APPIUS AND VIRGINIA.

The strongest guard that kings can have,Are constant friends their state to save;True friends are constant both in word and deed,True friends are present, and help at each need;True friends talk truly, they glose for no gain,When treasure consumeth, true friends will remain;True friends for their true prince refuseth not their death:The Lord grant her such friends, most noble Queen Elizabeth.Long may she govern in honour and wealth,Void of all sickness, in most perfect health;Which health to prolong, as true friends require,God grant she may have her own heart’s desire:Which friends will defend with most steadfast faith,The Lord grant her such friends, most noble Queen Elizabeth.

The strongest guard that kings can have,

Are constant friends their state to save;

True friends are constant both in word and deed,

True friends are present, and help at each need;

True friends talk truly, they glose for no gain,

When treasure consumeth, true friends will remain;

True friends for their true prince refuseth not their death:

The Lord grant her such friends, most noble Queen Elizabeth.

Long may she govern in honour and wealth,Void of all sickness, in most perfect health;Which health to prolong, as true friends require,God grant she may have her own heart’s desire:Which friends will defend with most steadfast faith,The Lord grant her such friends, most noble Queen Elizabeth.

Long may she govern in honour and wealth,

Void of all sickness, in most perfect health;

Which health to prolong, as true friends require,

God grant she may have her own heart’s desire:

Which friends will defend with most steadfast faith,

The Lord grant her such friends, most noble Queen Elizabeth.

FINIS.

