allusions to blue eyes in S. In W. T. i. 2. 136, some make "welkin eye" =blue eye; but it is more probably heavenly eye, as Schmidt gives it. In V. and A. 482 ("Her two blue windows faintly she upheaveth") the eyelids, not the eyes, are meant, on account of their "blue veins" (R. of L. 440). Cf. Cymb. ii. 2. 21:

"would under-peep her lids,

To see the enclosed lights, now canopied
Under these windows, white and azure lac'd
With blue of heaven's own tinct."

Malone cites both this last passage and V. and A. 482 as referring to blue eyes; but the "azure lac'd" ought to settle the question in regard to the former, and "windows" evidently has the same meaning in both. If the "blue windows were blue eyes, Malone would make out his case, for in V. and A. 140 the goddess says "Mine eyes are grey and bright." But why should the poet call them blue in the one place and grey in the other, when the former word would suit the verse equally well in both? In our opinion, when he says blue he means blue, and when he says grey he means grey. See on ii. 3. I above.

"Mercutio means to say that in Romeo's opinion Thisbe to his ladylove was indeed grey-eyed (pretty-eyed) or something of the sort, but on the whole insignificant" (Ulrici).

41. Slop. For slops (=large loose breeches), see Much Ado, p. 143.

Gave us the counterfeit. Played a trick on us. Counterfeit is used for the sake of the coming play on slip, which sometimes meant a counterfeit coin. Reed cites Greene, Thieves Falling Out, etc.: "And therefore he went and got him certain slips which are counterfeit pieces of money, being brasse, and covered over with silver, which the common people call slips ;" and Magnetick Lady, iii. 6 :

"I had like t' have been

Abus'd' the business, had the slip slur'd on me,
A counterfeit."

Steevens adds from Skialetheia, 1598:

"Is not he fond then which a slip receaves

For currant money?""

There is also a play upon the word in the only other instance in which S. uses it, V. and A. 515:

"Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips

Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips."

51. Kindly. The word literally means "naturally, in a manner suited to the character or occasion" (Schmidt); hence aptly, pertinently. For the adjective kindly=natural, see Much Ado, p. 154.

56. Then is my pump, etc. The idea seems, to be, my shoe or pump, being pinked or punched with holes, is well flowered.

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There may also be

an allusion to wearing rosettes " of ribbon on shoes (St.). We have pinked in this sense in Hen. VIII. v. 4. 50: "her pinked porringer;" and unpinked in T. of S. iv. 1. 136: “ And Gabriel's pumps were all unpink'd

i' the heel."

57. Well said. From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "Sure wit," which K., St., and W. adopt.

60. Single-soled. "With a quibble on sole and soul=having but one sole, and silly, contemptible "(Schmidt). Steevens gives several examples of single-soled=mean, contemptible; and Sr. quotes Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.: "a threadbare, coarse-spun, single-soled gentleman."

62. Wits fail. So in 1st quarto; the other quartos and Ist folio have "wits faints" ("faint" in 5th quarto).

65. Wild-goose chase. A kind of horse-race, resembling the flight of wild-geese. Two horses were started together; and if one got the lead the other was obliged to follow over whatever ground the foremost rider chose to take (Holt White).

67. My whole five. See on i. 4. 47 above.

Was I with you, etc. Was I even with you, have I paid you off, etc. Cf. T. of S. iv. I. 170: "What, do you grumble? I'll be with you straight!" (that is, I'll pay you for this); Hen. VIII. v. 4. 29: “I shall be with you presently, good master puppy," etc. Schmidt gives several other examples of the phrase in this sense, but in all of them (and perhaps in those just quoted) it would seem that the threat might be taken more literally.

71. I will bite thee by the ear. A playful expression of endearment, common in the old dramatists.

72. Good goose, bite not. A proverbial phrase, found in Ray's Proverbs. 73. Sweeting. A kind of sweet apple. The word is still used in this sense, at least in New England. Steevens quotes Sumner's Last Will and Testament, 1600: "as well crabs as sweetings for his summer fruits." There was also a variety known as the bitter-sweet. Cf. Fair Em.: “ And left me such a bitter sweet to gnaw upon;" and Gower, Conf. Am.:

"For all such tyme of love is lore,

And like unto the bitter swete;

For though it thynke a man fyrst swete,

He shall well felen at laste
That it is sower," etc.

Coles (Latin Dict.) translates. "Bitter-sweet" by "Amarimellum.”

75. And is it not well served in, etc.

W. remarks that "the passage

illustrates the antiquity of that dish so much esteemed by all boys and many men-goose and apple-sauce."

