and I desire more of your acquaintance with all my heart. Fill the gentlemen some beer, George. [Boy danceth.] Look, George, the little boy's come again! methinks he looks something like the Prince of Orange in his long stocking, if he had a little harness about his neck." George, I will have him dance Fading; Fading is a fine jig, I'll assure you, gentlemen. Begin, brother; now a' capers, sweetheart! now a turn a' th' toe, and then tumble! Cannot you tumble, youth? "Boy. No, indeed, forsooth. "Wife. Nor eat fire? "Boy. Neither. 8 "Wife. Why then, I thank you heartily; there's twopence to buy you points withal." 7 Methinks he looks something like the Prince of Orange in his long stocking, if he had a little harness about his neck.] Harness So Macbeth says means armour. "At least I'll die with harness on my back.”—Mason. Fading; fading is a fine jig.] This dance is mentioned by Ben Jonson, in the Irish Masque at Court: "Daunsh a fading at te vedding;" and again," Show tee how teye can foot te fading and te fadow."-Ed. 1778. It seems to have been the burden of a ballad as well as a dance. Hence the word jig in the text, which should be understood in its ancient sense, viz. song or ballad. In this sense fading is also to be taken in Shakspeare's Winter's Tale: "He has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings: jump her and thump her," &c. Here, as well as in the text, the ballad is alluded to, not the dance, as Tyrwhitt and Steevens seem to think. 9 Points.] These were either laces with metal tags to them, or metal hooks to keep up the breeches; probably the latter. 8 ACT IV. SCENE I A Street. Enter JASPER and Boy. Jasp. There, boy; deliver this: But do it well. Hast thou provided me four lusty fellows, Able to carry me? and art thou perfect In all thy business? Boy. Sir, you need not fear; I have my lesson here, and cannot miss it: Jasp. There, my boy; Take it, but buy no land. Boy, 'Faith, sir, 'twere rare To see so young a purchaser. I fly, And on my wings carry your destiny. [Exit. Jasp. Go, and be happy! Now, my latest hope, Forsake me not, but fling thy anchor out, And let it hold! Stand fix'd, thou rolling stone, [Exit. Wife. Go thy ways; thou art as crooked a Act IV.] All the copies concur in making this act begin with the Boy's dancing; but as the dance was certainly introduced by way of interlude, here as well as at the end of the first act, we have made this act begin with a part of the real play, as all the others do.-Ed. 1778. sprig as ever grew in London! I warrant him, he'll come to some naughty end or other; for his looks say no less: Besides, his father (you know, George) is none of the best; you heard him take me up like a flirt-gill, and sing bawdy songs upon me; but i'faith, if I live, George 24 "Cit. Let me alone, sweetheart! I have a trick in my head shall lodge him in the Arches for one year,3 and make him sing peccavi, ere I leave him; and yet he shall never know who hurt him neither. "Wife. Do, my good George, do ! "Cit. What shall we have Ralph do now, Boy? "Boy. You shall have what you will, sir. "Cit. Why, so, sir; go and fetch me him then, and let the sophy of Persia come and christen him a child. "Boy. Believe me, sir, that will not do so well; 'tis stale; it has been had before at the Red Bull. 'Wife. George, let Ralph travel over great hills, and let him be very weary, and come to the king of Cracovia's house, covered with black] velvet, and there let the king's daughter stand Flirt-gill.] The second quarto reads-gill-flirt. 3 I have a trick shall lodge him in the Arches for one year, &c.] Information in the prerogative court. The Red Bull.] The Red Bull was one of the playhouses in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. It was situated in St John's Street.Reed. See the next note but two. 5 Cracovia's house covered with velvet.] I have inserted the colour of the velvet, which was here wanting, from what the Boy says, in the second speech below, as to the impossibility of their complying with the request of the Citizen's Wife, But we can't present an house covered with black velvet.-Sympson. The text probably refers to some contemporary romance of the Amadis school. in her window all in beaten gold, combing her golden locks with a comb of ivory; and let her spy Ralph, and fall in love with him, and come down to him, and carry him into her father's house, and then let Ralph talk with her! "Cit. Well said, Nell; it shall be so: Boy, let's ha't done quickly. "Boy. Sir, if you will imagine all this to be done already, you shall hear them talk together; but we cannot present a house covered with black velvet, and a lady in beaten gold. "Cit. Sir Boy, let's ha't as you can then. 66 Boy. Besides, it will shew ill-favouredly to have a grocer's prentice to court a king's daugh ter. "Cit. Will it so, sir? You are well read in histories! I pray you, what was Sir Dagonet? Was not he prentice to a grocer in London? Read the play of the Four Prentices of London," where they • Sir Dagonet.] In the second part of Shakspeare's Henry IV. act III. sc. IV., this character is mentioned by Justice Shallow: "I remember at Mile-End Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Show;" upon which Mr Warton remarks," Arthur's Show seems to have been a theatrical representation made out of the old romance of Morte Arthure, the most popular one of our author's age. Sir Dagonet is king Arthur's squire."-Ed. 1778. Mr Warton is here completely mistaken. Sir Dagonet is not king Arthur's squire, but his fool. Again, Arthur's Show was not a theatrical representation, but an exhibition of archery, as has been proved in a note by the Rev. Mr Bowles, printed in Malone's edition of Shakspeare. The mistake of tracing Sir Dagonet's origin to a grocer's shop in London, was no doubt purposely put into the citizen's mouth. 7 The Four Prentices of London.] The commentators on Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle have not observed that the design of that play is founded upon a comedy called, "The Four Prentices of London, with the Conquest of Jerusalem; as it hath been diverse Times acted at the Red Bull, by toss their pikes so. I fetch him in ! pray you fetch him in, sir, "Boy. It shall be done.-It is not our fault, gentlemen. [Exit. the Queen's Majesty's Servants. Written by Tho. Heywood, 1612." For as in Beaumont and Fletcher's play a grocer in the Strand turns knight-errant, making his apprentice his squire, &c. so in Heywood's play four apprentices accoutre themselves as knights, and go to Jerusalem in quest of adventures. One of them, the most important character, is a goldsmith, another a grocer, another a mercer, and a fourth an haberdasher. But Beaumont and Fletcher's play, though founded upon it, contains many satirical strokes against Heywood's comedy; the force of which is entirely lost to those who have not seen that comedy. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Prologue, or first scene, a citizen is introduced declaring that, in the play, he " will have a grocer, and he shall do admirable things." Again act I. scene I. Ralph says, "Amongst all the worthy books of atchievements, I do not call to mind that I have yet read of a grocer-errant : I will be the said knight. Have you heard of any that hath wandered unfurnished of his squire and dwarf? My elder prentice Tim shall be my trusty squire, and George my dwarf." In the following passage the allusion to Heywood's comedy is demonstrably manifest, act IV. scene I. "Boy. It will shew ill-favouredly to have a grocer's prentice court a king's daughter. "Cit. Will it so, sir? You are well read in histories; I pray you who was Sir Dagonet? Was he not prentice to a grocer in London? Read the play of The Four Prentices, where they toss their pikes so." In Heywood's comedy, Eustace the grocer's prentice is introduced courting the daughter of the king of France; and in the frontispiece the four prentices are represented in armour tilting with javelins. Immediately before the last quoted speeches we have the following instances of allusion : "Cit. Let the Sophy of Persia come and christen him a child. "Boy. Believe me, sir, that will not do so well; 'tis flat; it has been before at the Red Bull." A circumstance in Heywood's comedy, which, as has been already specified, was acted at the Red Bull. Beaumont and Fletcher's play is pure burlesque. Heywood's is a mixture of the |