[1][This preface was found among my father’s dramatic collectanea, formed about 1850, and I have printed it with a few additions.—W.C.H.][2]It was acted on the2dand3dSeptember 1566.[3][Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt,iv., 215-16.][4]“Annals of the Stage,”iii., 1.[5]“British Bibliographer,” Introduction to the “Paradise of Dainty Devices,” p.vi.The reader may also be referred to Brydges’ “Restituta,”i., 367; “Brit. Bibl.”i., 494; “Censura Literaria,” firstedit.vii., 350.[6][Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt,”iv., 215.][7]See “Nugæ Antiquæ,”vol. ii.,p.392,ed.1804.[8][As to the song of the “Willow Garland,” mentioned by Warton as by Edwards, see “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt,iv., 216.][9]“History of English Poetry,” by Hazlitt,iv.,p.21. [A writer in the “Shakespeare Society’s Papers,”vol. ii., printed from what he supposed to be a fragment of a later impression of this book the story of the “Waking Man’s Dream,” which is also to be found narrated in Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” 1621.][10][See Warton’s “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt,iv., 214. Warton is very positive in asserting that the first edition was not in 1571, but in 1570, yet no such edition is at present known. The play, however, having been licensed in 1567 (Collier’s “Extr. from Stat. Reg.”i., 166), it is extremely probable that it was published even before 1570.][11]A specimen of the elegy on Edwards by Turbervile printed in the editions of his poems in 1567 and 1570, is here subjoined:“Epitaph on Maister Edwards, sometime Maister of the Children of the Chappell, and Gentleman of Lyncolnes Inne of Court—“Ye Learned Muses nine, and sacred Sisters all,Now lay your cheereful Cithrons downe and to lamenting fall.Rent off those garlandes greene, doe laurel leaves away,Remove the myrtill from your browes, and stint on strings to play;For he that led the daunce, the chiefest of your traine,I meane the man that Edwards height, by cruell death is slaine.Ye courtyers chaunge your cheere, lament in wailfull wise,For now your Orpheus hath resignd, in clay his Carcas lies.O ruth, he is bereft, that whilst he liued heere,For Poet’s Pen and passing Wit, could haue no Englishe Peere.His vaine in Verse was such, so stately eke his stile,His feate in forging sugred Songs with cleane and curious file;As all the learned Greekes and Romaines would repine,If they did live againe, to vewe his Verse with scornefull eine.”[12]Nature.[13]Authours, first edition.[14]Spake, second edition.[15]Although it is obvious that great pains were taken by Mr Reed and others (to say nothing of Dodsley) in the collation of this dramatic piece, yet they left it in a very imperfect state. In the course of it not less than fifty important variations and errors have been detected, consisting of words omitted, and words accidentally inserted, independently of errors of the press, for which of course an editor was not responsible. It is hoped that it will be now found more uniformly correct, although the editor can scarcely flatter himself that the reprint may not be still found defective.—Collier.[16]Philosophie, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley. [But Dodsley does not seem to have perceived that by the change he converted the text into nonsense. The original reads—“Lovers of wisdom are termed philosophie.”The emendation introduced was suggested by Mr Collier, who remarks:] “In the next line the author expressly speaks oflovyng of wisdom, as if intending to employ the words he had used before.”[17][Scurrility.][18]Great, second edition.[19]Omitted in second edition.[20]The, second edition.[21]Omitted in second edition.[22][The original hasconsultat.][23]AFletcheris a maker of arrows, fromflechean arrow, Fr. TheFletcher’sCompany had several charters granted to them, though at present, I believe, they have only a nominal existence. Aristippus means to say, that he differs as much in disposition fromCarisophus, as Jack thearrowsmithvaries in quality from aboltorarrowof his own making.—S.[24]So, in [Fulwell’s] “Leke [will] to Leke, quoth the Devil to the Collier” [1568]:“There thou mayst be called a knave in grane,And where knaves be scant thou mayst go for twayne.”See a note on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,”vol. i., edition 1778,p.176.—S.[25]i.e.,If he were hanged for it, he could not tell one tale without telling two lies. Yet Mr Collier would changewheretowere he.[26]This whole line is omitted in the later of the two old copies, and as Mr Reed and his friend remarked in their notes sometimes even the variation of letters, it is singular that they should have passed over this circumstance without observation.—Collier.[27]Meane, second edition.[28]Ed.1571 haspatron.[29]This was proverbial. See [Hazlitt’s] “Collection of Proverbs,”p.291.[30]A proverbial expression often found in ancient writers. Heywood has it: “Happy man, happydole.” See Dyce’s Glossary to his second edition of Shakespeare,p.201.Dole, Mr Steevens observes (Notes to “The Taming of the Shrew,” acti.,sc.1), is any thing dealt out or distributed, though its original meaning was the provision given away at the doors of great men’s houses. It is generally writtenbe his dole, though Ray,p.116, gives it as in the second4tobyhis dole. Shakespeare also uses the phrase in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”Again, in “Hudibras,”p.1, c. 3, l. 637—“Let us that are unhurt and whole,Fall on, andhappy man be’s dole.”[31]He, first edition.[32]Bosome, second edition.[33]Original,outwery.[34]Seeketh, second edition.[35]Grace, second edition.[36]Quietly, first edition.[37][i.e., So nearare they.][38]Tocontrivein this place signifies to wear away, to spend, fromcontero,Lat.So in Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” acti., sc.2—“Please you we manycontrivethis afternoon?”Totum hunccontrividiem.—S.See also the Notes of Dr Warburton and Dr Johnson on the above line in Shakespeare.[39]Taunts or sarcasms. See Johnson.—N.[40]Plain-songisplanus cantus, uniform modulation.Descantis musical paraphrase. See a Note on “The Midsummer Night’s Dream,”vol. iii., p.63; and another on “King RichardIII.”vol. vii., p.6,edit.1778.—S.[41]Spenser has this word which, as Dr Johnson observes, appears to be the same aswinch. It should seem to be expressive of some slight degree of pain, and in this instance to mean the same as if the speaker had said, I care not afillip.—S.[42]Dionysius the tyrant is said to have punished with death one of his subjects for dreaming he had killed him. This was hardly more iniquitous than the execution of the gentleman, who having a white deer in his park, which was killed by Edward the Fourth, wished the deer, horns and all, in the belly of him that counselled the king to kill it,whereas in truth no man counselled the king to it: or than the attainder and execution of Algernon Sydney, on the evidence of private and unpublished papers, without any proof, or even a suggestion, of their intended publication.”—Principles of Penal Law, c. 11.[43]With crueltie, second edition.[44]Through, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley.[45]Is lyke unto a stage, second edition.[46]This sentence stands in the old copies,Omnis solum fortis patria.—Collier.[But Mr Collier printedpatriæ.[47]See [Hazlitt’s] “Proverbs,”p.[336.][48]Theseatmeansthe situation. See, in Dr Johnson’s Dictionary, instances of it from Raleigh, Hayward, Bacon, and B. Jonson.—N.So Duncan, in “Macbeth,” says—“This castle hath a pleasantseat.”[49]This quotation is given as follows in both the old copies—“Dic mihi musa virum captæ post tempora Trojæ,Multorum homines mores qui vidit et urbes.”Query—Was it meant by the author that Damon should misquote?—Collier.[Surely not.][50]This is he, &c., first edition.[51]i.e., Plentiful suppers, luxurious couches, and the king’s purse full of gold at command. [In the original this is printed so as to be absolute nonsense.]Aristippus was not intended for a blunderer.—S.[52]Tyoe, first edition.[53]A cant term for be silent;mumandbudgetare the words made use of by Slender and Ann Page in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”[54][To make up his plunder or prize-money. From the old Frenchbouge.][55]The first edition reads—“I wyll layone mouthfor you to Dionysius,” &c.,which was altered in the second edition as it stands in the text.—Collier.[56]A proverbial expression, of which it is difficult to give a satisfactory explanation, though the meaning of it is sufficiently obvious. A gentleman, who formerly wrote inThe Gentleman’s Magazineunder a feigned name, supposes the wordcatshould be changed tocate; “an old word for acakeor otheraumalette, which being usuallyfried, and consequentlyturn’d in the pan, does therefore very aptly express the changing of sides in politics or religion, or, as we otherwise say,the turning one’s coat.Gentleman’s Magazine, 1754,p.66. Another writer, however, gives the following [very absurd] explanation of it:— “Capitan, to turncapitan, from a people calledCatipani, inCalabriaandApulia, who got an ill name by reason of their perfidy; very falsely by us calledCat in pan.”—Ibid.p.172.[57]Should, second edition.[58]Commodityis interest. So in the former part of this play,p.198—“They would honour friendship, and notfor commodity.”and see “King John,” actii., sc.2—“Commodity, the bias of the world.”[59][A rare word in this sense; for it appears to stand forblab.][60][Original readstunes. The emendation was first suggested by Mr Collier.][61]Regale sorta di strumento simile all’organo, maminore.—BarettiDizion. Ital. ed Ing.Bacon distinguishes betweenthe regaland the organ in a manner which shows them to be instruments of the same class. “The sounds that produce tones are ever from such bodies as have their parts and pores equal, as are nightingalepipes of regalsor organs.”—Nat. Hist.cent,ii., sec.102. But, notwithstanding these authorities, the appellativeregalhas given great trouble to the lexicographer, whose sentiments with regard to its signification are collected and brought into one point of view by Sir John Hawkins, in his “History of Music,”vol. ii., p.448, from whence this note is extracted. See also a note by the Hon. Daines Barrington to “Hamlet,” actiii., sc.2, in the edition of Shakspeare, 1773, omitted in that of 1778.