.] Sir T. Hanmer reads-If then the fruit may be known by the tree, as the tree by the fruit, &c. and his emendation has been adopted in the late editions. The old reading is, I think, well fupported by Mr. Heath, who obferves, that "Virtue is confidered as the fruit, the man as the tree; confequently the old reading must be right. If then the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree,-that is, If I can judge of the man by the virtue I fee in his looks, he must be a virtuous man." MALONE. I am afraid here is a profane allufion to the 33d verse of the 12th chapter of St. Matthew. STEEVENS. 7 ―rabbet-fucker, &c.] Is, I fuppofe, a fucking rabbet. The jeft is in comparing himself to fomething thin and little. So a poulterer's hare; a hare hung up by the hind legs without a skin, is long and flender. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon is right: for in the account of the ferjeant's feaft, by Dugdale, in his Orig. Juridiciales, one article is a dozen of rabbet-fuckers. Again, in Lyly's Endymion, 1591: "I prefer an old coney before a rabbet-fucker," Again, in The Tryal of Chivalry, 1599: a bountiful benefactor for fending thither fuch rabbet fuckers." P. HEN. The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. FAL. 'Sblood, my lord, they are falfe :-nay, I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i'faith. 8 P. HEN. Sweareft thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil haunts thee, in the likeness of a fat old man: a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch' of beaftlinefs, that fwoln parcel of dropfies, that huge bombard of fack, that ftuff'd cloak-bag of guts, that roafted Manningtree ox3 with the pudding in his A poulterer was formerly written-a poulter, and fo the old copies of this play. Thus, in Pierce Pennileffe his Supplication to the Devil, 1595: "We must have our tables furnifht like poulters' ftalles." STEEVENS. 8 a tun of man-] Dryden has tranfplanted this image into his Mac Flecknoe: "A tun of man in thy large bulk is writ, "Yet fure thou'rt but a kilderkin of wit." STEEVENS. bolting-hutch-] Is the wooden receptacle into which the meal is bolted. STEEVENS. 9 2 that huge bombard of fack,] A bombard is a barrel. So, in The Tempest: like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor." STEEVENS. 3-Manningtree ox-] Manningtree in Effex, and the neighbourhood of it, are famous for richness of pafture. The farms thereabouts are chiefly tenanted by graziers. Some ox of an unusual fize was, I fuppofe, roafted there on an occafion of public feftivity, or expofed for money to publick show. This place likewife appears to have been noted for the intemperance of its inhabitants. So, in Newes from Hell, brought by the Devil's Carrier, by Tho. Decker, 1606: " you fhall have a flave eat more at a meale than ten of the guard; and drink more in two days, than all Manningtree does at a Whitfun-ale." STEEVENS. It appears from Heywood's Apology for Actors, 1612, that Manningtree formerly enjoyed the privilege of fairs, by exhibiting a belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to tafte fack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning,' but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villainy? wherein villainous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing? FAL. I would, your grace would take me with you; Whom means your grace? P. HEN. That villainous abominable misleader of youth, Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. FAL. My lord, the man I know. P. HEN. I know, thou doft. certain number of ftage-plays yearly. See alfo The choofing of Valentines, a poem by Thomas Nafhe, MS. in the Library of the Inner Temple, No. 538, Vol. XLIII: or fee a play of ftrange moralitie, "Shewen by bachelrie of Manning-tree, "Whereto the countrie franklins flock-meale fwarme." Again, in Decker's Seven deadly Sinnes of London, 1607: “Cruelty has got another part to play; it is acted like the old morals at Manning-tree." In this feafon of feftivity, we may prefume it was cuftomary to roaft an ox whole. "Huge volumes, (fays Osborne in his Advice to his Son,) like the ox roafted whole at Bartholomew Fair, may proclaim plenty of labour and invention, but afford less of what is delicate, favoury, and well concocted, than smaller pieces." MALONE. 2 that reverend vice, that grey iniquity,that vanity in years?] The Vice, Iniquity, and Vanity, were perfonages exhibited in the old moralities. MALONE. 3 -cunning,] Cunning was not yet debased to a bad meaning; it fignified knowing, or skilful. JOHNSON. 4 take me with you;] That is, go no fafter than I can follow you. Let me know your meaning. JOHNSON. Lyly, in his Endymion, fays: "Tufh, tufh, neighbours, take me with you." FARMER. The expreffion is so common in the old plays, that it is unneceffary to introduce any more quotations in fupport of it. STEEVENS. |
