Mrs. Page. Alas! what noise? Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins! Mrs. Ford. Mrs. Page. Away, away. [They run off. Fal. I think, the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that is in me should set hell on fire; he would never else cross me thus. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS, like a satyr; Mrs. QUICKLY, and PISTOL; ANNE PAGE, as the Fairy Queen, attended by her brother and others, dressed like fairies, with waxen tapers on their heads. Quick. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white, You moon-shine revellers, and shades of night, You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny,1 Attend your office, and your quality.2 "And wondre ye not though I sey wodemanly, for it is a poynt of a wodemannys crafte. And though it be wele fittyng to an hunter to kun do it, yet natheles it longeth more to a wodemannys crafte," &c. A woodman's calling is not very accurately defined by any author I have met with. Steevens. 1 You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny,] But why orphan-heirs? Destiny, whom they succeeded, was yet in being. Doubtless the poet wrote: "You ouphen heirs of fixed destiny." i. e. you elves, who minister, and succeed in some of the works of destiny. They are called in this play, both before and afterwards, ouphes; here ouphen; en being the plural termination of Saxon nouns. For the word is from the Saxon Alpenne, lamia, damones. Or it may be understood to be an adjective, as wooden, woollen, golden, &c. Warburton. Dr. Warburton corrects orphan to ouphen; and not without plausibility, as the word ouphes occurs both before and afterwards. But, I fancy, in acquiescence to the vulgar doctrine, the address in this line is to a part of the troop, as mortals by birth, but adopted by the fairies: orphans in respect of their real parents, and now only dependent on destiny herself. A few lines from Spenser will sufficiently illustrate this passage: "The man whom heavens have ordaynd to bee "To elfes, but sprong of seed terrestriall, "Whiles yet in infant cradle he did crall," &c, Edit. 1590, B. III, st. 26. Farmer. I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host: Her mother, even strong against that match,3 Made promise to the doctor;-Now, thus it rests: So, in Bussy d'Ambois: } 66 like a monster Kept onely to show men for goddesse money: "That false hagge often paints him in her cloth "Ten times more monstrous than he is in troth. Henley. is here;] i. e. in the letter. Steevens. 2 While other jests are something rank on foot,] i. are hotly pursuing other merriment of their own. e. while they Steevens. 3 even strong against that match,] Thus the old copies. The modern editors read-ever, but perhaps without necessity. Even strong, is as strong, with a similar degree of strength. So, in Hamlet, " even christian" is fellow christian. Steevens. 4 tasking of their minds,] So, in K. Henry V : some things of weight 66 "That task our thoughts concerning us and France." 5--- Steevens. to denote] In the MSS. of our author's age n and u were formed so very much alike, that they are scarcely distinguishable. Hence it was, that in the old copies of these plays one of these letters is frequently put for the other. From the cause assigned, or from an accidental inversion of the letter n at the press, the first folio in the present instance reads-deuote, is (For they must all be mask'd and vizarded) 6 That, quaint in green, she shall be loose enrob'd, Host. Which means she to deceive? father or mother? Fent. Both, my good host, to go along with me: And here it rests, that you'll procure the vicar To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one, And, in the lawful name of marrying, To give our hearts united ceremony. Host. Well, husband your device; I'll to the vicar: Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest. Fent. So shall I evermore be bound to thee; Besides, I'll make a present recompense. [Exeunt. being constantly employed in that copy instead of v. . The same mistake has happened in several other places. Thus, in Much Ado about Nothing, 1623, we find, "he is turu'd orthographer," instead of turn'd. Again, in Othello:-" to the contemplation, mark, and deuotement of her parts, instead of denotement. Again, in King John: This expeditious charge, instead of expedition's. Again, ibid: involuerable for invulnerable. Again in Hamlet, 1605, we meet with this very word put by an error of the press for denote: “ Together with all forms, modes, shapes of grief, The present emendation, which was suggested by Mr. Steevens, is fully supported by a subsequent passage, quoted by him: "the white will decipher her well enough." Malone. 6 quaint in green,] may mean fantastically drest in green. So, in Milton's Masque at Ludlow Castle: lest the place, "And my quaint habits, breed astonishment." Quaintness, however, was anciently used to signify gracefulness. So, in Grecne's Dialogue between a He and She ConeyCatcher, 1592: "I began to think what a handsome man he was, and wished that he would come and take a night's lodging with me, sitting in a dump to think of the quaintness of his personage." In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, sc. i, quaintly is used for ingeniously: Steevens. Malone. "a ladder quaintly made of cords." In Daniel's Sonnets, 1594, it is used for fantastic: "Prayers prevail not with a quaint disdayne,” ACT V.....SCENE I. A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF and Mrs. QUICKLY. -I'll hold:" Fal. Pr'ythee, no more prattling;-go.This is the third time; I hope, good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they say, there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.Away. Quick. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns. Fal. Away, I say; time wears: hold up your head, and mince." [Exit Mrs. QUICK. Enter FORD. How now, master Brook? Master Brook, the matter will be known to night, or never. Be you in the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you shall see wonders. Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you told me you had appointed? Fal. I went to her, master Brook, as you see, like a poor old man: but I came from her, master Brook, like a poor old woman. That same knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him, master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. I will tell you.—He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman; for in the shape of man, master Brook, I fear not Goliath with a weaver's beam; because I know also, life is a 7 I'll hold:] I suppose he means-I'll keep the appointment. Or he may mean-I'll believe. So, in K Henry VIII: "Did you not of late days hear," &c.-" Yes, but held it not." Steevens. 8 they say, there is divinity in odd numbers,] Alluding to the Roman adage 9 numero deus impare gaudet. Virgil, Ecl. viii. Steevens. hold up your head, and mince.] To mince is to walk with affected delicacy. So, in The Merchant of Venice: 66 turn two mincing steps "Into a manly stride." Steevens. shuttle. I am in haste; go along with me; I'll tell you all, master Brook. Since I plucked geese,1 played truant and whipped top, I knew not what it was to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you strange things of this knave Ford: on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his wife into your hand.Follow: Strange things in hand, master Brook! follow. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Windsor Park. Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER. Page. Come, come; we 'll couch i' the castle-ditch, till we see the light of our fairies.-Remember, son Slender, my daughter. Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word,2 how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry mum; she cries, budget;3 and by that we know one another. Shal. That's good too: but what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough. It hath struck ten o'clock. Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will become it well. Heaven prosper our sport! No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. 4 [Exeunt. 1 Since I plucked geese,] To strip a living goose of its feathers, was formerly an act of puerile barbarity. Steevens. 2a nay-word,] i. e. a watch-word. Mrs. Quickly has already used it in this sense. Steevens. 3 mum; she cries, budget;] These words appear to have been in common use before the time of our author. "And now if a man call them to accomptes, and aske the cause of all these their tragical and cruel doings, he shall have a short answer with mum budget, except they will peradventure allege this," &c. Oration against the unlawful Insurrections of the Protestants, bl. 1. 8vo. 1615, sig. C 8. Reed. 4 No man means evil but the devil,] This is a double blunder; for some, of whom this was spoke, were women. We should read then, No ONE means. Warburton, There is no blunder. In the ancient interludes and moralities, the beings of supreme power, excellence, or depravity, are occasionally styled men. So, in Much Ado about Nothing, Dog |