[62]Seeing, secondedit.[63]Should, firstedit.[64]Now, firstedit.[65]Unto, secondedit.[66][Too, firstedit.][67][What, botheds.][68]Crowd.[69]“King” is omitted in the first edition, and supplied by the second.—Collier.[70]This, first edition.[71][Old editions have,where opinion simplenesse have, &c. Simpleness, ignorance—i.e., who have deserved mercy, having offended from not knowing better.][72]Thrust, first edition.[73][Oldedit.,injurie.][74]Yeelde speedily, second edition.[75]To pawne, second edition.[76]Folly. Thus Spenser, in his Sonnets,“Fondessit were for any, being free,To covet fetters, though they golden be.”[77]Old editions read, Take heede:for life wordly, &c.[78]Hinder me.[79][I do not understand the allusion. The sense seems to be, I will beat you, come what may—I will putprudencein my purse or pocket.][80][Originals havecolpheg you.] I believe we should read,colaphize—i.e., box or buffet.Colaphiser,Fr.See Cotgrave’s “Dictionary.”—Steevens.[81]i.e., Loose companion. So Spenser—“Might not be found a rankerfranion.”Again—“A fairefranionfit for such a pheere.”—S.Again, in “The First Part of King EdwardIV.,” sign. C,p.5: “Hees afranke franion, a merrie companion, and loves a wench well.”[82]See Note to “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,”vol. iii., p.198.[83][Stephanospelled backwards.][84]ReadΚρητιξω. Vide Erasm.Adag.TheCretanswere famous for double-dealing.Cretizare, however, is a word employ’d by lexicographers, instead of mentiri.—Steevens.[85]Crack-rope was a common term of contempt in old plays.“You codshed, youcracke-rope, you chattering pye.”—Apius and Virginia, sign. B.Again in that very rare play, “The Two Italian Gentlemen”—“Then let him be led through every streete in the town,That everycrackropemay fling rotten egs at the clown.”—Collier. [See also Tarlton’s “Jests,” 1611 (“Old English Jest-Books,”ii., p.211).][86][Old edition,which.][87][Old editions havemonckes.][88][Old editions havepantacle.] I suppose he means to say apantofle—i.e., a slipper. Perhaps he begins his attack with a kick.—S.The second edition reads—“Even heere with afairepantacle I will you disgrace,”an epithet not found in the oldest copy, and hardly consistent with the supposition thatpantaclemeanspantofle.—Collier. [Probably, a slap on the face.][89]Geve, second edition.[90]More properlytouch-box. While match-locks, instead of fire-locks, to guns were used, thetouch-box, at which the match was lighted, was part of the accoutrement of a soldier.“When she his flask andtouch-boxset on fire.”Line of an author, whose name I cannot at this time recollect.—Steevens.[91]A Dottrel is a silly kind of bird which imitates the actions of the fowler, till at last he is taken. If the fowler stretches out a leg, the bird will do so to. So, in Butler’s “Character of a Fantastic (Remains,vol. ii., p.132)”: “He alters his gate with the times, and has not a motion of his body that (like a Dottrel) he does not borrow from somebody else.” See also Jonson’s “Devil is an Ass,”iv., 6, and Dyce’s “Beaumont and Fletcher,”iii., 79, andv., 64.[92][Original here hasCobex epi. Colliers used to be nick-namedCarry-coals. See Hazlitt’s “Proverbs,”p.98.][93][Do up, open.][94][For the supply of the court, orBouche de la cour.][95]It was you, first edition.[96]Doth, second edition.[97]i.e., A cast of that species of hawks that were calledMerlins.—Steevens.He calls them [merlins, which he might perhaps have been supposed to pronounce]Murlonson account of their size.Merlinswere the smallest species of hawks. Turbervile says, “Thesemerlynsare very much like the haggart falcon in plume, in seare of the foote, in beake and talons. So as there seemeth to be no oddes or difference at al betwixt them save only in thebignesse, for she hath like demeanure, like plume, and very like conditions to the falcon, and in hir kind is of like courage, and therefore must be kept as choycely and as daintly as the falcon.” Themerlinwas chiefly used to fly at small birds; and Latham says, it was particularly appropriated to the service of ladies.[98]Father Grimme, second edition.[99][Something seems to have dropped out of the text here to this purport.][100]Adopted into the original text from the second edition.—Collier.[101][A play on the similarity betweenrugandrogue.][102]What fault can you see heere?second edition.[103][Small casks, buckets.][104]i.e., Robin red breasts. Shakespeare usesruddockfor red breast in “Cymbeline.”—S.Again, in Nash’s “Lenten Stuff,” 1599: “He eft soons defined unto me, that the red herring was this old tickle cob, or magister fac totum, that brought in thered ruddocks, and the grummel seed as thick as oatmeal, and made Yarmouth for Argent to put down the city of Argentine.”[105]Hose at, second edition.[106]Well, first edition.[107][Luscious.][108]An intended mistake formuscadine.—S.[109]Jebit avow mon companion.Both4tos.—S.[110]Ihar vow pleadge pety Zawne.Both4tos.[Zawneappears to be a loose application ofZaniquasinoodle, though here, perhaps, the meaning is rathermimic.][111]Was, second edition.[112][Interrupt? See Nares, edition 1859, in v.][113]Coppe, in Chaucer, is used for the top of anything, and here seems intended to signify the head, or, as the common phrase is, ahair-brainedfellow.[114]Merie, second edition.[115]See “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,”vol. iii., p.189, note.[116][See Rimbault’s “Little Book of Songs and Ballads,” 1851,p.83.][117]Benneis the French word for a sack to carry coals. See Cotgrave.[118]Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton, is among the Proverbs published by Mr Ray. That gentleman adds, “Who thisBoltonwas I know not, neither is it worth enquiring. One of this name might happen to say,Bate me an ace, and, for the coincidence of the first letters of the two wordsBateandBolton, it grew to be a proverb. We have many of the like original; asv.g.Sup, Simon, &c., Stay, quoth Stringer, &c. There goes a story of Queen Elizabeth, that being presented with a Collection of English Proverbs, and told by the author that it contained all the English Proverbs, nay, replied she,Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton: which Proverb being instantly looked for, happened to be wanting in his Collection.” [See Hazlitt’s] “Proverbs,”p.[80.] This story of Queen Elizabeth forms the point of an epigram by H.P. (probably Henry Parrot) in a collection called “The Mastive,” 1615—“A pamphlet was of proverbs penn’d by PoltonWherein he thought all sorts included were;Until one told him,Bate m’ an ace, quoth Bolton:Indeed (said he) that proverb is not there.”[119][Sacks of coal, more properly,benters, as just above.][120]In the former edition, Mr Dodsley had altered this topay mee wel.[121][Urine.][122]Aloue, French is to allow, to approve, to praise. I know of no other word that resembles that in the text.Alosed, in Chaucer, ispraised.—S.[Possibly,Hallo, hallo!may be the true reading.][123]From the manner in which this expression is used by Sir John Harington, in “The Anatomie of the Metamorphosis of Ajax,” 1596, sig. L, 7, it seems as though it was intended for a sallow hue. “Both of a complexion inclining to the oriental colour of aCroyden sanguine.”[124]The4tosreadPallarrime. The razors of Palermo were anciently famous. They are mentioned in more than one of our old plays, and particularly in “The Wounds of Civill War,” by Thomas Lodge, 1594, “Neighbour sharpen the edge tole of your wits upon the whetstone of indiscretion, that your wordes may shine likethe rasers of Palermo.”—S.[125]He means apestilencequean.—S.[126]A pestle of porke—i.e., gammon of bacon.—Minsheu.[127]Trimly, second edition.[128][[i.e., Dionysius, to which Dodsley changed it.][129]Bonns, both4tos.[130]Sometimes called New Queen Street, where there seems to have been the sign ofthe three Cranes. Ben Jonson mentions this place in “The Devil is an Ass,” act.i. sc.1.“From thence shoot the bridge child, tothe Cranes of the Vintry,And see there the gimblets how they make their entry!”Stow says it was a place of some account for the Costermongers who had warehouses there; and it appears from Dekker’s “Belman of London,” sig. E 2, that the beggars of his time called one of their places of rendezvous by this name. [See Herbert’s edition of Ames,p.367-8.][131]These, first edition.[132]Vaunted, second edition.[133]Increased is, old editions.[134]Streams, second edition.[135][None such, old editions. The meaning seems to be, a perfect friend:—’tis a world to seek one such.][136]Both the old copies have it “mystate to moan,” which may be right, and the substitution [tothy, which was made in the earlier editions] should not have been made without notice.—Collier.[137]Whether I will or not. See Note 23 to “Grim the Collier of Croydon.”[138]i.e., Itrideth fastupon noon. The word is used by Spenser and many of our ancient writers.[139]With Pithias in his custody, and Stephano, as is evident from the rest of the scene.—Collier.[140]Hinder him.[141]Doth, both4tos.[142]Doo, first edition. The reading of both the old copies in this place is“Golden timedoo wear away.”If it were worth while to remark the difference betweendooanddoos, it might have been as well not to make the change in the text without notice, although it is probably right.—Collier.[143]i.e., Thou wilt derive nocreditfrom striking off a head so disadvantageously placed for the purpose of decollation.Honnetete, French, anciently signifiedfameorreputationin the dexterous execution of any undertaking, whether honourable or the contrary.Honestyseems here to be used with the French meaning.—Steevens.In this instance the author appears to have had before him the speech which Sir Thomas More made at his execution. Hall, in his “Chronicle,”p.226, says, “Also the hangman kneled doune to him askyng him forgiuenes of his death (as the maner is), to whom he sayd I forgeue thee, but I promise thee that thou shalt neuer hauehonestie of the strykyng of my head, my necke is so short.”[144]The two old copies have it,“O happie kingeswithinyour courtes,” &c.—Collier.[145]Two to, second edition.[146]No reason, first edition.[147]This direction means that Dionysius, Damon, Pithias, and all others go out, excepting Stephano.—Collier.[148][Old copies,joy.][149][Freedom.]

