ROM. Pink for flower.

MER. Right.

ROM. Why, then is my pump well flowered.3 MER. Well said: Follow me this jest now, till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular.

ROM. O single-soled jest,5 solely singular for the singleness!

3

then is my pump well flowered.] Here is a vein of wit too thin to be easily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore pinked pumps, that is, punched with holes in figures.

See the shoes of the morris-dancers in the plate at the conclusion of The First Part of King Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's remarks annexed to it.

It was the custom to wear ribbons in the shoes formed into the shape of roses, or of any other flowers. So, in The Masque of Flowers, acted by the Gentlemen of Gray's-Inn, 1614"Every masker's pump was fasten'd with a flower suitable to his cap." STEEVENS.

Well said:] So the original copy. The quarto of 1599, and the other ancient copies, have-Sure wit, follow, &c. What was meant, I suppose, was- -Sheer wit! follow, &c. and this corruption may serve to justify an emendation that I have proposed in a passage in Antony and Cleopatra, where I am confident sure was a printer's blunder. See Vol. XVII. p. 107, n. 8.

By sure wit might be meant, wit that hits its mark.

O single-soled jest,] i. e. slight, unsolid, feeble. This compound epithet occurs likewise in Hall's second Book of Satires:

"And scorne contempt it selfe that doth excite
"Each single-sold squire to set you at so light."

Again, in Decker's Wonderful Yeare; 1603, we meet with
a single-sole fidler."

Again, in A short Relation of a long Journey, &c. by Taylor, the water-poet: "There was also a single-soal'd gentlewoman, of the last edition, who would vouchsafe me not one poor glance of her eye-beams," &c. STEEVENS.

MER. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits fail.6

ROM. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match.

MER. Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chace, I have done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five: Was I with you there for the goose?

ROM. Thou wast never with me for any thing, when thou wast not there for the goose.

MER. I will bite thee by the ears for that jest.

This epithet is here used equivocally. It formerly signified mean or contemptible; and that is one of the senses in which it is used here. So, in Holinshed's Description of Ireland, p. 23: "which was not unlikely, considering that a meane tower might serve such single-soale kings as were at those daies in Ireland." MALONE.

6

my wits fail.] Thus the quarto, 1597. The quarto, 1599, and the folio-my wits faints. STEEVENS.

7if thy wits run the wild-goose chace, I have done ;] One kind of horse-race, which resembled the flight of wild-geese, was formerly known by this name. Two horses were started together; and which ever rider could get the lead, the other was obliged to follow him over whatever ground the foremost jockey chose to go. That horse which could distance the other, won the race. See more concerning this diversion in Chambers's Dictionary, last edition, under the article CHACE.

This barbarous sport is enumerated by Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, as a recreation much in vogue in his time among gentlemen: "Riding of great horses, running at ring, tilts and turnaments, horse races, wild-goose chases, are the disports of great men. "P. 266, edit. 1632, fol.

This account explains the pleasantry kept up between Romeo and his gay companion. "My wits fail," says Mercutio. Romeo exclaims briskly-" Switch and spurs, switch and spurs." To which Mercutio rejoins—" Nay, if thy wits run the wildgoose chace," &c. HOLT WHITE.

I will bite thee by the ear-] So, Sir Epicure Mammon to Face, in Ben Jonson's Alchemist: STEEVENS.

Slave, I could bite thine ear."

ROM. Nay, good goose, bite not."

MER. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce.

ROM. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose?

MER. O, here's a wit of cheverel," that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

ROM. I stretch it out for that word-broad: which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose.3

9-good goose, bite not.] Is a proverbial expression, to be found in Ray's Collection; and is used in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599. STEEVENS.

a very bitter sweeting;] A bitter sweeting, is an apple of that name. So, in Summer's Last Will and Testament,

1600:

-as well crabs as sweetings for his summer fruits." Again, in Fair Em, 1631:

what, in displeasure gone!

"And left me

such a bitter sweet to gnaw upon ?"

Again, in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, Lib. VIII. fol.

174, b:

"For all such tyme of love is lore,

"And like unto the bitter swete;

"For though it thinke a man fyrst swete,

"He shall well felen at laste

"That it is sower," &c. STEEVENS.

a wit of cheverel,] Cheverel is soft leather for gloves.

So, in The Two Maids of More-Clack, 1609:

"Drawing on love's white hand a glove of warmth,
"Not cheveril stretching to such prophanation."

Again, in The Owl, by Drayton :

3

"A cheverell conscience, and a searching wit."

Cheveril is from chevreuil, roebuck. MUSGRAVE.

-proves thee far and wide a broad goose.] To afford some meaning to this poor but intended witticism, Dr. Farmer would read-" proves thee far and wide abroad, goose.'

STEEVENS.

MER. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this driveling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.*

BEN. Stop there, stop there.

MER. Thou desirest me to stop in my the hair. 5

tale against

BEN. Thou would'st else have made thy tale large.

MER. O, thou art deceived, I would have made it short: for I was come to the whole depth of my tale: and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.

ROM. Here's goodly geer!

to hide his bauble in a hole.] It has been already observed by Sir J. Hawkins, in a note on All's well that ends well, Vol. VIII. p. 374, n. 7, that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. So again, in Sir William D'Avenant's Albovine, 1629: "For such rich widows there love court fools, and use to play with their baubles."

Again, in The longer thou livest, the more Fool thou art, 1570:

"And as stark an idiot as ever bare bable." See the plate at the end of King Henry IV. P. I. with Mr. Tollet's observations on it. STEEVENS.

against the hair.] A contrepoil: Fr. An expression equivalent to one which we now use- against the grain." See Vol. V. p. 103, n. 3; and Vol. XI. p. 374, n. 7. STEEVENS.

I opine, that the commentators, in the present instance, have eschewed to seek the bottom of the poet's meaning: but tuta silentio merces, saith the Roman adage. AMNER.

to occupy the argument no longer.] Here we have another wanton allusion. See Vol. XII. p. 88, n. 5.

MALONE.

Enter Nurse and PETER.

MER. A sail, a sail," a sail!

BEN. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock.

NURSE. Peter!

PETER. Anon?

NURSE. My fan, Peter.

MER. Pr'ythee, do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two.

NURSE. God

ye good morrow, gentlemen. MER. God ye good den,' fair gentlewoman. NURSE. Is it good den?

MER. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial' is now upon the prick of noon.2

* Mer. A sail, a sail,] Thus the quarto, 1597. In the subsequent ancient copies these words are erroneously given to Romeo. MALONE.

8

My fan, Peter.] The business of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan, seems ridiculous according to modern manners; but I find such was formerly the practice. In an old pamphlet called The Serving Man's Comfort, 1598, we are informed, "The mistress must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fanne." FARMER.

Again, in Love's Labour's Lost:

"To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan." Again, in Every Man out of his Humour: "If any lady, &c. wants an upright gentleman in the nature of a gentleman-usher, &c. who can hide his face with her fan," &c. STEEVens.

9 God ye good den,] i. e. God give you a good even. The first of these contractions is common among the ancient comick writers. So, in R. Brome's Northern Lass, 1633:

1

"God you good even, sir." STEEVENS.

hand of the dial &c.] In The Puritan Widow, 1607, which has been attributed to our author, is a similar expression: "the feskewe of the diall is upon the chrisse-crosse of noon." STEEVENS..

-the prick of noon.] I marvel much that mine associates