2

But, chiefly, for thy face, and thy behaviour;
Which (if my augury deceive me not,)
Witness good bringing up, fortune, and truth:
Therefore know thou, for this I entertain thee.
Go presently, and take this ring with thee,
Deliver it to madam Silvia :
She lov'd me well, deliver'd it to me.3
Jul. It seems, you lov'd her not, to leave her

token: 4 She's dead, belike.

5

know thou,] The old copy has--thee. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

3 She lov'd me well, deliver'd it to me.] i. e. She, who delivered it to me, loy'd me well. Malone.

4 It seems, you lov'd her not, to leave her token:] Proteus does not properly leave his lady's token, he gives it away. The old edicion has it:

“ It seems you lov'd her not, not leave her token." I should correct it thus : “ It seems you lov'd her not, nor love her token.”

JOHNSON. The emendation was made in the second folio. MALONE.

Johnson, not recollecting the force of the word leave, proposes an amendment of this paffage, but that is unnecessary; for, in the language of the time, to leave means to part with, or give away. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia, speaking of the ring the gave Baffanio, says,

-and here he stands;
“ I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it,
“ Or pluck it from his finger, for the wealth

“ That the world masters.”
And Baffanio says, in a fubsequent scene :
“ If you did know to whom I

gave the ring, &c.
« And how unwillingly I left the ring,
" You would abate the strength of your displeasure."

M. MASON. To leave, is used with equal licence, in a former scene, for to cafe. “ I leave to be," &c. MALONE.

Ş She's dead, belike.] This is faid in reference to what Proteus had allerted to Silvia in a former scene; viz. that both Julia and Valentine were dead. STEEVENS.

Speed. Imprimis, She can milk.
Laun. Ay, that she can,
Speed. Item, She brews good ale.

Laun. And therefore comes the proverb,--Bleffing o'your heart, you brew good ale.

Speed. Item, She can sew.
Laun. That's as much as to say, Can she so?
SPEED. Item, She can knit.

Laun. What need a man care for a stock with a wench, when she can knit him a stock.s

Speed. Item, She can wash and scour.

by a quibble between Nicholas and Old Nick, highwaymen, in The Firft Part of Henry the Fourth, are called Nicholas's clerks.

WARBURTON. That this faint presided over young scholars, may be gathered from Knighe's Life of Dean Colet, p. 362. for by the statutes of Paul's school there inserted, the children are required to attend divine service at the cathedral on his anniversary. The reason I take to be, that the legend of this faint makes him to have been a bishop, while he was a boy. Sir J. HAWKINS.

So Puttenham, in his Art of Poetry, 1589: « Methinks this fellow speaks like bishop Nicholas; for on Saint Nicholas's night commonly the scholars of the country make them a bishop, who, like a foolish boy, goeth about blessing and preaching with fach childish terms, as maketh the people laugh at his foolish counterfeit speeches." STEEVENS. 3 Speed. Imprimis, jose can milk.

Laun. Ay, that she can.] These two speeches should evidently
be omitted. There is not only no attempt at humour in them,
contrary to all the rest in the fame dialogue, but Launce clearly
directs Speed to go on with the paper where he himself left off.
See his preceding soliloquy. FARMER.
4 Blessing of your heart, &c.] So, in Ben Jonson's Masque of Augurs:

« Our ale's o' the best,
“ And each good guest

Prays for their souls that brew it." Steevens,
-knit him a stock.) i. e. ftocking. So, in Twelfth Night :
it does indifferent well in a flame-colour's stock."

STEEVENG.

Laun. A special virtue; for then she need not be washed and scoured.

Speed. Item, She can spin.

Laun. Then may I set the world on.wheels, when she can spin for her living.

Speed. Item, She bath many nameless virtues.

Laun. That's as much as to say, bastard virtues ; that, indeed, know not their fathers, and therefore have no names.

Speed. Here follow ber vices.
Laun. Close at the heels of her virtues.

Speed. Item, She is not to be kissed fafting, in re-
Spect of ber breath.

Laun. Well, that fault may be mended with a breakfast: Read on.