[1][This preface was found among my father’s dramatic collectanea, formed about 1850, and I have printed it with a few additions.—W.C.H.]

[2]It was acted on the2dand3dSeptember 1566.

[3][Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt,iv., 215-16.]

[4]“Annals of the Stage,”iii., 1.

[5]“British Bibliographer,” Introduction to the “Paradise of Dainty Devices,” p.vi.The reader may also be referred to Brydges’ “Restituta,”i., 367; “Brit. Bibl.”i., 494; “Censura Literaria,” firstedit.vii., 350.

[6][Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt,”iv., 215.]

[7]See “Nugæ Antiquæ,”vol. ii.,p.392,ed.1804.

[8][As to the song of the “Willow Garland,” mentioned by Warton as by Edwards, see “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt,iv., 216.]

[9]“History of English Poetry,” by Hazlitt,iv.,p.21. [A writer in the “Shakespeare Society’s Papers,”vol. ii., printed from what he supposed to be a fragment of a later impression of this book the story of the “Waking Man’s Dream,” which is also to be found narrated in Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” 1621.]

[10][See Warton’s “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt,iv., 214. Warton is very positive in asserting that the first edition was not in 1571, but in 1570, yet no such edition is at present known. The play, however, having been licensed in 1567 (Collier’s “Extr. from Stat. Reg.”i., 166), it is extremely probable that it was published even before 1570.]

