And fometimes comes fhe with a tithe-pig's tail, Some have it, COURTIER's noje; and this undoubtedly is the true reading and for thefe reafons. First, In the prefent reading there is a vicious repetition in this fine fpeech; the fame thought having been given in the foregoing line, O'er lawyers' fingers, who ftrait dream on fees: Nor can it be objected that there will be the fame fault if we read courtier's, it having been faid before, On courtiers' knees, that dream on curtfies ftrait; because they are fhewn in two places under different views in the first, their foppery; in the fecond, their rapacity is ridiculed. Secondly, In our author's time, a court-folicitation was called, fimply, a fuit; and a procefs, a fuit at law, to distinguish it from the other. "The King" (fays an anonymous cotemporary writer of the life of Sir William Cecil)" called him [Sir "William Cecil] and after long talk with him, being much delighted with his anfwers, willed his father to FIND [i. e. to smell out] A SUIT for him. Whereupon he became SUITER for the reverfion of the Cuftos-brevium office in the "Common Pleas : which the king willingly granted, it being "the first surr he had in his life." Indeed cur poet has very rarely turned his fatire against lawyers and law proceedings, the common topic of later writers: for, to obferve it to the honour of the English judicatures, they preferved the purity and fimplicity of their firft inftitution, long after chicane had over-run all the other laws of Europe. WARBURTON. 46 ON COURTIERS' knees, that dream on curt'fies ftrait; He then goes on, Sometimes the gallops o'er a coURTIER's nofe, In the latter lines Dr. Warburton has very juftly restored the old reading courtier's nofe, which had been changed into lawyer's nofe, by fome editor, who did not know, as it should feem, of any fuits but law juits. Dr. Warburton has explained the paffage with his ufual learning; but I do not think he is fo happy in his endeavour to justify Shakespeare from the charge of a vicious repetition in introducing the courtier twice. The fecond folio, I obferve, reads, On COUNTRIES knees: which has led me to conjecture, that the line ought to be read thus: On COUNTIES knees, that dream on courtfies ftrait: VOL. X. C Counties Sometimes the driveth o'er a foldier's neck, Paris, Counties I understand to fignify noblemen in general. who, in one place, I think, is called earl, is most commonly ftiled the countie in this play. Shakespeare feems to have preferred, for fome reafon or other, the Italian conte to our count. It was no permanent reason, for I do not recollect that he uses the title in other plays, where the fcene is in Italy. Perhaps he took it from the old English novel, from which he is faid to have taken his plot.-Obfervations and Conjectures, printed at Oxford, 1766. This fpeech at different times received much alteration and improvement, The part of it in queftion, ftands thus in the oldeft quarto 1597: And in this fort fhe gallops up and down Through lovers braines, and then they dream of love: Of healths five fadome deep, &c. Shakespeare, as I have obferved before, did not always attend to the propriety of his own alterations. STEEVENS. 7 Spanish blades,] A fword is called a toledo, from the excellence of the Toletan fteel. So Grotius, "Unda Tagi non eft alio celebranda metallo, JOHNSON. 8 And And cakes the elf-locks in foul fluttish hairs, Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace; Mer. True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Supper is done, and we fhall come too late. With this night's revels; and expire the term [Exeunt. And cakes the elf-locks, &c.] This was a common fuperftition; and feems to have had its rife from the horrid difcafe called the Plica Polonica. WARBURTON. ' Dire& my fail!] I have restored this reading from the elder quarto, as being more congruous to the metaphor in the preceding line. Suit is the reading of the folio. STEEVENS. Dire my fuit!] Guide the fequel of the adventure. JOHNS. SCE N NE V. Enter Servants. 1 Serv, Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away? He shift a trencher! he fcrape a trencher! 2 Serv. When good manners fhall lie all in one or two mens' hands, and they unwafh'd too, 'tis a foul thing. 1 Serv. Away with the joint-ftools, remove the 2 court-cupboard, look to the plate: good thou, 3 fave me a piece of march-pane; and, as thou lovest me, let the porter let in Sufan Grindstone, and Nell. -Antony! and Potpan ! 2 Serv. Ay, boy, ready. 1 Serv. You are look'd for, and call'd for, afk'd for, and fought for, in the great chamber. 2 Serv. We cannot be here and there too.-Cheerly, boys; be brifk a while, and the longer liver take all. 2 [Exeunt. This fcene is added fince the firft copy. STEEVENS. -court-cupboard,] I am not very certain that I know the exact fignification of court-cupboard. Perhaps it is what we call at prefent the fide-board. It is however frequently mentioned in the old plays: fo in a Humorous Day's Mirth, 1599; "fhadow thefe tables with their white veils, and accomplish "the court-cupboard."-Again, in Monf. D'Olive, 1606, by Chapman ; "Here fhall ftand my court-cupboard." STEEVENS. 3 Save me a piece of march-pane ;] March-pane was a confection made of Piñacho-nuts, almonds, and fugar, &c. and in high eneem in Shakespeare's time; as appears from the account of Queen Elizabeth's entertainment in Cambridge. It is faid that the univerfity prefented Sir William Cecil their chancellor with two pair of gloves, a march-pane, and two fugarloaves. Peck's Defillerata Curiofa, vol. ii. p. 29. Dr. GRAY. Exter Enter Capulet, the Guests and Ladies, with the Mafkers. 1 Cap. Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies, that have their feet Unplagu'd with corns, will have a bout with you. Ah ha, my miftreffes! which of you all gone: Will now deny to dance? fhe that makes dainty, fhe, You're welcome, gentlemen.] Thefe two lines, omitted by the modern editors, I have replaced from the folio. JOHNSON. A ball! a ball!] Such is the old reading, and the true one, though the modern editors read, A ball! a ball! The former exclamation occurs frequently in the old comedies, and fignifies, make room.-So in the comedy of Doctor Dodypell, 1600, "Room! room! a hall! a ball!" Again in B. Jonfon's Tale of a Tub, 6 -Then cry, a hell! a ball! "'Tis merry in Tottenham-hall, when beards wag all." STEEVENS. good coufin Capulet,] This coufin Capulet is unkle in the paper of invitation; but as Capulet is defcribed as old, cousin is probably the right word in both places. I know not how Capulet and his lady might agree, their ages were very difproportionate; he has been paf masking for thirty years, and her age, as fhe tells Juliet, is but eight-and-twenty. JOHNSON. our dancing days:] Thus the folio: the quarto reads, "our fanding days." STLEVENS. 7 |