ARM. Come hither, come hither: How did this argument begin? MOTH. By faying that a Coftard was broken in a fhin. Then call'd you for the l'envoy. COST. True, and I for a plantain; Thus came your argument in; Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goofe that you bought; And he ended the market." ARM. But tell me; how was there a Coftard broken in a fhin ?8 MOTH. I will tell you fenfibly. COST. Thou haft no feeling of it, Moth; I will fpeak that l'envoy: Í, Coftard, running out, that was fafely within, ARM. We will talk no more of this matter. ARM. By my fweet foul, I mean, fetting thee at "And he ended the market.] Alluding to the proverb-Three women and a goofe, make a market. Tre donne et un occa fan un mercato. Ital. Ray's Proverbs. STEEVEN5. 8 how was there a Coftard broken in a fhin ?] Coftard is the name of a species of apple. JOHNSON. It has been already observed that the head was ancienly called the coftard. So, in King Richard III: "Take him over the coftard with the hilt of thy fword." A coftard likewife fignified a crab-fiick. So, in The Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher : "I hope they'll crown his fervice-." liberty, enfreedoming thy perfon; thou wert immured, reftrained, captivated, bound. COST. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose. ARM. I give thee thy liberty, fet thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impofe on thee nothing but this Bear this fignificant to the country maid Jaquenetta: there is remuneration; [Giving him money.] for the best ward of mine honour, is, rewarding my dependents. Moth, follow. [Exit. MOTH. Like the fequel, I.9-Signior Coftard, a dieu. COST. My fweet ounce of man's flesh! my incony Like the fequel, I.] Sequele, in French, fignifies a great man's train. The joke is, that a fingle page was all his train. THEOBALD. I believe this joke exifts only in the apprehenfion of the commentator. Sequelle, by the French, is never employed but in a derogatory fenfe. They use it to exprefs the gang of a highwayman, but not the train of a lord; the followers of a rebel, and not the attendants on a general. Thus, Holinfhed, p. 639:"to the intent that by the extinction of him and his fequeale, all civil warre and inward divifion might ceafe," &c. Moth uses Sequel only in the literary acceptation. Mr. Heath obferves that the meaning of Moth is,” I follow you as close as the sequel does the premises." STEEVENS. Moth alludes to the sequel of any ftory, which follows a preceding part, and was in the old ftory-books introduced in this manner: "Here followeth the sequel of fuch a story, or adventure." So, Hamlet says: "But is there no fequel at the heels of this mother's admonition?" M. MASON. I my incony Jew!] Incony or kony in the north, fignifies, fine, delicate-as a kony thing, a fine thing. It is plain, therefore, we should read : my incony jewel." WARBURTON. I know not whether it be right, however fpecious, to change Jew to Jewel. Jew, in our author's time, was, for whatever Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings-remuneration.-What's the price of this inkle? a penny :—No, I'll give you a remuneration why, it carries it.-Remuneration !-why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and fell out of this word. Enter BIRON. BIRON. O, my good knave Coftard! exceedingly well met. Cos1. Pray you, fir, how much carnation ribbon may a man buy for a remuneration? reafon, apparently a word of endearment. So, in A MidsummerNight's Dream: "Moft brifky juvenal, and eke moft lovely Jew." The word is ufed again in the 4th Act of this play : •moft incony vulgar wit.". JOHNSON. In the old comedy called Blurt Mafter Conftable, 1602, I meet with it again. A maid is speaking to her mistress about a gown: it makes you have a moft inconie body." Cony and incony have the fame meaning. So, Metaphor fays, in Jonfon's Tale of a Tub: "O fuperdainty canon, vicar inconey." Again, in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599: "O, I have fport inconey i'faith." Again, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, 1633: "While I in thy incony lap do tumble." Again, in Doctor Dodypoll, a comedy, 1600: "A cockscomb incony, but that he wants money." STEEVENS. There is no fuch expreffion in the North as either kony or incony. The word canny, which the people there use, and from which Dr. Warburton's mistake may have arifen, bears a variety of fignifications, none of which is fine, delicate, or applicable to a thing or value. Dr. Johnson's quotation by no means proves Jew to have been a word of endearment. RITSON. BIRON. What is a remuneration ? COST. Marry, fir, half-penny farthing. BIRON. O, why then, three-farthings-worth of filk. Cosr. I thank your worship: God be with you! COST. When would you have it done, fir? COST. Well, I will do it, fir: Fare you well. COST. I fhall know, fir, when I have done it. BIRON. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, flave, it is but this ; The princess comes to hunt here in the park, When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her ; And to her white hand fee thou do commend This feal'd-up counfel. There's thy guerdon; go. [Gives him money. COST. Guerdon,-O sweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: Most 2 Coft. Guerdon,-Ofweet guerdon! better than remuneration; eleven-pence farthing better: &c.] Guerdon, i. e. reward. So, in The Spanish Tragedy: 66 Speak on, I'll guerdon thee whate'er it be." Perhaps guerdon is a corruption of regardum, middle Latin. fweet guerdon !-I will do it, fir, in print.3-Guerdon-remuneration. [Exit. BIRON. O! And I, forfooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humorous figh; A critick; nay, a night-watch constable; The following parallel paffage in A Health to the gentlemanly Profeffion of Serving-men, or the Serving-man's Comfort, &c. 1578, was pointed out to me by Dr. Farmer. "There was, fayth he, a man, (but of what estate, degree, or calling, I will not name, left thereby I might incurre difpleafure of anie,) that comming to his friendes house, who was a gentleman of good reckoning, and being there kindly entertained, and well used, as well of his friende the gentleman, as of his fervantes; one of the fayde fervantes doing him fome extraordinarie pleasure during his abode there, at his departure he comes up to the fayd servant, and faith unto him, Hold thee, here is a remuneration for thy paynes; which the fervant receiveth, gave him utterly for it (befides his paynes) thankes, for it was but a three-farthings peece: and I holde thankes for the fame a fmall price, howfoever the market goes. Now an other coming to the fayd gentlemen's house, it was the forefayd fervant's good hap to be neare him at his going away, who calling the fervant unto him, fayd, Holde thee, here is a guerdon for thy deferts: now the fervant payd no deerer for the guerdon, than he did for the remuneration; though the guerdon was xid. farthing better; for it was a Shilling, and the other but a three-farthinges." Shakspeare was certainly indebted to this performance for his prefent vein of jocularity, the earliest edition of Love's Labour's Loft being printed in 1598. STEEVENS. 3 in print.] i. e. exactly, with the utmost nicety. It has been proposed to me to read-in point, but I think, without neceffity, the former expreffion being ftill in ufe. So, in Blurt Mafter Conftable, 1602: "Next, your ruff muft ftand in print." Again, in Decker's Honeft Whore, 1635: "I am fure my husband is a man in print, in all things elfe." Again, in Woman is a Weathercock, 1612: this doublet fits in print, my lord." STEEVENS. |