Muf. Then will I give you the ferving-creature. Pet. Then will I lay the ferving-creature's dagger on your pate. I will carry no crotchets: I'll re you, I'll fa you; Do you note me? Muf. An you re us, and fa us, you note us. 2 Muf. Pray you, put up your dagger, and put out your wit. Pet. Then have at you with my wit; I will drybeat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger: Answer me like men: When griping grief" the heart doth wound, 8 And doleful dumps the mind opprefs, Then mufick, with her filver found, Why filver found? why, mufick with her filver found? What The ufe of this cant term is no where explained; and in all probability cannot, at this diftance of time, be recovered. To gleek however fignified to put a joke or trick upon a perfon, perhaps to jeft according to the coarfe humour of that age. Sce Midfummer Night's Dream, above quoted. REMARKS. -the mingrel.] From the following entry on the books of the Stationers' Company, in the year 1560, it appears that the hire of a parfon was cheaper than that of a minfirel or a ccok. Item, payd to the preacher "Item, payd to the minstrell "Item, payd to the coke vis. iid. xii s. xv s. STEEVENS. 7 When griping grief, &c.] The epithet griping was by no means likely to excite laughter at the time it was written. Lord Surry, in his tranflation of the fecond book of Virgil's Eneid, makes the hero fay : "New gripes of dred then pearfe our trembling breftes." Dr. Percy thinks that the questions of Beter are defigned as a ridicule on the forced and unnatural explanations too often given by us painful editors of ancient authors. STEEVENS. In Commendation of Muficke. Where griping grief y hart would woud, (& dolful domps y mind oppreffe, There mufick with her filver found, is wont with fpcde to geue redreffe, Of troubled minds for every fore, fwete mufick hath a falue in store. What fay you, Simon Catling? 1 Muf. Marry, fir, becaufe filver hath a fweet? found. Pet. Pretty! What fay you, 'Hugh Rebeck? Muf. I fay-filver found, because musicians found for filver. In ioy it maks our mirth abound, in grief it chers our heauy fprights, The carefull head releaf hath found, by muficks pleasant fwete delights, Our fenfes, what should I faie more, are fubject unto muficks lore. The Gods by mufick hath their pray, the foul therein doth ioye, For as the Romaine poets faie, in feas whom pirats would destroye A Dolphin fau'd from death moft fharpe, Arion playing on his harp. Oh heauenly gift that turnes the minde, like as the sterne doth rule the ship, Of mufick whom ye Gods affignde to comfort ma, whom cares would nip, Sith thou both man, & beast doest moue, what wifemā the will thee reprove? From the Paradife of Daintie Deuifes, Fol. 31. b. Richard Edwards. Of Richard Edwards and William Hunnis, the authors of fundry poems in this collection, fee an account in Wood's Athena Oxon. and alfo in Tanner's Bibliotheca. SIR JOHN HAWKINS. Another copy of this fong is published by Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of ancient English Poetry. STEEVENS. 8 And doleful dumps the mind opprefs,] This line I have recovered from the old copy. It was wanting to complete the stanza as it is afterwards repeated. STEEVENS. 9 Simon Catling?] A catling was a fmall lute-ftring made of catgut. STEEVENS. Hugh Rebeck?] The fidler is fo called from an inftrument with three ftrings, which is mentioned by feveral of the old writers. Rebec, rebecquin. See Menage, in v. Rebec. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pefle: "Tis prefent death for thefe fidiers to tune their rebecks before the great Turk's grace. In England's Helicon, 1614, is The Shepherd Arfilius, his Song to his REBECK, by Bar. Yong. STEEVENS. It is mentioned by Milton, as an inftrument of mirth "When the merry bells ring round, L 4 MALONE. Pet Pet. Pretty too!-What fay you, James Soundpost? 3 Muf. Faith, I know not what to say. Pet. O, I cry you mercy! you are the finger: I will fay for you. It is-mufick with her filver found3, because fuch fellows as you have no gold for founding : Then mufick with her filver found, With Speedy help doth lend redrefs. [Exit, finging. 