[11]A specimen of the elegy on Edwards by Turbervile printed in the editions of his poems in 1567 and 1570, is here subjoined:

“Epitaph on Maister Edwards, sometime Maister of the Children of the Chappell, and Gentleman of Lyncolnes Inne of Court—

“Ye Learned Muses nine, and sacred Sisters all,Now lay your cheereful Cithrons downe and to lamenting fall.Rent off those garlandes greene, doe laurel leaves away,Remove the myrtill from your browes, and stint on strings to play;For he that led the daunce, the chiefest of your traine,I meane the man that Edwards height, by cruell death is slaine.Ye courtyers chaunge your cheere, lament in wailfull wise,For now your Orpheus hath resignd, in clay his Carcas lies.O ruth, he is bereft, that whilst he liued heere,For Poet’s Pen and passing Wit, could haue no Englishe Peere.His vaine in Verse was such, so stately eke his stile,His feate in forging sugred Songs with cleane and curious file;As all the learned Greekes and Romaines would repine,If they did live againe, to vewe his Verse with scornefull eine.”

“Ye Learned Muses nine, and sacred Sisters all,

Now lay your cheereful Cithrons downe and to lamenting fall.

Rent off those garlandes greene, doe laurel leaves away,

Remove the myrtill from your browes, and stint on strings to play;

For he that led the daunce, the chiefest of your traine,

I meane the man that Edwards height, by cruell death is slaine.

Ye courtyers chaunge your cheere, lament in wailfull wise,

For now your Orpheus hath resignd, in clay his Carcas lies.

O ruth, he is bereft, that whilst he liued heere,

For Poet’s Pen and passing Wit, could haue no Englishe Peere.

His vaine in Verse was such, so stately eke his stile,

His feate in forging sugred Songs with cleane and curious file;

As all the learned Greekes and Romaines would repine,

If they did live againe, to vewe his Verse with scornefull eine.”

[12]Nature.

[13]Authours, first edition.

[14]Spake, second edition.

[15]Although it is obvious that great pains were taken by Mr Reed and others (to say nothing of Dodsley) in the collation of this dramatic piece, yet they left it in a very imperfect state. In the course of it not less than fifty important variations and errors have been detected, consisting of words omitted, and words accidentally inserted, independently of errors of the press, for which of course an editor was not responsible. It is hoped that it will be now found more uniformly correct, although the editor can scarcely flatter himself that the reprint may not be still found defective.—Collier.

[16]Philosophie, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley. [But Dodsley does not seem to have perceived that by the change he converted the text into nonsense. The original reads—

“Lovers of wisdom are termed philosophie.”

The emendation introduced was suggested by Mr Collier, who remarks:] “In the next line the author expressly speaks oflovyng of wisdom, as if intending to employ the words he had used before.”

[17][Scurrility.]

[18]Great, second edition.

[19]Omitted in second edition.

[20]The, second edition.

[21]Omitted in second edition.

[22][The original hasconsultat.]

[23]AFletcheris a maker of arrows, fromflechean arrow, Fr. TheFletcher’sCompany had several charters granted to them, though at present, I believe, they have only a nominal existence. Aristippus means to say, that he differs as much in disposition fromCarisophus, as Jack thearrowsmithvaries in quality from aboltorarrowof his own making.—S.

[24]So, in [Fulwell’s] “Leke [will] to Leke, quoth the Devil to the Collier” [1568]:

“There thou mayst be called a knave in grane,And where knaves be scant thou mayst go for twayne.”

“There thou mayst be called a knave in grane,

And where knaves be scant thou mayst go for twayne.”

See a note on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,”vol. i., edition 1778,p.176.—S.

[25]i.e.,If he were hanged for it, he could not tell one tale without telling two lies. Yet Mr Collier would changewheretowere he.

[26]This whole line is omitted in the later of the two old copies, and as Mr Reed and his friend remarked in their notes sometimes even the variation of letters, it is singular that they should have passed over this circumstance without observation.—Collier.

[27]Meane, second edition.

[28]Ed.1571 haspatron.

[29]This was proverbial. See [Hazlitt’s] “Collection of Proverbs,”p.291.

[30]A proverbial expression often found in ancient writers. Heywood has it: “Happy man, happydole.” See Dyce’s Glossary to his second edition of Shakespeare,p.201.Dole, Mr Steevens observes (Notes to “The Taming of the Shrew,” acti.,sc.1), is any thing dealt out or distributed, though its original meaning was the provision given away at the doors of great men’s houses. It is generally writtenbe his dole, though Ray,p.116, gives it as in the second4tobyhis dole. Shakespeare also uses the phrase in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

Again, in “Hudibras,”p.1, c. 3, l. 637—

“Let us that are unhurt and whole,Fall on, andhappy man be’s dole.”

“Let us that are unhurt and whole,

Fall on, andhappy man be’s dole.”

[31]He, first edition.

[32]Bosome, second edition.

[33]Original,outwery.

[34]Seeketh, second edition.

[35]Grace, second edition.

[36]Quietly, first edition.

[37][i.e., So nearare they.]

[38]Tocontrivein this place signifies to wear away, to spend, fromcontero,Lat.So in Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” acti., sc.2—

“Please you we manycontrivethis afternoon?”

Totum hunccontrividiem.—S.See also the Notes of Dr Warburton and Dr Johnson on the above line in Shakespeare.

[39]Taunts or sarcasms. See Johnson.—N.

[40]Plain-songisplanus cantus, uniform modulation.Descantis musical paraphrase. See a Note on “The Midsummer Night’s Dream,”vol. iii., p.63; and another on “King RichardIII.”vol. vii., p.6,edit.1778.—S.

[41]Spenser has this word which, as Dr Johnson observes, appears to be the same aswinch. It should seem to be expressive of some slight degree of pain, and in this instance to mean the same as if the speaker had said, I care not afillip.—S.

