Eva. The tevil and his tam! what phrase is this," He hears with ear? Why, it is affectations.

Fal. Piftol, did you pick master Slender's purfe?

6

Slen. Ay, by thefe gloves, did he, (or I would I might never come in mine own great chamber again elfe,) of seven groats in mill-fixpences, and two Edward fhovel-boards,1 that coft me two fhilling and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, by thefe gloves.

Fal.

5 Sir Hugh is juftified in his cenfure of this paffage by Pecham, who in his Garden of Eloquence, 1577, places this very mode of expreffion under the article Pleonafmus. HENDERSON.

It appears from a paflage in Sir William Davenant's Newes from Plimouth, that these mill'd-fixpences were used by way of counters to caft up

money:

A few mill'd fixpences, with which

"My purfer cafts accompt." STEEVENS.

One of thefe pieces of metal is mentioned in Middleton's comedy of The Roaring Girl, 1611:

away flid I my man, like a shovel-board fhilling," &c.

STEEVENS.

"Edward Shovel-boards," were the broad fhillings of Edw. VI. Taylor, the water-poet, in his Travel of Twelve-pence, makes him complain:

66

the unthrift every day

With my face downwards do at fhoave-board play;

That had I had a beard, you may suppose,

"They had worne it off, as they have done my nose.”

And in a note he tells us: "Edw. fhillings for the most part are used at fhoave-board.' FARMER.

in the Second Part of K. Henry IV. Falstaff fays, "Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a fbove-great filling." This confirms Farmer's opinion, that pieces of coin were used for that purpofe. M. MASON.

"I

The following extract, for the notice of which I am indebted to Dr. Farmer, will afcertain the fpecies of coin mentioned in the text. muft here take notice before I entirely quit the subject of thefe last-mentioned fhillings, that I have alfo feen fome other pieces of good filver, greatly ref mbling the fame, and of the fame date 1547, that have been fo much thicker as to weigh about half an ounce, together with fome others that have weighed an ounce." Folkes's Table of English filver Coins, p. 32. The former of these were probably what coft Mafter Slender two fhillings and two-pence a-piece. REED.

It appears, that the game of fovel-board was played with the fillings of Edward VI. in Shadwell's time; for in his Mifer, Act III. fc. i. Cheatly fays," She perfuaded him to play with hazard at Backgammon, and he has already lost his Edward shillings that he kept for Shovel-board,

and

Fal. Is this true, Pistol?

Eva. No; it is falfe, if it is a pick-purfe..

Pift. Ha, thou mountain-foreigner!-Sir John, and master.

mine,

I combat challenge of this latten bilbo :: 8
Word of denial in thy labras here;"

Word of denial: froth and fcum, thou lieft.
Slen. By thefe gloves, then 'twas he..

Nym. Be advis'd, fir, and pafs good humours: I will fay,

marry

and was pulling out broad pieces (that have not feen the fun these many years) when I carne away."

In Shadwell's Lancashire Witches, Vol. III. p. 232, the game is called Shuffle-board. It is ftill played; and I lately heard a man afk another to go into an alehouse in the Broad Sanctuary, Weftminster, to play at it.

DOUCE.

That Slender means the broad billing of one of our kings, appears from comparing these words with the correfponding paffage in the old quarto: "Ay by this handkerchief did he ;-two faire fhovel-board billings, befides feven groats in mill fixpences."

How twenty eight pence could be loft in mill-fixpences, Slender, howhas not explained to us. MALONE.

ever,

8 Piftol, feeing Stender fuch a flim, puny wight, would intimate, that he is as thin as a plate of that compound metal, which is called latten : andawhich was, as we are told, the old orechale. THEOBALD.

Latten is a mixed metal, made of copper and calamine. MALONE.

The farcafm intended is, that Slender had neither courage nor ftrength,. as a latten fword has neither edge nor fubftance. HEATH.

Latten may fignify no more than as thin as a lath. The word in fome counties is ftill pronounced as if there was no b in it: and Ray, in his. Dictionary of North Country Words, affirms it to be spelt lat in the north of England. Falitaff threatens, in another play, to drive prince Henry out of his kingdom, with a dagger of lath. A latten bilboe means therefore, I believe, no more than a blade as thin as a latb-a vice's dagger.. Theobald, however, is right in his affertion that latten was a metal. STEEVENS.

I believe Theobald has given the true fenfe of latten, though he is wrong in fuppofing, that the allufion is to Slender's thinness. It is ratherto his fiftness or weakness. TYRWHITT.

9 Word of denial in thy labras here;] I fuppofe it should rather be read:

"Word of denial in my labras hear ;"

Pistol

that is, bear the word of denial in my lips. Thou lyft. JOHNSON. We often talk of giving the lie in a man's teeth, or in his throat. chooses to throw the word of denial in the lips of his adverfary, and is fuppofed to point to them as he speaks. STEEVENS,

marry trap, with you, if you run the nuthook's humour on me; that is t very note of it.

:

Slen. By this hat, then he in the red face had it for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk, yet am not altogether an afs.

Fal. What fay you, Scarlet and John ? 3

Bard Why, fir, for my part, I fay, the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five fentences.

Eva. It is his five fenfes : fie, what the ignorance is ! Bard. And being fap, fir, was, as they fay, cafhier'd; and fo conclufions pafs'd the careires.5

Slen. Ay, you fpake in Latin then too; but 'tis no matter: I'll ne'er be drunk whilft I live again, but in honeft, civil, godly company, for this trick: if I be drunk, I'll be drunk with those that have the fear of God, and not with drunken. knaves.

Eva. So Got 'udge me, that is a virtuous mind.

