To have one show worse than the king's and his company. KING. I say, they shall not come. PRIN. Nay, my good lord, let me o'er-rule you now; That sport best pleases, that doth least know how: Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Die in the zeal of them which it presents, Their form confounded makes most form in mirth;8 When great things labouring perish in their birth." That sport best pleases, that doth least know how: Their form &c.] The old copies read-of that which it presents. STEEVENS. The third line may be read better thus: the contents Die in the zeal of him which them presents. This sentiment of the Princess is very natural, but less generous than that of the Amazonian Queen, who says, on a like occasion, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream: "I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd, "Nor duty in his service perishing." JOHNSON. This passage, as it stands, is unintelligible.-Johnson's amendment makes it grammatical, but does not make it sense. What does he mean by the contents which die in the zeal of him who presents them? The word content, when signifying an affection of the mind, has no plural. Perhaps we should read thus: Where zeal strives to content, and the content Lies in the zeal of those which it present A similar sentiment, and on a similar occasion, occurs in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, when Philostrate says of the play they were about to exhibit: It is nothing, "Unless you can find sport in their intents 66 Extremely stretch'd, and conn'd with cruel pain, "To do you service." M. MASON. The quarto, 1598, and the folio, 1623, read-of that which it presents. The context, I think, clearly shows that them (which, as the passage is unintelligible in its original form, I have BIRON. A right description of our sport, my lord. ventured to substitute,) was the poet's word. Which for who is common in our author. So, (to give one instance out of many,) in The Merchant of Venice: 66 a civil doctor, "Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me.' and ym and y' were easily confounded: nor is the false concord introduced by this reading [of them who presents it,] any objection to it; for every page of these plays furnishes us with examples of the same kind. So dies in the present line, for thus the old copy reads; though here, and in almost every other passage, where a similar corruption occurs, I have followed the example of my predecessors, and corrected the error. Where rhymes or metre, however, are concerned, it is impossible. Thus we must still read in Cymbeline, lies, as in the line before us, presents: "And Phoebus 'gins to rise. "His steeds to water at those springs "On chalic'd flowers that lies." Again, in the play before us: "That in this spleen ridiculous appears, "To check their folly, passion's solemn tears." Again, in The Merchant of Venice: "Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect.” Dr. Johnson would read: Die in the zeal of him which them presents. But him was not, I believe, abbreviated in old MSS. and therefore not likely to have been confounded with that. The word it, I believe, refers to sport. That sport, says the Princess, pleases best, where the actors are least skilful; where zeal strives to please, and the contents, or, (as these exhibitions are immediately afterwards called) great things, great attempts, perish in the very act of being produced, from the ardent zeal of those who present the sportive entertainment. To" present a play" is still the phrase of the theatre. It, however, may refer to contents, and that word may mean the most material part of the exhibition. MALONE. 9 labouring perish in their birth.] Labouring here means, in the act of parturition. So, Roscommon : "The mountains labour'd, and a mouse was born." MALONE. Enter ARMADO.1 ARM. Anointed, I implore so much expence of thy royal sweet breath, as will utter a brace of words. [ARMADO converses with the King, and delivers PRIN. Doth this man serve God? PRIN. He speaks not like a man of God's making. ARM. That's all one, my fair, sweet, honey monarch: for, I protest, the school-master is exceeding fantastical; too, too vain; too, too vain: But we will put it, as they say, to fortuna della guerra. I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement!2 [Exit ARMADO. KING. Here is like to be a good presence of worthies: He presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the great; the parish curate, Alexander Armado's page, Hercules; the pedant, Judas Machabæus. And if these four worthies3 in their first show thrive, These four will change habits, and present the other five. Enter Armado.] The old copies read-Enter Braggart, I wish you the peace of mind, most royal couplement!] This singular word is again used by our author in his 21st Sonnet: "Making a couplement of proud compare-" MALONE. And if these four worthies &c.] These two lines might have been designed as a ridicule on the conclusion of Selimus, a tragedy, 1594: BIRON. There is five in the first show. BIRON. The pedant, the braggart, the hedgepriest, the fool, and the boy: 4 Abate a throw at novum; and the whole world again, Cannot prick out five such, take each one in his vein.5 KING. The ship is under sail, and here she comes amain. [Seats brought for the King, Princess, &c. "If this first part, gentles, do like you well, STEEVENS. I rather think Shakspeare alludes to the shifts to which the actors were reduced in the old theatres, one person often per. forming two or three parts. MALONE. • Abate a throw at novum:] Novum (or novem) appears from the following passage in Green's Art of Legerdemain, 1612, to have been some game at dice: "The principal use of them (the dice) is at novum," &c. Again, in The Bell-man of London, by Decker, 5th edit. 1640: "The principal use of langrets, is at novum; for so long as a payre of bard cater treas be walking, so long can you cast neither 5 nor 9-for without cater treay, 5 or 9, you can never come,' Again, in A Woman never vex'd: "What ware deal you in? cards, dice, bowls, or pigeon-holes; sort them yourselves, either passage, novum, or mum-chance." STEEVENS. Abate throw-is the reading of the original and authentick copies; the quarto, 1598, and the folio, 1623. A bare throw, &c. was an arbitrary alteration made by the editor of the second folio. I have added only the article, which seems to have been inadvertently omitted. I suppose the meaning is, Except or put the chance of the dice out of the question, and the world cannot produce five such as these. Abate, from the Fr. abatre, is used again by our author, in the same sense, in All's well that ends well: 66 those 'bated, that inherit but the fall "A bare throw at novum" is to me unintelligible. MALONE. Cannot prick out &c.] Dr. Grey proposes to read-pick out. So, in King Henry IV. P. I: "Could the world pick thee out three such enemies again?" The old reading, however, may be right. To prick out, is a phrase still in use among gardeners. To prick may likewise have reference to vein. STEEVENS. Pick is the reading of the quarto, 1598: Cannot prick out,— that of the folio, 1623. Our author uses the same phrase in his 20th Sonnet, in the same sense:-cannot point out by a puncture or mark. Again, in Julius Cæsar: "Will you be prick'd in number of our friends?" MALONE. To prick out, means to choose out, or to mark as chosen. The word, in this sense, frequently occurs in The Second Part of King Henry IV. where Falstaff receives his recruits from Justice Shallow : 6 "Here's Wart-Shall I prick him, Sir John? M. MASON. Pageant of the Nine Worthies.] In MS. Harl. 2057, p. 31, is "The order of a showe intended to be made Aug. 1, 1621.". "First, 2 woodmen, &c. "St. George fighting with the dragon. "The 9 worthies in compleat armor with crownes of gould on their heads, every one having his esquires to beare before him his shield and penon of armes, dressed according as these lords were accustomed to be: 3 Assaralits, 3 Infidels, 3 Christians. "After them, a Fame, to declare the rare virtues and noble deedes of the 9 worthye women.' Such a pageant as this, we may suppose it was the design of Shakspeare to ridicule. STEEVens. "This sort of procession was the usual recreation of our an |