76. Cheveril. Soft leather for gloves (Johnson). Cf. Henry VIII. ii. 3.32:

"which gifts,

Saving your mincing, the capacity

Of your soft cheveril conscience would receive,

If you might please to stretch it."

See also T. N. iii. 1. 13. Steevens quotes Drayton, The Owl: "A chev erell conscience."

79. A broad goose. No satisfactory explanation of this quibble has been given. The folios have "abroad," and Farmer would read "far and wide abroad, goose." Schmidt defines broad here as "plain, evident." 83. Natural. Fool, idiot. Cf. Temp. iii. 2. 37 and A. Y. L. i. 2. 52, 57. 85. Gear. Matter, business. Cf. T. and C. i. 1. 6: "Will this gear

ne'er be mended?" 2 Hen. VI. i. 4. 17 : “To this gear the sooner the better," etc.

86. A sail, a sail! The 1st quarto gives this to Mercutio; the other early eds. add it to Romeo's speech, and assign the next speech to Mercutio, to whom W. considers it better suited than to "the taciturn, correct, and commonplace Benvolio."

90. My fan, Peter. Farmer cites an old pamphlet, The Serving Man's Comfort, 1598: "The mistress must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fanne." Cf. L. L. L. iv. 1. 147: "To see him walk before a lady and to bear her fan!"

92. Fairer of the two. From Ist quarto; the other early eds. have "fairer face," which is preferred by K., D., St., and W.

93. God ye good morrow.

on i. 2. 56 above.

That is, God give ye, etc. For good den, see

97. Prick of noon. Point of noon. noontide prick." See also R. of L. 781.

99. For himself. The early eds., except 1st quarto, omit for; but the repetition of the words by the Nurse makes it probable that it was accidentally left out.

110. Confidence. Probably meant for conference. Cf. Much Ado, iii. 5. 3, where Dogberry says "Marry, sir, I would have some confidence with you that decerns you nearly."

112. Indite. The 1st quarto and 3d and 4th folios have "invite." If indite is correct, it is probably used in ridicule of the Nurse's confidence. It may be noted in favour of indite that Mrs. Quickly uses the word in the same way in 2 Hen. IV. ii. 1. 30: "he is indited to dinner."

113. So ho! The cry of the sportsmen when they find a hare.

116. Hoar. Like hoary, often-mouldy, as things grow white from moulding (Steevens). Cf. Pierce Pennilesses Supplication to the Devil, 1595: as hoary as Dutch butter." Halliwell cites B. J., Every Man out of his Humour: "his grain... might rot Within the hoary ricks."

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119. Lady, lady, lady. From the old ballad of Susanna, also quoted in T. N. ii. 3. 85: "There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!"

121. Merchant. Used contemptuously, like chap, which is a contraction of chapman. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. ii. 3. 57: “a riddling merchant." Steevens cites Churchyard's Chance, 1580: "What saucie merchaunt speaketh now, saied Venus in her rage?"

122. Ropery. Roguery. Steevens quotes The Three Ladies of London, 1584: "Thou art very pleasant and full of thy roperye." Cf. rope-tricks in T. of S. i. 2. 112, which Schmidt explains as "tricks deserving the halter." Nares and Douce see the same allusion to the halter in ropery. 127. Jacks. For the contemptuous use of the word, cf. M. of V. iii. 4. "these bragging Jacks;" Much Ado, v. 1. 91: Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops!" etc. See Much Ado, pp. 121 and 164.

77:

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129. Flirt-gills. That is flirting Gills, or women of loose behaviour. Gill or fill was a familiar term for a woman, as Jack was for a man. Cf. the proverbs, "Every Jack must have his Jill," and "A good Jack makes a good Jill." The word is a contraction of Gillian (see C. of E. iii. 1. 31), which is a corruption of Juliana. Gill-flirt was the more common form.

Nares quotes B. and F., K. of B. P. iv. 1: "You heard him take me up like a flirt-gill" ("gill-flirt" in 2d quarto); Chances, iii. I: “As I had been a maukin, a flurt-gillian ;" and The World in the Moon: “a parcel of mad wild gilflirts, that like nothing but boys and beaus, and powder and paint, and fool and feather."

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Skains-mates. A puzzle to the commentators. As skein is an Irish word for knife (used by Warner, Greene, Chapman, and other writers of the time) Malone and Steevens make skains-mates="cut-throat companions or fencing-school companions. Schmidt defines it as messmates," and Nares as probably =* roaring or swaggering companions." St. thinks it may mean "scape-grace or ne'er-do-well," the word skain having been formerly used in Kent in that sense. Douce suggests that it is="sempstresses, a word not always used in the most honourable acceptation." D. says that, if not a misprint, its meaning remains to be discovered. Walker conjectured "scurvy-mates." There is probably some corruption in the first part of the compound.