[42]Dionysius the tyrant is said to have punished with death one of his subjects for dreaming he had killed him. This was hardly more iniquitous than the execution of the gentleman, who having a white deer in his park, which was killed by Edward the Fourth, wished the deer, horns and all, in the belly of him that counselled the king to kill it,whereas in truth no man counselled the king to it: or than the attainder and execution of Algernon Sydney, on the evidence of private and unpublished papers, without any proof, or even a suggestion, of their intended publication.”—Principles of Penal Law, c. 11.

[43]With crueltie, second edition.

[44]Through, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley.

[45]Is lyke unto a stage, second edition.

[46]This sentence stands in the old copies,Omnis solum fortis patria.—Collier.[But Mr Collier printedpatriæ.

[47]See [Hazlitt’s] “Proverbs,”p.[336.]

[48]Theseatmeansthe situation. See, in Dr Johnson’s Dictionary, instances of it from Raleigh, Hayward, Bacon, and B. Jonson.—N.

So Duncan, in “Macbeth,” says—

“This castle hath a pleasantseat.”

[49]This quotation is given as follows in both the old copies—

“Dic mihi musa virum captæ post tempora Trojæ,Multorum homines mores qui vidit et urbes.”

“Dic mihi musa virum captæ post tempora Trojæ,

Multorum homines mores qui vidit et urbes.”

Query—Was it meant by the author that Damon should misquote?—Collier.[Surely not.]

[50]This is he, &c., first edition.

[51]i.e., Plentiful suppers, luxurious couches, and the king’s purse full of gold at command. [In the original this is printed so as to be absolute nonsense.]

Aristippus was not intended for a blunderer.—S.

[52]Tyoe, first edition.

[53]A cant term for be silent;mumandbudgetare the words made use of by Slender and Ann Page in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

[54][To make up his plunder or prize-money. From the old Frenchbouge.]

[55]The first edition reads—

“I wyll layone mouthfor you to Dionysius,” &c.,

which was altered in the second edition as it stands in the text.—Collier.

[56]A proverbial expression, of which it is difficult to give a satisfactory explanation, though the meaning of it is sufficiently obvious. A gentleman, who formerly wrote inThe Gentleman’s Magazineunder a feigned name, supposes the wordcatshould be changed tocate; “an old word for acakeor otheraumalette, which being usuallyfried, and consequentlyturn’d in the pan, does therefore very aptly express the changing of sides in politics or religion, or, as we otherwise say,the turning one’s coat.Gentleman’s Magazine, 1754,p.66. Another writer, however, gives the following [very absurd] explanation of it:— “Capitan, to turncapitan, from a people calledCatipani, inCalabriaandApulia, who got an ill name by reason of their perfidy; very falsely by us calledCat in pan.”—Ibid.p.172.

[57]Should, second edition.

[58]Commodityis interest. So in the former part of this play,p.198—

“They would honour friendship, and notfor commodity.”

and see “King John,” actii., sc.2—

“Commodity, the bias of the world.”

[59][A rare word in this sense; for it appears to stand forblab.]

[60][Original readstunes. The emendation was first suggested by Mr Collier.]

[61]Regale sorta di strumento simile all’organo, maminore.—BarettiDizion. Ital. ed Ing.Bacon distinguishes betweenthe regaland the organ in a manner which shows them to be instruments of the same class. “The sounds that produce tones are ever from such bodies as have their parts and pores equal, as are nightingalepipes of regalsor organs.”—Nat. Hist.cent,ii., sec.102. But, notwithstanding these authorities, the appellativeregalhas given great trouble to the lexicographer, whose sentiments with regard to its signification are collected and brought into one point of view by Sir John Hawkins, in his “History of Music,”vol. ii., p.448, from whence this note is extracted. See also a note by the Hon. Daines Barrington to “Hamlet,” actiii., sc.2, in the edition of Shakspeare, 1773, omitted in that of 1778.

[62]Seeing, secondedit.

[63]Should, firstedit.

[64]Now, firstedit.

[65]Unto, secondedit.

[66][Too, firstedit.]

[67][What, botheds.]

[68]Crowd.

[69]“King” is omitted in the first edition, and supplied by the second.—Collier.

[70]This, first edition.

[71][Old editions have,where opinion simplenesse have, &c. Simpleness, ignorance—i.e., who have deserved mercy, having offended from not knowing better.]

[72]Thrust, first edition.

[73][Oldedit.,injurie.]

[74]Yeelde speedily, second edition.

[75]To pawne, second edition.

[76]Folly. Thus Spenser, in his Sonnets,

“Fondessit were for any, being free,To covet fetters, though they golden be.”

“Fondessit were for any, being free,

To covet fetters, though they golden be.”

[77]Old editions read, Take heede:for life wordly, &c.

[78]Hinder me.

[79][I do not understand the allusion. The sense seems to be, I will beat you, come what may—I will putprudencein my purse or pocket.]

[80][Originals havecolpheg you.] I believe we should read,colaphize—i.e., box or buffet.Colaphiser,Fr.See Cotgrave’s “Dictionary.”—Steevens.

[81]i.e., Loose companion. So Spenser—

“Might not be found a rankerfranion.”

Again—

“A fairefranionfit for such a pheere.”—S.

Again, in “The First Part of King EdwardIV.,” sign. C,p.5: “Hees afranke franion, a merrie companion, and loves a wench well.”

[82]See Note to “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,”vol. iii., p.198.

[83][Stephanospelled backwards.]

[84]ReadΚρητιξω. Vide Erasm.Adag.TheCretanswere famous for double-dealing.Cretizare, however, is a word employ’d by lexicographers, instead of mentiri.—Steevens.