SPEED. Item, She bath a sweet mouth.?
LAUN. That makes amends for her four breath.
Speed. Item, She doth talk in her sleep.

Laun. It's no matter for that, so she sleep not in her talk.

SPEED. Item, She is now in words.

6 - fe is not to be kissed fasting,] The old copy reads--The is not to be fasting, &c. The necessary word, kifed, was first added by Mr. Rowe. STEEVENS.

7 — fweet mouth.] This I take to be the same with what is now vulgarly called a sweet tooth, a luxurious desire of dainties and sweetmeats. Johnson.

So, in Thomas Paynell's translation of Ulrich Hutten's Book De medicina Guaiaci & Morbo Gallico, 1539: " -delycates and deynties, wherewith they may ftere up their sweete mouthes and prouoke theyr appetites."

Yet how a luxurious desire of dainties can make amends for offensive breath, I know not. A sweet mouth may, however, mean à liquorish mouth, in a wanton sense. So, in Measure for Measure: s. Their faucy sweetness that do coin heaven's image,” &c.

STEEVENS. Vol. III.

R

Sil. The more shame for him that he sends it me;
For, I have heard him say a thousand times,
His Julia gave it him at his departure:
Though his false finger hath profan'd the ring,
Mine îhall not do his Julia so much wrong.

Jul. She thanks you.
Sil. What say'st thou?

Jul. I thank you, madam, that you tender her: Poor gentlewoman! my master wrongs her much.

Sı. Dost thou know her?

Jul. Almost as well as I do know myself: To think upon her woes, I do protest,

, That I have wept an hundred several times. Sil. Belike, she thinks that Proteus hath forsook

her. JUL. I think she doth; and that's her cause of

sorrow. Sil. Is she not passing fair?

Jul. She hath been fairer, madam, than she is : When she did think my master lov'd her well, She, in my judgement, was as fair as you; But since she did neglect her looking-glass, And threw her fun-expelling mask away, The air hath starv'd the roles in her cheeks, And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face, That now she is become as black as I.

And pinch'd the lily-tin&ture of her face,] The colour of a part pinched, is livid, as it is commonly termed, black and blue. The weather may therefore be juftly said to pinch when it produces the same visible effect. I believe this is the reason why the cold is said to pinch. JOHNSON. Cleopatra says of herself:

think on me,
“ That am with Phæbus amorous pinches black.”

STEEVENS,

Sil. How tall was she?
Jul. About

my stature: for, at Pentecost,
When all our pageants of delight were play'd,
Our youth got me to play the woman's part,
And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown;
Which served me as fit, by all men's judgement,
As if the garment had been made for me :
Therefore, I know she is about my height.

I
And, at that time, I made her weep a-good,
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning
For Theseus' perjury, and unjust fight;'

7 Sil. How tall was toe?] We should read~" How tall is The ?" For that is evidently the question which Silvia means to ask.

Ritson. -weep a-good,] i. e. in good earneft. Tout de bon. Fr.

STEEVENS, So, in Marlowe's few of Malta, 1633:

“ And therewithal their knees have rankled so,
“ That I have laugh'd a-good." Malone.

MALONE 9- 'twas Ariadne, paffioning

For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight;] The history of this twice-deserted lady is too well known to need an introduction here; nor is the reader interrupted on the business of Shakspeare: but I find it difficult to refrain from making a note the vehicle for à conjecture which I inay have no better opportunity of communicating to the public. --The subject of a picture of Guido (commonly supposed to be Ariadne deserted by Theseus and courted by Bacchus)

may poffibly have been hitherto mistaken. Whoever will examine the fabulous history critically, as well as the performance itself, will acquiesce in the truth of the remark. Ovid, in his Fafti, tells us, that Bacchus (who left Ariadne to go on his Indian expedition) found too many charms in the daughter of one of the kings of that country

“ Interea Liber depexos crinibus Indos

“ Vincit, et Eoo dives ab orbe redit.
* Inter captivas facie præftante puellas

“ Grata nimis Baccho filia regis erat.
« Flebat amans conjux, spatiataque littore curvo

“ Edidit incultis talia verba sonis,