what his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I have (miffingly) noted, he is of late much retired from court, and is lefs frequent to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appear'd.

Pol. I have confider'd so much, Camillo, and with fome care fo far, that I have eyes under my service, which look upon his removedness; from whom I have this intelligence, that he is feldom from the house of a moft homely fhepherd; a man, they fay, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unfpeakable estate.

Cam. I have heard, Sir, of such a man, who hath a daughter of most rare note; the report of her is extended more than can be thought to begin from such a Cottage.

Pol. (22) That's likewife a part of my intelligence; and, I fear, the engle that plucks our fon thither. Thou halt accompany us to the place, where we will (not appearing what we are) have fome queftion with the fhepherd; from whofe fimplicity, I think it not uneafy to get the cause of my fon's refort thither. Pr'ythee, be my prefent partner in this bufinefs, and lay afide the thoughts of Sicilia.

Cam. I willingly obey your command.

Pol. My beft Camillo !— we must disguise ourselves.

[Exeunt.

(22) That's likewife part of my intelligence; but I fear, the angle that flucks our fon thither.] The disjunctive here, I think, makes fak nonfenfe of the context: and the editors have palm'd an allufion in the word angle, which feems foreign to the fenfe of the paffage. As before, in the Taming of the Shrew, angel is mistakenly put for angle: fo, I fufpect, angle, by the fame eafy corruption, is here. I have there prov'd the ufe and meaning of the word. I'll proceed briefly to justify the emendation I have here made, by fhewing how naturally it falls in with the fenfe we fhould expect. Camillo had just told the King, he had heard of fuch a fhepherd, and of a daughter he had of most rare note. Ay, replies the King, that's a part of my inelgence too; and, I fear, [that daughter is] the firen, the decoy, the levitation, that plucks our fun thither.

SCENE

SCENE changes to the Country.

WHE

Enter Autolicus, finging.

HEN daffadils begin to peere,
With, heigh! the doxy over the dale,

Why then comes in the sweet o'th'

year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,

With, hey! the fweet birds, O how they fing!
Doth fet my pugging tooth on edge:

For a quart of ale is a dish for a King.

The lark that tirra-lyra chaunts,

With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay: Are fummer-fongs for me and my aunts,

While we lie tumbling in the hay.

I have ferved Prince Florize, and in my time wore threepile, but now I am out of fervice.

But fhall I go mourn for that, my dear?
The pale moon fhines by night:
And when I wander here and there,
I then do go moft right.

If tinkers may have leave to live,
And bear the fow-fkin budget;
Then my account I well may give,
And in the ftocks avouch it.

My traffick is fheets; when the kite builds, look to leffer linen. (23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, being litter'd under Mercury; who, as I am, was likewise a fnapper-up of unconfider'd trifles: with die and drab,

I

(23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, who being, as I am, litter'd under Mercury, was likewise a snapper up of unconfidered trifles.] The flight tranfpofition I have ventur'd to make of four fhort monofylla*bles in this paffage, was prefcrib'd by my ingenious friend Mr. Warburton. The Poet's meaning feems to be this. My father nam'd me Autolicus, becaufe 1 was born under Mercury; who was a thief, as I The allufion is, unquestionably, to this paffage in Ovid; Alipedis de ftirpe dei verfuta propago

am.

Nafcitur Autolycus, furtum ingeniofus ad omne. Metam. lib. xi.

N 4

The

I purchas'd this caparison, and my revenue is the filly cheat. Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the high-way; beating and hanging are terrors to me: for the life to come, I fleep out the thought of it. A prize! a prize!

Enter Clown.

Clo. Let me fee,-Every eleven weather tods, every tod yields pound and odd fhilling; fifteen hundred fhorn, what comes the wool to?

Aut. If the fprindge hold, the cock's mine. [Afide. Clo. I cannot do't without compters. Let me fee, what am I to buy for our fheep-fhearing feaft, three pound of fugar, five pound of currants, rice-what will this fifter of mine do with rice? but my father hath made her miflrefs of the feaft, and he lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nofe-gays for the hearers; (24) three-man fong-men all, and very good ones, but they are moft of them means and bafes; but one puritan among them, and he fings pfalms to hornpipes. I must have faffron to colour the warden-pies, mace-dates-none-that's out of my note: nutmegs, feven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many raifins o'th' fun.