1 Muf. What a peftilent knave is this fame? 2 Muf. Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here; tarry for the mourners, and ftay dinner. [Exeunt, A C T V, SCENE I. MANTUA A STREET. Enter Romeo. Rom. If I may truft the flattering truth of fleep, My dreams prefage fome joyful news at hand: My 3 becaufe fuch fellows as you,-] Thus the quarto 1597. The others read because musicians. I should fufpect that a fidler made the alteration. STEEVENS, 3 -filver found,] So, in the Return from Parnaffus, 1606: 66 Faith, fellow fidlers, here's no filver found in this place," Again, in Wily Beguiled: 66 -what harmony is this "With Alver found that glutteth Sophos' ears " Spenfer perhaps is the first who used this phrafe: "A filver found that heav'nly mufic feem'd to make." STEEVENS. 4 Act V.] The acts are here properly enough divided, nor did any better diftribution than the editors have already made, occur to me in the perufal of this play; yet, it may not be improper to remark, that in the first folio, and I fuppofe the foregoing editions are in the fame ftate, there is no divifion of the acts, and there fore My bofom's lord fits lightly on his throne; And, all this day, an unaccuftom'd fpirit Lifts me above the ground with chearful thoughts. 7 I dreamt, my lady came and found me dead; fore fome future editor may try, whether any improvement can be made, by reducing them to a length more equal, or interrupting the action at more proper intervals, JOHNSON, s If I may truft the flattering truth of fleep.] The fenfe is, If I may only truft the honesty of fleep, which I know however not to be fo nice as not often to practite flattery. JOHNSON. The oldest copy readshe flattering eye of fleep, Whether this reading ought to fuperfede the more modern one, I fhall not pretend to determine: it appears to me, however, the most easily intelligible of the two. STEEVENS, 6 My bofom's lord-] So, in King Arthur, a Poem, by R. Chester, 1601: "That neither Uter nor his councell knew "How his deepe bofome's lord the dutchess thwarted.” The author, in a marginal note, declares, that by bofom's lord, he means Cupid. Thus too, Shakfpcare (as Mr. Malone obferves to me) in Twelfth Night and Othello: Again, It gives a very echo to the feat Where love is thron'd. Yield up, o Love, thy crown and hearted throne, STEEVENS. My bofom's lord] Thefe three lines are very gay and pleafing. But why does Shakspeare give Romeo this involuntary cheerfulness just before the extremity of unhappiness? Perhaps to fhew the vanity of trufting to thofe uncertain and cafual exalt ations or depreffions, which many confider as certain foretokens of good and evil. JOHNSON. The poet has explained this paffage himself a little further on: Again, in G. Whetstone's Castle of Delight, 1576: 66 -a lightning delight against his fouden destruction.” 7 I dreamt, my lady came and found me dead, And breath'd fuch life with kiffes on my lips, STEEVENS. That I revived-] Shakspeare feems here to have remembered Marlowe's Hero and Leander, a poem that he has quoted in As you Like It: "By this fad Hero "Viewing Leander's face, fell down and fainted; MALONE. (Strange (Strange dream! that gives a dead man leave to think) Ah me! how sweet is love itfelf poffeft, Enter Balthafar. News from Verona! How now, Balthafar? Balth. Then fhe is well, and nothing can be ill; . Rom. Tufh, thou art deceiv'd; Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do: 3-in Capulet's monument.] The old copies read in Gapel's, monument; and thus Gafcoigne in his Flowers, p. 51: "Thys token whych the Mountacutes did beare alwaies, fo that "They covet to be knowne from Capels where they paffe, "For ancient grutch whych long ago 'tweene these two houfes was." STEEVENS. I defy you, ftars!] The folio reads-deny you, ftars. Pardon me, fir, I dare not leave you thus. from the quarto, 1597. The quarto, 1609, and "I do beseech you, fir, have patience," STEEVENS. This line is taken the folio, read : STEEVENS. Palth |