not what mischief he doth, if his weapon be out. Ha will foin like any devil; he will fpare neither man, woman, nor child. Phang. If I can close with him, I care not for his thruft. Hoft. No, nor I neither:-I'll be at your elbow. Phang. If I but fift him once; 7 if he come but within my vice. Hoft. I am undone by his going; I warrant you, he is an infinitive thing upon my score. Good mafter Phang, hold him fure; good mafter Snare, let him not 'fcape. He comes continuantly to Pye-corner, faving your manhoods, to buy a faddle; and he is indited to dinner to the 8 Lubbar's-head in Lumbart-street, to Mr. Smooth's the filkman. I pray ye, fince my exion is enter'd, and my case so openly known to the world, let him be brought in to his answer. 9 A hundred mark is a long lone for a poor lone woman to bear : and I have borne, and borne, and borne; and have been fub'd off, and fub'd off, from this day to that day, that it is a fhame to be thought on. There is no honesty in fuch dealing; unless a woman fhould be made an afs, and a beast, to bear every knave's wrong. if he come but within my vice.] Vice or grasp; a metaphor taken from a smith's vice: there is another reading in the old edition, view, which I think not fo good. POPE. Lubbar's-head-] This is, I fuppofe, a colloquial corruption of the Libbard's-head. JOHNSON. 8 • A hundred mark is a long one] A long one? a long what? It is almost needlefs to observe, how familiar it is with our poet to play the chimes upon words fimilar in found, and differing in fignification; and therefore I make no question but he wrote, A hundred mark is a long lone for a poor lone woman to bear : i. e. 100 mark is a good round fum for a poor widow to ventore on truft. THEOBALD. Enter Enter Falstaff, Bardolph, and the boy. Yonder he comes, and that arrant malmfey-nofe knave Bardolph with him. Do your offices, do your offices, mafter Phang and master Snare; do me, do me, do me your offices. Fal. How now? who's mare's dead? what's the matter? Phang. Sir John, I arreft you at the fuit of Mrs. Quickly. Fal. Away, varlets! Draw, Bardolph; cut me off the villain's head; throw the quean in the kennel. Hoft. Throw me in the kennel? I'll throw thee in the kennel. Wilt thou? wilt thou? thou bastardly rogue!-Murder, murder! O thou honey-fuckle villain, wilt thou kill God's officers and the king's? O thou honey-feed ogue! thou art a honey-feed, 3 a man-queller, and a woman-queller. Fal. Keep them off, Bardolph. 4 Hoft. Good people, bring a refcue or two; thou wo't, wo't thou? thou wo't, wo't thou? do, do, thou rogue! do, thou hemp-feed! malmfey-nofe-] That is, red nofe, from the effect of malmfey wine. JOHNSON. In the old fong of Sir Simon the King the burthen of each ftanza is this: 3 "Says old Sir Simon the king, Says old Sir Simon the king, "With his ale-dropt hofe, "And his malmfey-nofe, "Sing hey ding, ding a ding." PERCY. boney-fuckle villain-boney-feed rogue !] The landlady's corruption of homicidal and homicide. THEOBALD. a man-queller,-] Wiclif, in his Tranflation of the New Teftament, ufes this word for carnifex, Mark vi. 27. "Herod fent a men-queller, and commanded his head to be brought." STEEVENS. -then wo't, not theu? &c.] The first folio reads, I think, les properly, thou wilt not ? thou wilt not? JOHNSON. 5 Fal. Away, you fcullion, you rampallion, you fuftilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe. Enter Chief Justice attended. Ch. Juft. What's the matter? keep the peace here, ho! Hoft. Good my lord, be good to me! I beseech you, ftand to me! Ch. Just. How now, Sir John? what, are you brawling here? Doth this become your place, your time, and business? You should have been well on your way to York. -Stand from him, fellow; wherefore hang'ft thou on him? Hoft. O my moft worshipful lord, an't please your grace, I am a poor widow of Eaft-cheap, and he is arrested at my fuit. Ch. Juft. For what fum? Hoft. It is more than for fome, my lord; it is for all, all I have: he hath eaten me out of houfe and home; he hath put all my fubftance into that fat belly of his. -But I will have fome of it out again, or I'll ride thee o'nights, like the mare. Fal. I think I am as like to ride the mare, if I have any 'vantage of ground to get up. Ch. fuft. How comes this, Sir John? Fie, what man of good temper would endure this tempeft of exclamation? Are