Fale

When a man was caught in his own ftratagem, I fuppofe the exclamation of infult (was-marry) trap! JOHNSON.

3 The names of two of Robin Hood's companions; but the humour confifts in the allufion to Bardolph's red face; concerning which, see The Second Part of Henry IV. WARBURTON.

4 I know not the exact meaning of this cant word, neither have I met with it in any of our old dramatic pieces, which have often proved the best comments on Shakspeare's vulgarifms. Dr. Farmer, indeed, obferves, thest to fib is to beat; fo that being fap may mean being beaten; and ca fiered, turned out of company. STEEVENS.

The word fap, is probably made from vappa, a drunken fellow, or a good-for-nothing fellow, whofe virtues are all exhaled. Slender, in his anfwer, feems to understand that Bardolph had made ufe of a Latin word : Ay, you fpake in Latin then too;" as Pistol had juft before. S. W. It is not probable that any cant term is from the Latin; nor that the word in question was fo der ved, becaufe Slender miftook it for Latin. The mistake, indeed, is an argument to the contrary, as it fbows his ignorance in that language. Fap however, certainly means drunk, as appears from the gloilaries. DoUCE.

5 I believe this ftrange word is nothing but the French cariere; and the expression means, that the common bounds of good bebaviour were overpassed. JOHNSON.

——— to pass the cariere was a military phrase, or rather perhaps a term of the manege.

STEEVENS.

Bardolph means to fay, and fo in the end he reel'd about with a circutous motion, like a horse, palling a carier. To pass a curier was the technical term, MALONE.

P

Fal. You hear all these matters denied, gentlemen; you hear it.

Enter Miftrefs ANNE PAGE with vine; Mistress FORD and Mistress PAGE following.

Page. Nay, daughter, carry the wine in; we'll drink within. [Exit ANNE PAGE. Slen. O heaven! this is miftrefs Anne Page. Page. How now, miftrefs Ford?

Fal. Miftrefs Ford, by my troth, you are very well met: by your leave, good miftrefs. [killing her. Page. Wife, bid this gentleman welcome: Come, we have a hot venifon pafty to dinner; come, gentlemen, I hope we fhall drink down all unkindness.

[Exeunt all but SHAL. SLENDER and EVANS. Slen. I had rather than forty thillings, I had my book of Songs and Sonnets here :

6

Enter SIMPLE.

How now, Simple! where have you been? I must wait on. myfelf, mut 1? You have not The Book of Riddles about you, have you ?

Sim. Book of Riddles! why, did you not lend it to Alice Shortcake upon Allhallowmas laft, a fortnight afore Michaelmas? 8

Shal

6 It cannot be fuppofed that poor Slender was himself a poet. He probably means the Poems of Lord Surrey and others, which were very popular in the age of Queen Elizabeth. They were printed in 1567, with this title:Songes and Sonnettes, written by the right honourable Lo.d Henry Howard, late Earle of Surrey, and others." Slender laments that he has not this fashionable book about him, fuppofing is might have affilted him in paying his addrefies to Anne Page. MALONE.

Under the title mentioned by Slender, Churchyard very evidently. points out this book in an enumeration of his own pieces, prefixed to a collection of verfe and profe, called Churchyard's Challenge, 4to, 1593:6.6 -and many things in the booke of fanges and fonets printed then, were of my making.' By then he means in Queene Maries raigne;" for Surrey was first published in 1557. STEEVENS.

7 This appears to have been a popular book, and is enumerated with others in The Eng! fb Courtier, and Country Gentleman, 4to. 1586. REED.

Sure, Simpie's a little out in his reckoning. Allhallowmas is almoft five weeks after Michaelmas. But may it not be urged, it is defigned

S.mple

Shal. Come, coz; come, coz; we stay for you. A word with you, coz marry, this, coz; There is, as 'twere, a tender, a kind of tender, made afar off by fir Hugh here ;—Do understand me?

you

Slen. Ay, fir, you fhall find me reasonable; if it be fo, I fhall do that that is reafon..

Shal. Nay, but understand me.

Slen. So I do, fir.

Eva. Give ear to his motions, mafter Slender: I will defcription the matter to you, if you be capacity of it.

Slen. Nay, I will do as my coufin Shallow fays: I pray you, pardon me; he's a juftice of peace in his country, fimple though I ftand here.

Eva. But that is not the queftion;, the queftion is concerning your marriage..

Shal. Ay, there's the point, fir.

Eva. Marry, is it; the very point of it; to miftrefs Anne Page.

Slen. Why, if it be fo, I will marry her, upon any reafonable demands.

Eva. But can you affection the 'oman? Let us command to know that of your mouth, or of your lips; for divers philofophers hold, that the lips is parcel of the mouth; —Therefore, precifely, can you carry your good will to the maid ?

Shal. Coufin Abraham Slender, can you love her?

Slen. I hope, fir,-I will do, as it fhall become one that would do reafon..

Eva. Nay, Got's lords and his ladies, you must speak poffitable, if you can carry her your defires towards her.

Shal

Simple fhould appear thus ignorant, to keep up the character? I think not. The fimpleft creatures (nay, even naturals) generally are very precife in the knowledge of feftivals, and marking how the feafons run and therefore I have ventured to fufpe&t our poet wrote Marilemas, as the vulgar call it which is near a fortnight after Alt-Saint's day, i. e. eleven days, both inclufive. THEOBALD.

This correction, thus feriously and wifely enforced, is received by fir Thomas Hanmer; but probably Shak fpeare intended to blunder.

JOHNSON. 9 Parcel, in this place, feems to be ufed in the fame fenfe as it was both formerly and at prefent in conveyances. "Part, par. el, or member of any eftate," are. formal words (till to be found in various deeds.

REED..