[85]Crack-rope was a common term of contempt in old plays.

“You codshed, youcracke-rope, you chattering pye.”—Apius and Virginia, sign. B.

“You codshed, youcracke-rope, you chattering pye.”

—Apius and Virginia, sign. B.

Again in that very rare play, “The Two Italian Gentlemen”—

“Then let him be led through every streete in the town,That everycrackropemay fling rotten egs at the clown.”

“Then let him be led through every streete in the town,

That everycrackropemay fling rotten egs at the clown.”

—Collier. [See also Tarlton’s “Jests,” 1611 (“Old English Jest-Books,”ii., p.211).]

[86][Old edition,which.]

[87][Old editions havemonckes.]

[88][Old editions havepantacle.] I suppose he means to say apantofle—i.e., a slipper. Perhaps he begins his attack with a kick.—S.The second edition reads—

“Even heere with afairepantacle I will you disgrace,”

an epithet not found in the oldest copy, and hardly consistent with the supposition thatpantaclemeanspantofle.—Collier. [Probably, a slap on the face.]

[89]Geve, second edition.

[90]More properlytouch-box. While match-locks, instead of fire-locks, to guns were used, thetouch-box, at which the match was lighted, was part of the accoutrement of a soldier.

“When she his flask andtouch-boxset on fire.”

Line of an author, whose name I cannot at this time recollect.—Steevens.

[91]A Dottrel is a silly kind of bird which imitates the actions of the fowler, till at last he is taken. If the fowler stretches out a leg, the bird will do so to. So, in Butler’s “Character of a Fantastic (Remains,vol. ii., p.132)”: “He alters his gate with the times, and has not a motion of his body that (like a Dottrel) he does not borrow from somebody else.” See also Jonson’s “Devil is an Ass,”iv., 6, and Dyce’s “Beaumont and Fletcher,”iii., 79, andv., 64.

[92][Original here hasCobex epi. Colliers used to be nick-namedCarry-coals. See Hazlitt’s “Proverbs,”p.98.]

[93][Do up, open.]

[94][For the supply of the court, orBouche de la cour.]

[95]It was you, first edition.

[96]Doth, second edition.

[97]i.e., A cast of that species of hawks that were calledMerlins.—Steevens.He calls them [merlins, which he might perhaps have been supposed to pronounce]Murlonson account of their size.Merlinswere the smallest species of hawks. Turbervile says, “Thesemerlynsare very much like the haggart falcon in plume, in seare of the foote, in beake and talons. So as there seemeth to be no oddes or difference at al betwixt them save only in thebignesse, for she hath like demeanure, like plume, and very like conditions to the falcon, and in hir kind is of like courage, and therefore must be kept as choycely and as daintly as the falcon.” Themerlinwas chiefly used to fly at small birds; and Latham says, it was particularly appropriated to the service of ladies.

[98]Father Grimme, second edition.

[99][Something seems to have dropped out of the text here to this purport.]

[100]Adopted into the original text from the second edition.—Collier.

[101][A play on the similarity betweenrugandrogue.]

[102]What fault can you see heere?second edition.

[103][Small casks, buckets.]

[104]i.e., Robin red breasts. Shakespeare usesruddockfor red breast in “Cymbeline.”—S.Again, in Nash’s “Lenten Stuff,” 1599: “He eft soons defined unto me, that the red herring was this old tickle cob, or magister fac totum, that brought in thered ruddocks, and the grummel seed as thick as oatmeal, and made Yarmouth for Argent to put down the city of Argentine.”

[105]Hose at, second edition.

[106]Well, first edition.

[107][Luscious.]

[108]An intended mistake formuscadine.—S.

[109]Jebit avow mon companion.Both4tos.—S.

[110]Ihar vow pleadge pety Zawne.Both4tos.[Zawneappears to be a loose application ofZaniquasinoodle, though here, perhaps, the meaning is rathermimic.]

[111]Was, second edition.

[112][Interrupt? See Nares, edition 1859, in v.]

[113]Coppe, in Chaucer, is used for the top of anything, and here seems intended to signify the head, or, as the common phrase is, ahair-brainedfellow.

[114]Merie, second edition.

[115]See “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,”vol. iii., p.189, note.

[116][See Rimbault’s “Little Book of Songs and Ballads,” 1851,p.83.]

[117]Benneis the French word for a sack to carry coals. See Cotgrave.

[118]Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton, is among the Proverbs published by Mr Ray. That gentleman adds, “Who thisBoltonwas I know not, neither is it worth enquiring. One of this name might happen to say,Bate me an ace, and, for the coincidence of the first letters of the two wordsBateandBolton, it grew to be a proverb. We have many of the like original; asv.g.Sup, Simon, &c., Stay, quoth Stringer, &c. There goes a story of Queen Elizabeth, that being presented with a Collection of English Proverbs, and told by the author that it contained all the English Proverbs, nay, replied she,Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton: which Proverb being instantly looked for, happened to be wanting in his Collection.” [See Hazlitt’s] “Proverbs,”p.[80.] This story of Queen Elizabeth forms the point of an epigram by H.P. (probably Henry Parrot) in a collection called “The Mastive,” 1615—

“A pamphlet was of proverbs penn’d by PoltonWherein he thought all sorts included were;Until one told him,Bate m’ an ace, quoth Bolton:Indeed (said he) that proverb is not there.”

“A pamphlet was of proverbs penn’d by Polton

Wherein he thought all sorts included were;

Until one told him,Bate m’ an ace, quoth Bolton:

Indeed (said he) that proverb is not there.”

[119][Sacks of coal, more properly,benters, as just above.]

[120]In the former edition, Mr Dodsley had altered this topay mee wel.

[121][Urine.]