you not afham'd to inforce a poor widow to fo rough a course to come by her own? Fal. What is the grofs fum that I owe thee? Hoft. Marry, if thou wert an honeft man, thyself, and the money too. Thou didst fwear to me on s Fal. Away, you fcullion,-] This fpeech is given to the Page in all the editions to the folio of 1664. It is more proper for Falstaff, but that the boy must not stand quite filent and ufelefs on the stage. JOHNSON. a parcel 6 a parcel-gilt goblet, fitting in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by a fea-coal fire, on Wednesday in Whitfun-week, when the prince broke thy head 7 for likening his father to a finging-man of Windfor; thou didst fwear to me then, as I was wafhing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady thy wife. Canft thou deny it? Did not good-wife Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then, and call me goffip Quickly? coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar; telling us, fhe had a good difh of prawns; whereby thou didst defire to eat fome; whereby I told thee, they were ill for a green wound? And didft not thou, when the was gone down ftairs, defire me to be no more fo familiarity with fuch poor people; faying, that ere long they should call me madam? and didft thou not kifs me, and bid me fetch thee thirty fhillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath; deny it, if thou canst. Fal. My lord, this is a poor mad foul; and the fays up and down the town, that her eldeft fon is like a parcel-gilt goblet,-] A parcel-gilt goblet is a goblet only gilt over, not of folid gold. So in B. Jonfon's Alchemift, or changing "His parcel-gilt to maffy gold." The fame expreffion occurs in many other old plays. So in Humour out of Breath, a comedy, by John Day, 1608, "She's parcel poet, parcel fidler already, and they com"monly fing three parts in one." Again, in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613, "I am little better than a parcel-gilt bawd.” Again, in A Chriftian turn'd Turk, 1612, "You parcel bawd, all usher, answer me." Holinfhed, defcribing the arrangement of Wolfey's plate, fays" and in the council-chamber was all white, and parcelgilt plate." STEEVENS. 7 for likening his father to a finging-man-] Such is the reading of the first edition; all the reft have for likening him to a finging-man. The original edition is right; the prince might allow familiarities with himself, and yet very properly break the knight's head when he ridiculed his father. JOHNSON. you. you. She hath been in good cafe, and the truth is, poverty hath diftracted her. But for thefe foolish officers, I beseech you I may have redress against them. Ch. Juft. Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the falfe way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words that come with fuch more than impudent fawcinefs from you, can thrust me from a level confideration. 8 I know I know you have practifed upon the easyyielding spirit of this woman, and made her ferve your uses both in purfe and perfon. Hoft. Yes, in troth, my lord. Ch. Juft. Pr'ythee, peace.-Pay her the debt you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done her; the one you may do with fterling money, and the other with current repentance. Fal. My lord, I will not undergo 9 this fneap without reply. You call honourable boldness impudent fawcinefs: if a man will court'fy and fay nothing, he is virtuous. No, my lord, my humble duty remember'd, I will not be your fuitor; I fay to you, I defire deliverance from thefe officers, being upon hafty employment in the king's affairs. Ch. Juft. You speak as having power to do wrong: but anfwer in the effect of your reputation, and fatisfy the poor woman. Fal. Come hither, hostess. [Taking her afide. 8 I know you have practifed-] In the first quarto it is read thus-You have, as it appears to me, practifed upon the eafy yielding Spirit of this woman, and made her ferve your ufes both in purfe and perfon, Without this the following exhortation of the chief juftice is lefs proper. JOHNSON. 9 this fneap] A Yorkshire word for rebuke. POPE. Sneap fignifies to check; as children eafily fucaped; herbs and fruits neaped with cold weather. See Ray's Collection. STEEVENS. anfewer in the effect of your reputation,-] That is, anfwer in a manner fuitable to your character. JOHNSON. Enter |