I fhoot thee at the fwain. Мотн. Thump then, and I flee. [Exit. ARM. A most acute juvenal; voluble and free of grace! By thy favour, fweet welkin,' I must figh in thy face: Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place. My herald is return'd. Re-enter MoтH and COSTARD. MOTH. A wonder, master; here's a Coftard broken in a fhin. ARM. Some enigma, fome riddle: come,-thy l'envoy-begin. Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy ; no falve in the mail, fir: O fir, plantain, a plain plan By thy favour, fweet welkin,] Welkin is the fky, to which Armado, with the falfe dignity of a Spaniard, makes an apology for fighing in its face. JOHNSON. 8 Scorner: here's a Coftard broken-] i. e. a head. So, in Hycke "I wyll rappe you on the coftard with my horne." STEEVENS. no l'envoy ;] The l'envoy is a term borrowed from the old French poetry. It appeared always at the head of a few concluding verfes to each piece, which either ferved to convey the moral, or to addrefs the poem to fome particular person. It was frequently adopted by the ancient English writers. So, in Monfieur D'Olive, 1606: "Well faid: now to the L'Envoy."-All the Tragedies of John Bochas, tranflated by Lidgate, are followed by a L'Envoy. STEEVENS. 2no falve in the mail, fir:] The old folio reads-no falve in thee male, fir, which, in another folio, is, no falve in the male, fir. What it can mean, is not eafily discovered: if mail for a packet or bag was a word then in use, no falve in the mail may mean, no tain; no l'envoy, no l'envoy, no falve, fir, but a plantain ! falve in the mountebank's budget. Or fhall we read--no enigma, no riddle, no l'envoy-in the vale, fir-O fir, plantain. The matter is not great, but one would wish for fome meaning or other. JOHNSON. Male or mail was a word then in ufe. Reynard the fox fent Kayward's head in a male. So likewife, in Tamburlane, or the Scythian Shepherd, 1590: Open the males, yet guard the treasure sure." STEEVENS. Male, which is the reading of the old copies, is only the ancient fpelling of mail. So, in Taylor the Water-Poet's Works, (Character of a Bawd,) 1630:-" the cloathe-bag of counfel, the capcafe, fardle, pack, male, of friendly toleration." The quarto 1598, and the firft folio, have-thee male. Corrected by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE. I can fcarcely think that Shakspeare had fo far forgotten his little fchool-learning, as to fuppofe the Latin verb falvé, and the English fubftantive, falve, had the fame pronunciation; and yet without this, the quibble cannot be preserved. FARMER. The fame quibble occurs in Ariftippus, or The Jovial Philofopher, 1630: Salve, Mafter Simplicius. "Salve me; 'tis but a Surgeon's complement." STEEVENS. Perhaps we fhould read—no falve in them all, fir. TYRWHITT. This paffage appears to me to be nonfenfe as it ftands, incapable of explanation. I have therefore no doubt but we should adopt the amendment propofed by Tyrwhitt, and read-No falve in them all, Sir. Moth tells his mafter, that there was a Coftard with a broken shin: and the Knight, fuppofing that Moth has fome conceit in what he faid, calls upon him to explain it.—Some riddle, fays he, fome eniga. Come-thy l'envoy,-begin. But Coftard fuppofing that he was calling for thefe things, in order to apply them to his broken fhin, fays, he will not have them, as they were none of them falves, and begs for a plain plantain instead of them. This is clearly the meaning of Coftard's fpeech, which provokes the illuftrious Armado to laugh at the inconfiderate, who takes falve for l'envoy, and the averd l'envoy for falve. ARM. By virtue, thou enforceft laughter; thy filly thought, my fpleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous fmiling: O, pardon me, my ftars! Doth the inconfiderate take falve for l'envoy, and the word, l'envoy, for a falve? MOTH. Do the wife think them other? is not l'envoy a falve? ARM. No, page: it is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain Some obfcure precedence that hath tofore been fain. I will example it: ' But when Moth, who is an arch and fenfible character, fays, in reply to Armado: Do the wife think them other? Is not l'envoy a falve?" we muft not fuppofe that this question is owing to his fimplicity, but that he intended thereby either to lead the Knight on to the fubfequent explanation of the word l'envoy, or to quibble in the manner stated in the notes upon the Englifh word falve and the Latin falvé; a quibble which operates upon the eye, not the ear:-Yet Steevens has fhown it was not a new one. If this quibble was intended, which does not evidently appear to be the cafe, the only way that I account for it, is this: As the l'envoy was always in the concluding part of a play or poem, it was probably in the l'envoy that the poet or reciter took leave of the audience, and the word itself appears to be derived from the verb envoyer, to fend away. Now the ufual falutation amongst the Romans at parting, as well as meeting, was the word falve. Moth, therefore, confiders the l'envoy as a falutation or falve, and then quibbling on this last word, asks if it be not a falve. I do not offer this explanation with much confidence, but it is the only one that occurs to me. M. MASON. 3 I will example it: &c.] Thefe words, and fome others, are not in the first folio, but in the quarto of 1598. I ftill believe the old paffage to want regulation, though it has not fufficient merit to encourage the editor who should attempt it. There is in Tuffer an old fong, beginning "The ape, the lion, the fox, and the affe, "Thus fetts forth man in a glaffe," &c. Perhaps fome ridicule on this ditty was intended. STEEVENS. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, There's the moral: Now the l'envoy. MOTH. I will add the l'envoy: Say the moral again. ARM. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, Were still at odds, being but three: MOTH. Until the goofe came out of door, And stay'd the odds by adding four. Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, Were ftill at odds, being but three: ARM. Until the goofe came out of door, MOTH. A good l'envoy, ending in the goofe; Would you defire more? COST. The boy hath fold him a bargain, a goose, that's flat: Sir, your penny-worth is good, an your goose be fat. To fell a bargain well, is as cunning as fast and loofe : Let me see a fat l'envoy; ay, that's a fat goose. COST. Come hither, come hither: How did this argument begin? MOTH. By faying, that a Costard was broken in a fhin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. COST. True, and I for a plantain; Thus came your argument in: Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you bought; And he ended the market.* And he ended the market.] Alluding to the proverb-Three ARM. But tell me; how was there a Coftard broken in a fhin?" MOTH. I will tell you fenfibly. COST. Thou haft no feeling of it, Moth; I will fpeak that l'envoy :— I, Coftard, running out, that was fafely within, Fell over the threshold, and broke my thin. ARM. We will talk no more of this matter. Cost. Till there be more matter in the fhin. ARM. Sirrah Coftard, I will enfranchise thee. COST. O, marry me to one Frances;-I fmell fome l'envoy, fome goose, in this. ARM. By my fweet foul, I mean, fetting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy perfon; thou wert immur'd, reftrained, captivated, bound. COST. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose. ARM. I give thee thy liberty, fet thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impofe on thee nothing but this: Bear this fignificant to the country maid Jaquenetta: there is remuneration; [Giving him money.] for the beft ward of mine honour, is, rewarding my dependants. Moth, follow. [Exit. women and a goofe, make a market. Tre donne et un occa fan un mercato. Ital. Ray's Proverbs. STEEVENS. 5 how was there a Coftard broken in a fhin?] Coftard is the name of a species of apple. JOHNSON. It has been already obferved that the head was anciently called the coftard. So, in K. Richard III. "Take him over the coftard with the hilt of thy fword." A coftard likewife fignified a crabflick. So, in The Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher: 66 I hope they'll crown his fervice.' "With a coftard." STEEVENS. |