[122]Aloue, French is to allow, to approve, to praise. I know of no other word that resembles that in the text.Alosed, in Chaucer, ispraised.—S.[Possibly,Hallo, hallo!may be the true reading.]

[123]From the manner in which this expression is used by Sir John Harington, in “The Anatomie of the Metamorphosis of Ajax,” 1596, sig. L, 7, it seems as though it was intended for a sallow hue. “Both of a complexion inclining to the oriental colour of aCroyden sanguine.”

[124]The4tosreadPallarrime. The razors of Palermo were anciently famous. They are mentioned in more than one of our old plays, and particularly in “The Wounds of Civill War,” by Thomas Lodge, 1594, “Neighbour sharpen the edge tole of your wits upon the whetstone of indiscretion, that your wordes may shine likethe rasers of Palermo.”—S.

[125]He means apestilencequean.—S.

[126]A pestle of porke—i.e., gammon of bacon.—Minsheu.

[127]Trimly, second edition.

[128][[i.e., Dionysius, to which Dodsley changed it.]

[129]Bonns, both4tos.

[130]Sometimes called New Queen Street, where there seems to have been the sign ofthe three Cranes. Ben Jonson mentions this place in “The Devil is an Ass,” act.i. sc.1.

“From thence shoot the bridge child, tothe Cranes of the Vintry,And see there the gimblets how they make their entry!”

“From thence shoot the bridge child, tothe Cranes of the Vintry,

And see there the gimblets how they make their entry!”

Stow says it was a place of some account for the Costermongers who had warehouses there; and it appears from Dekker’s “Belman of London,” sig. E 2, that the beggars of his time called one of their places of rendezvous by this name. [See Herbert’s edition of Ames,p.367-8.]

[131]These, first edition.

[132]Vaunted, second edition.

[133]Increased is, old editions.

[134]Streams, second edition.

[135][None such, old editions. The meaning seems to be, a perfect friend:—’tis a world to seek one such.]

[136]Both the old copies have it “mystate to moan,” which may be right, and the substitution [tothy, which was made in the earlier editions] should not have been made without notice.—Collier.

[137]Whether I will or not. See Note 23 to “Grim the Collier of Croydon.”

[138]i.e., Itrideth fastupon noon. The word is used by Spenser and many of our ancient writers.

[139]With Pithias in his custody, and Stephano, as is evident from the rest of the scene.—Collier.

[140]Hinder him.

[141]Doth, both4tos.

[142]Doo, first edition. The reading of both the old copies in this place is

“Golden timedoo wear away.”

If it were worth while to remark the difference betweendooanddoos, it might have been as well not to make the change in the text without notice, although it is probably right.—Collier.

[143]i.e., Thou wilt derive nocreditfrom striking off a head so disadvantageously placed for the purpose of decollation.Honnetete, French, anciently signifiedfameorreputationin the dexterous execution of any undertaking, whether honourable or the contrary.Honestyseems here to be used with the French meaning.—Steevens.In this instance the author appears to have had before him the speech which Sir Thomas More made at his execution. Hall, in his “Chronicle,”p.226, says, “Also the hangman kneled doune to him askyng him forgiuenes of his death (as the maner is), to whom he sayd I forgeue thee, but I promise thee that thou shalt neuer hauehonestie of the strykyng of my head, my necke is so short.”

[144]The two old copies have it,

“O happie kingeswithinyour courtes,” &c.—Collier.

[145]Two to, second edition.

[146]No reason, first edition.

[147]This direction means that Dionysius, Damon, Pithias, and all others go out, excepting Stephano.—Collier.

[148][Old copies,joy.]

[149][Freedom.]

[The reader does not probably require to be told that Chaucer has taken up the story of the “Wicked Judge Appius” in the “Doctor of Physic’s Tale,” and there is a drama by Webster on the same subject, written many years before it was published in 1654, and included in all the editions of that writer’s works.]

THE PLAYERS’ NAMES.[150]

MR COLLIER’S PREFACE.

The “Tragical Comedy of Appius and Virginia” deserves especial notice, as probably [one of] our earliest extant dramatic productions publicly represented, the plot of which is derived from history. Sackville’s “Ferrex and Porrex” was acted before the Queen at Whitehall, and Edwards’ “Damon and Pithias” also at Court, while the interlude of “Thersites” merely adopts the name of a historical personage as an indication of character, without reference to any events in which he was concerned. “Appius and Virginia” is besides curious as holding a middle station between the old moralities and historical plays [while it still retains the allegorical character in some degree].

The performance was printed in 1575, but acted most likely as early as 1563. The initials R. B. on the title-page would apply to more than one writer about that date. It is a work of great rarity, the only known copy being in the British Museum. It would be singular therefore that it has hitherto almost escaped notice, were it not evident that there are so many plays in theGarrick Collection which have never been read by the editors of Shakespeare. Mr Malone makes one reference to “Appius and Virginia” in a note on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but he misquotes both the words and the date.

There is internal evidence that it was publicly represented; and with reference to this point, we find in one place a curious instance of the ancient simplicity of the construction of an open stage, and of the directions to the actors: “Here let Virginius go about the scaffold.” This was the “scaffold hie” on which Herod, according to Chaucer [“Miller’s Tale”] was accustomed to rant. Hawkins [Orig. Engl. Dr.I. vii.] tells us that this temporary erection, in Parfre’s “Candlemas Day,” was called “theStage,” but he erred from misquotation. In the following piece we are expressly informed thatHaphazardwas theVice, regarding which character see Douce’s “Illustr. of Shakesp.”ii., 304, &c.[151]

[In the former edition nearly all the corruptions of the old copy, which was edited and printed with the grossest carelessness, were allowed to remain. A few still stand which baffle our ingenuity.]

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