136. Afore. Not a mere vulgarism. It is used by Capulet in iii. 4. 34 and iv. 2. 31 below. Cf. Temp. iv. 1. 7:

"here afore Heaven,

I ratify this my rich gift," etc.

140. In a fool's paradise. Most of the editors adopt "into" from Ist quarto; but S. often uses in with verbs of motion. See Gr. 159. Malone cites A Handful of Pleasant Delightes, 1584:

"When they see they may her win,

They leave then where they did begin;
They prate, and make the matter nice,
And leave her in fooles paradise."

and Barnaby Rich's Farewell: "Knowing the fashion of you men to be such, as by praisyng our beautie, you think to bring into a fooles paradize." 144. Weak. The Coll. MS. gives "wicked," but to mend the Nurse's talk is to mar it. As Clarke observes, "she intends to use a most forcible expression, and blunders upon a most feeble one."

160. And stay, etc. The pointing is White's. Most editors follow the early eds. and read

"And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall:

Within this hour," etc.

162. A tackled stair.

Per. iv. 1. 61.

That is, a rope-ladder. Cf. "ladder-tackle" in

163. High top-gallant. Steevens quotes Markham, English Arcadia, 1607: "the high top-gallant of his valour."

165. Quit. Requite, reward. See Rich. II. p. 208 or Ham. p. 269. 170. Two may keep counsel. That is, keep a secret.

144: "Two may keep counsel when the third's away."

172. Lord, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:

Cf. T. A. iv. 2.

"A prety babe (quod she) it was when it was yong: Lord how it could full pretely haue prated with it tong." Lief. See A. Y. L. p. 139, note on Had as lief. 177. Properer. Handsomer. See Much Ado, p. 139.

175. Lieve.

178. Versal. That is, universal. Most modern eds. print "varsal." 179. A letter. One letter. Cf. Ham. v. 2. 276: "These foils have all a length," etc. Gr. 81. For rosemary as the symbol of remembrance, see

Ham. p. 250.

181. The dog's name. R was called "the dog's letter." Cf. B. J., Eng. Gram.: "R is the dog's letter and hurreth in the sound." Farmer cites Barclay, Ship of Fools, 1578:

"This man malicious which troubled is with wrath,
Nought els soundeth but the hoorse letter R.
Though all be well, yet he none auns were hath
Save the dogges letter glowming with nar, nar.”

D. remarks: "Even in the days of the Romans, R was called the dog's letter, from its resemblance in sound to the snarling of a dog. Lucilius alludes to it in a fragment which is quoted with various corruptions by Nonius Marcellus, Charisius, and Donatus on Terence, and which Joseph Scaliger amended thus: Irritata canes quod, homo quam, planiu' dicit' ('canes' being the nom. sing. fem.); and Persius has Sonat hic de nare canina Litera.""

,

The reading in the text was suggested by Ritson, and is adopted by Delius, the Camb. editors, and F. The early eds. have "R. is for the no, I know," etc. Coll. and W. follow Warb. and Theo. in reading "Ris for thee? No ;" and K., H., D., St., Halliwell, and others adopt Tyrwhitt's conjecture of "R is for the dog. No," etc.

188. Before, and apace. Go before, and quickly; the reading of the early eds. except Ist quarto, which has "Peter, take my fanne, and goe before." For apace, cf. iii. 2. I below.

SCENE V.-6. Back. The Coll. MS. gives black."

7. Love. That is, Venus.

Cf. Temp. iv. I. 94:

"I met her deity

Cutting the clouds towards Paphos, and her son
Dove-drawn with her;"

and V. and A. 1190:

"Thus weary of the world, away she hies,

And yokes her silver doves."

See also M. of V. ii. 6. 5: “O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly," etc. Cf. Sonn. 7.9: "But when from highmost pitch, with We still use hindmost, topmost, etc.

9. Highmost.

weary car," etc.

16. Many feign.

The early eds. have " many fain" or "faine." Johnson has "marry, feign," and W. "marry, fare." D. conjectures that the MS. had "moue yfaith" ("move i' faith") which the printer corrupted into "many fain." The Coll. MS. gives the passage thus:

"And his to me; but old folks seem as dead;
Unwieldy, slow, heavy and dull as lead."

Keightley adopts the "dull," and refers to the "dull lead" of M. of V. ii.

7.8.

18. Honey nurse. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 530: "my fair, sweet, honey monarch;" T. of S. iv. 3. 52: "my honey love," etc.

M