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HOL. Moft military fir, falutation.

MOTH. They have been at a great feast of languages, and ftolen the scraps. [To COSTARD afide.

COST. O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words!" I marvel, thy mafter hath not eaten thee for a word; for thou art not fo long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art eafier fwallowed than a flap-dragon."

MOTH. Peace; the peal begins.

ARM. Monfieur, [ To HOL.] are you not letter'd? MOTH. Yes, yes, he teaches boys the hornbook:

What is a, b, fpelt backward with a horn on his head? HOL. Ba, pueritia, with a horn added.

6 They have been at a great feast of languages, and ftolen the fcraps. }. So, in Chrifl's Tears over Jerufalem, by Thomas Nafhe, 1594: "The phrase of sermons, as it ought to agree with the fcripture, so heed must be taken, that their whole fermon seem not a banquet of the broken fragments of fcripture. ` MALONE.

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the alms-basket of words!] i. e. the refufe of words. The refuse meat of great families was formerly fent to the prisons. So, in The Inner Temple Mafque, 1619, by T. Middleton: perpetual lodging in the King's Bench, and his ordinary out of the basket." Again, in If this be not a good Play the Devil is in It; 1612: "He muft feed on beggary's basket." STEEVENS.

The refuse meat of families was put into a basket in our author's time, and given to the poor. So, in Florio's Second Frutes, 1591: "Take away the table, fould up the cloth, and put all those pieces of broken meat into a basket for the poor." MALONE.

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honorificabilitudinitatibus:] This word, whencefoever it comes, is often mentioned as the longeft word known. JOHNSON. It occurs likewife in Marfton's Dutch Courtezan, 1604:. "His difcourfe is like the long word honorificabilitudinitatibus § a great deal of found and no fenfe. I meet with it likewife in Nath's Lenten Stuff, &c. 1599. STEEVENS.

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See a note on

a flap-dragon.] A flap-dragon is a fmall inflammable subftance, which topers fwallow in a glass of wine. K. Henry IV. P. II. A& II. fc. ult. STEEVENS.

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MOTH. Ba, moft filly fheep, with a horn:-You hear his learning.

HOL. Quis, quis, thou confonant?

MOTH. The third ofthe five vowels, if you repeat them; or the fifth, if I.

HOL. I will repeat them, a, e, i.

MOTн. The fheep: the other two concludes it;

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ARM. Now, by the falt wave of the Mediterraneum, a sweet touch, a quick venew of wit:' fnip, fnap, quick and home; it rejoiceth my intellect:

true wit.

MOTH. Offer'd by a child to an old man: which is wit-old.

HOL. What is the figure? what is the figure?

Moth. The third of the five vowels, &c.] In former editions: The last of the five vowels, if you repeat them; or the fifth, if I. Hol. I will repeat them, a, e, 1,

Moth. The Sheep: the other two concludes it; o, u.

Is not the last and the fifth the fame vowel? Though my cor rection reftores but a poor conundrum, yet if it reftores the poet's meaning, it is the duty of an editor to trace him in his lowest conceits. By O, U, Moth would mean – Oh, you—i. e. You are the fheep ftill, either way; no matter which of us repeats them.

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THEOBALD.

a quick venew of wit:] A venew is the technical term for a bout at the fencing-school. So, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615:

in the fencing-school

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"To play a venew. STEEVENS.

A venue, as has already been obferved, is not a bout at fencing, but a hit. A fweet touch of wit, (fays Armado,) a fmart hit. So, in The Famous Hiflorie of Captain Thomas Stukely, b. 1. 1605:

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for forfeits, and vennyes given, upon a wager, at the ninth button of your doublet, thirty crowns. MALONE.

Notwithstanding the pofitiveness with which my fense of the word venue is denied, my quotation fufficiently establishes it; for who ever talked of playing a hit in a fencing fchool? STEEVENS.

MOTH. Horns.

HOL. Thou difputeft like an infant: go, whip thy gig.

MOTH. Lend me your horn to make one, and I will whip about your infamy circum circà; A gig of a cuckold's horn!

COST. An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy ginger-bread: hold, there is the very remuneration I had of thy mafter, thou half-penny purfe of wit, thou pigeon-egg of difcretion. O, an the heavens were fo pleased, that thou wert but my bastard! what a joyful father wouldft thou make me! Go to; thou haft it ad dunghill, at the fingers' ends, as they say.