Aut. Oh, that ever I was born! [Groveling on the ground. Clo. I'th' name of me

The true Autolycus was the fon of Mercury; our fictitious one, born under his planet: the first a copy of his father; the other, fuppos'd to derive hic qualities from natal predominance. To this Autolycus, the fon of Mercury, Martial has alluded in the 8th Book of his Epigrams, Non fuit Autolyci tam piceata manus.

We find his hiftory in Pherecydes, Hyginus, &c.

(24) Three-man Songmen all, and very good ones.] By a three-man fongfter we are to understand, a finger of catches; which catches were then, and are now most commonly, in three parts. So our Author, in fecond part of King Henry IV;

Fal. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle.
i e. a three-handed beetle, or one ufed by three men together.
So in an old play, call'd, The Merry Milk- Maids;
Smirk. Nay, I'll put in too for my ha, ha, ha.
This is a three-man's laughter.

For the laugh is kept up by three perfons in the scene.

Aut

6

Aut. Oh, help me, help me: pluck but off thefe rags, and then death, death

Clo. Alack, poor foul, thou haft need of more rags to lay on thee, rather than have thefe off.

Aut. Oh, Sir, the loathfomeness of them offends me, more than the ftripes I have receiv'd, which are mighty ones, and millions.

Clo. Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come to a great matter.

Aut. I am robb'd, Sir, and beaten my money and apparel ta'en from me, and thefe deteftable things put upon me.

Clo. What, by a horfe-man, or a foot-man?

Aut. A foot-man, fweet Sir, a foot-man.

Clo. Indeed, he fhould be a foot-man, by the gar ments he has left with thee; if this be a horse-man's coat, it hath feen very hot fervice. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee. Come, lend me thy hand.

Aut. Oh! good Sir, tenderly, oh!

Clo. Alas, poor foul.

[Helping him up.

Aut. O good Sir, foftly, good Sir: I fear, Sir, my fhoulder-blade is out.

Clo. How now? canft ftand?

Aut. Softly, dear Sir; good Sir, foftly; you haʼ done me a charitable office.

Clo. Doft lack any money? I have a little money for thee. Aut. No, good fweet Sir; no, I beseech you, Sir; I have a kinfman not paft three quarters of a mile hence, unto whom I was going; I fhall there have money, or any thing I want: offer me no money, I pray you; that kills my heart.

Clo. What manner of fellow was he, that robb'd you ? Aut. A fellow, Sir, that I have known to go about with trol-my-dames: I knew him once a fervant of the Prince; I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipp'd out of the court.

Clo. His vices, you would fay; there's no virtue whipp'd out of the court; they cherish it to make it ftay there, and yet it will no more but abide.

N 5

Aut.

Aut. Vices I would fay, Sir. I know this man well, he hath been fince an ape-bearer, then a procefs-ferver, a bailiff; then he compafs'd a motion of the prodigal ion, and married a tinker's wife within a mile where my land and living lies; and, having flown over many knavifh profeffions, he fettled only in rogue; fome call him Autolicus.

Clo. Out upon him, prig! for my life, prig;-he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.

Aut. Very true, Sir; he, Sir, he; that's the rogue, that put me into this apparel.

Clo. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia; if you had but look'd big, and spit at him, he'd have run. Aut. I must confefs to you, Sir, I am no fighter; I am false of heart that way, and that he knew, I warrant him.

Clo. How do you now?

Aut. Sweet Sir, much better than I was; I can ftand, and walk; I will even take my leave of you, and pace foftly towards my kinfman's.

Clo. Shall I bring thee on thy way?

Aut. No, good-fac'd Sir; no, fweet Sir.

Clo. Then, farewel, I must go to buy fpices for our heep-fhearing.

[Exit. Aut. Profper you, fweet Sir! your purfe is not hot enough to purchase your fpice. I'll be with you at your fheep-fhearing too: if I make not this cheat bring out another, and the fhearers prove fheep, (25) let me be unroll'd, and my name put into the book of virtue! SONG.

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,

And merrily hent the ftile-a.
A merry heart goes all the day,

Your fad tires in a mile-a.

[Exit.

(25) Let me be unroll'd, and my name put in the book of virtue.] Be, ging gypfies, &c. in the time of our Author were in gangs, that had fomething of the regularity of an incorporated body. This is alJuded to here. From this noble fociety he wishes he may be unroll'd, if he does not do so, and fo. Mr. Warburton.

SCENE