Host. For the which, I will be thy adversary toward Anne Page; said I well? Caius. By gar, 'tis good; vell said. Host. Let us wag then. Caius. Come at my heels, Jack Rugby. [Exeunt. ACT III....SCENE I. A Field near Frogmore. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE. Eva. I pray you now, good master Slender's serving-man, and friend Simple by your name, which way their true Distances, both by the Map and the Dimensuration of the Line, &c. 1594." Shakspeare uses the phrase again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, scene the last, where it undoubtedly means to encourage: "Behold her that gave aim to all thy vows." So, in The Palsgrave, by W. Smith, 1615: "Shame to us all, if we give aim to that.” Again, in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607: "A mother to give aim to her own daughter!" Again, in Fenton's Tragical Discourses, bl. 1. 1567: 'Standyng rather in his window to-crye ayme, than helpyng any waye to part the fraye," p. 165, b. The original and literal meaning of this expression may be ascertained from some of the foregoing examples, and its figurative one from the rest; for, as Dr. Warburton observes, it can mean nothing in these latter instances, but to consent to, approve, or encourage. It is not, however, the reading of Shakspeare in the passage before us, and, therefore, we must strive to produce some sense from the words which we find there-cry'd game. We yet say, in colloquial language, that such a one is-gameor game to the back. There is surely no need of blaming Theobald's emendation with such severity. Cry'd game might mean, in those days,—a professed buck, one who was as well known by the report of his gallantry, as he could have been by proclamation. Thus, in Troilus and Cressida: "On whose bright crest, fame, with her loud'st O-yes, "Cries, this is he." Again, in All's well that ends well, Act II, sc. i: find what you seek, "That fame may cry you loud." Again, in Ford's Lover's Melancholy, 1629: "A gull, an arrant gull by proclamation.” have you looked for master Caius, that calls himself Doctor of Physick? Sim. Marry, sir, the city-ward,1 the park-ward, every way; old Windsor way, and every way but the town way. Eva. I most fehemently desire you, you will also look that way. Sim. I will, sir. Eva. 'Pless my soul! how full of cholers I am, and trempling of mind!-I shall be glad, if he have deceived me;-how melancholies I am!—I will knog his urinals about his knave's costard, when I have good opportunities for the 'ork:-'pless my soul! To shallow rivers,2 to whose falls [Sings. Again, in King Lear: "A proclaimed prize." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: "Thou art proclaim'd a fool, I think." Cock of the Game, however, is not, as Dr. Warburton pronounces it, a modern elegancy of speech, for it is found in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. XII, c. 74: "This cocke of game, and (as might seeme) this hen of that same fether." Again, in The Martial Maid, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "O craven chicken of a cock o' th' game!" And in many other places. Steevens. 1 the city-ward,] The old editions read-the Pittie-ward, the modern editors the Pitty-wary. There is now no place that answers to either name at Windsor. The author might possibly have written (as I have printed) the City-ward, i. e. towards London. In the Itinerarium, however, of William de Worcestre, p. 251, the following account of distances in the city of Bristol occurs: "Via de Pyttey a Pyttey-yate, porta vocata Nether Pittey, usque antiquam portam Pyttey usque viam ducentem ad Wynch-strete continet 140 gressus," &c. &c. The word-Pittey, therefore, which seems unintelligible to us, might anciently have had an obvious meaning. Steevens. 2 To shallow rivers, &c.] This is part of a beautiful little poem of the author's; which poem, and the answer to it, the reader will not be displeased to find here. THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE. "Come live with me, and be my love, "And we will all the pleasures prove There will we make our peds of roses, "There will we sit upon the rocks, 66 Thy silver dishes for thy meat, Prepared each day for thee and me. y love." my l THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD. "Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, "Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, "In folly ripe, in reason rotten. * The conclusion of this and the following poem seem to have furnished Milton with the hint for the last lines both of his Allegro and Penseroso. Steevens. 'Mercy on me! I have a great dispositions to cry. "Thy belt of straw, and ivy buds, These two poems, which Dr. Warburton gives to Shakspeare, are, by writers nearer that time, disposed of, one to Marlowe, the other to Raleigh. They are read in different copies with great variations. Johnson. In England's Helicon, a collection of love-verses printed in Shakspeare's life-time, viz. in quarto, 1600, the first of them is given to Marlowe, the second to Ignoto; and Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, observes, that there is good reason to believe that (not Shakspeare, but) Christopher Marlowe wrote the song, and Sir Walter Raleigh the Nymph's Reply; for so we are positively assured by Isaac Walton, a writer of some credit, who has inserted them both in his Compleat Angler, under the character of "That smooth song which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at least fifty years ago; and an answer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days..... Old fashioned poetry, but choicely good." See The Reliques, &c. Vol. I, p. 218, 221, third edit. In Shakspeare's sonnets, printed by Jaggard, 1599, this poem was imperfectly published, and attributed to Shakspeare. Mr. - Malone, however, observes, that "What seems to ascertain it to be Marlowe's, is, that one of the lines is found (and not as a quotation) in a play of his—The Few of Malta; which, though not printed till 1633, must have been written before 1593, as he died in that year:" "Thou in those groves, by Dis above, "Shalt live with me, and be my love." Steevens. Evans in his panick mis-recites the lines, which in the original run thus: "There will we sit upon the rocks, "And see the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls "Melodious birds sing madrigals: "There will I make thee beds of roses "With a thousand fragrant posies," &c. In the modern editions the verses sung by Sir Hugh have been corrected, I think, improperly. His mis-recitals were certainly Melodious birds sing madrigals; Sim. Yonder he is coming, this way, sir Hugh. To shallow rivers, to whose falls Heaven prosper the right!-What weapons is he? Sim. No weapons, sir: There comes my master, master Shallow, and another gentleman from Frogmore, over the stile, this way. Eva. Pray you give me my gown; or else keep it in your arms. Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and Slender. Shal. How now, master parson? Good-morrow, good sir Hugh. Keep a gamester from the dice, and a good student from his book, and it is wonderful. Slen. Ah, sweet Anne Page! Page. Save you, good sir Hugh! Eva. 'Pless you for his mercy sake, all of you! Shal. What! the sword and the word! do you study them both, master parson? Page. And youthful still, in your doublet and hose, this raw rheumatick day? intended. He sings on the present occasion, to shew that he is not afraid. So Bottom, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear, I am not afraid." Malone. A late editor has observed that Evans in his panick sings, like Bottom, to shew he is not afraid. It is rather to keep up his spirits; as he sings in Simple's absence, when he has " a great dispositions to cry." Ritson. 3 When as I sat in Pabylon,-] This line is from the old version of the 137th Psalm: "When we did sit in Babylon "The rivers round about, "Then in remembrance of Sion, "The tears for grief burst out." The word rivers, in the second line, may be supposed to have been brought to Sir Hugh's thoughts by the line of Marlowe's madrigal that he has just repeated; and in his fright he blends the sacred and profane song together. The old quarto has"There lived a man in Babylon," which was the first line of an old song, mentioned in Twelfth Night:-but the other line is more in character. Malone. |