HOL. O, I fmell falfe Latin; dunghill for unguem. ARM. Arts-man, præambula; we will be fingled from the barbarous. Do you not educate youth at the charge-house' on the top of the mountain?

HOL. Or, mons, the hill.

ARM. At your fweet pleasure, for the mountain.
HOL. I do, fans queftion.

ARM. Sir, it is the king's moft fweet pleasure and affection, to congratulate the princess at her pavilion, in the pofteriors of this day; which the rude multitude call, the afternoon.

I will whip about your infamy circùm circà;] The old Copies read-unum cita. STEEVENS.

Here again all the editions give us jargon instead of Latin. But Moth would certainly mean -circum circa: i. e. about and about: though it may be defigned he should mistake the terms.

THEOBALD,

the charge-houfe] I fuppofe, is the free-fchool.

STEEVENS.

HOL. The pofterior of the day, moft generous fir, is liable, congruent, and meafurable for the afternoon: the word is well cull'd, chofe; fweet and apt, I do affure you, fir, I do affure.

ARM. Sir, the king is a noble gentleman; and my familiar, I do affure you, very good friend :— For what is inward' between us, let it pafs:-I do befeech thee, remember thy courtesy;-I beseech thee, apparel thy head: and among other impor

inward i. e. confidential. So, in King Richard III: "Who is molt inward with the noble duke?" STEEVENS.

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6 I do befeech thee, remember thy courtefy; I beseech thee, apparel thy head:] I believe the word not was inadvertently omitted by the tranfcriber or compofitor; and that we should read-I do beseech thee, remember not thy courtesy-Armado is boafting of the familiarity with which the king treats him, and intimates ("but let that pafs, ") that when he and his Majefty converfe, the king lays afide all ftate, and makes him wear his hat: "I do beseech thee, (will he fay to me) remember not thy courtefy; do not observe any ceremony with me; be covered. "The putting off the hat at the table (fays Florio in his Second Frutes, 1591,) is a kind of courtesie or ceremonie rather to be avoided than otherwise."

"

These words may, however, be addressed by Armado to Holofernes, whom we may suppose to have stood uncovered from refpe& to the Spaniard.

If this was the poet's intention, they ought to be included in a parenthesis. To whomsoever the words are fupposed to be addreffed, the emendation appears to me equally neceflary. It is confirmed by a paffage in A Midfummer-Night's Dream: "Give me your neif, mounfieur Mufardfeed. Pray you, leave your courtefie mounfier."

In Hamlet, the prince, when he defires Ofrick to "put his bonnet to the right ufe," begias his addrefs with the fame words which Armado ufes but unluckily is interrupted by the courtier, and pievented (as I believe) from ufiug the very word which I fuppofe to have been accidentally omitted here.

"Ham. I beseech you, remember -

"Ofr. Nay, good my lord, for my ease, in good faith." In the folio copy of this play we find in the next scene: "O, that your face were fo full of o's

inftead of were not fo full, &c. MALone.

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tunate and moft ferious defigns,-and of great import indeed, too;-but let that pafs :-for I must tell thee, it will pleafe his grace (by the world) fometime to lean upon my poor shoulder; and with his royal finger, thus, dally with my excrement, with my muftachio: but fweet heart, let that pafs. By the world, I recount no fable; fome certain fpecial honours it pleafeth his greatnefs to impart to Armado, a foldier, a man of travel, that hath feen the world: but let that pafs.-The very all of all is,—but, sweet heart, I do implore fecrecy,-that the king would have me prefent the princefs, fweet chuck, with fome delightful oftentation, or fhow, or pageant, or antick, or fire-work. Now, understanding that the curate, and your fweet felf, are good at fuch eruptions, and fudden breaking out of mirth, as it were, I have acquainted you withal, to the end to crave your affiftance.

HOL. Sir, you shall present before her the nine worthies. Sir Nathaniel, as concerning fome entertainment of time, fome fhow in the pofterior of this day, to be render'd by our affiftance,-the king's command, and this moft gallant, illuftrate, and learned gentleman.-before the princefs; I say, none fo fit as to prefent the nine worthies.

NATH. Where will you find men worthy enough to prefent them?

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By" remember thy courtesy" I suppose Armado means-remember that all this time thou art fanding with thy hat off. STEEVENS. dally with my excrement,] The author calls the beard valour's excrement in The Merchant of Venice. JOHNSON. chuck,] i. e, chicken; an ancient term of endearment. So, in Macbeth:

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"Be innocent of the knowledge, dearcft chuck

STLEVENS,

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