corfe the rain rains upon, he had it pouring down. Sir God. Sifter, be of good cheer. We are all mortal ourselves; I come upon you freshly, I ne'er Hear me what I fhall speak without comfort. fayMy brother has left you wealthy; you're rich. Wid. Oh! Sir God. I fay you're rich you are also fair. Wid. Oh ! Sir God. Go to, you're fair; you cannot fmother it; beauty will come to light. Nor are your years fo far enter'd with you, but that you will be fought after, and may very well anfwer another husband. The world is full of fine gallants; choice enough, fifter; for what should we do with all our knights, I pray, but to marry rich widows, wealthy citizens' widows, lufty fair-brow'd ladies? Go to, be of good comfort, I fay; leave fnobbing and weeping.-Yet my brother was a kind-hearted man. I would not have the elf fee me now '.-Come, pluck up a woman's heart. Here ftand your daughters, who be well eftated, and at maturity will alfo be enquir'd after with good husbands; fo all these tears fhall be foon dry'd up, and a better world than ever, What, woman! you must not weep ftill; he's 7-if bleed be the corfe, &c.] This is a proverbial faying. STEEVENS. - for what should we do with all our knights, I pray,-] Probably a fneer upon the multitude of poor knights made by the earl of Effex at the taking of Cadiz. PERCY. I rather imagine the allufion is to the knights made by king James foon after his acceffion. The continuator of Stowe's Annals fays that he on one day " dubbed in his garden between three and four hundred." MALONE. leave fnobbing and weeping.] Snobbing is ftill ufed in Shropshire (I think) for fobbing. PERCY. -I would not have the elf fee me now.] Who does he mean by the elf? fome invifible attendant like Robin Good-fellow, or of the characters prefent? STEEVENS. дру dead, dead, he's buried :-yet I cannot choose but weep for him 2. Wid. Marry again! no, let me be buried quick then! And that fame part o' the choir whereon I tread To fuch intent, O, may it be my grave! And that the prieft may turn his wedding prayers, Even with a breath, to funeral duft and afhes! O, out of a million of millions, I fhould ne'er find fuch a husband; he was unmatchable, unmatchable, Nothing was too hot, nor too dear for me 3. I could not fpeak of that one thing that I had not. Befide, I had keys of all, kept all, receiv'd all, had money in my purfe, fpent what I would, went abroad when I would, came home when I would, and did all what I would 4. O, my fweet hufband! I fhall never have the like. -yet I cannot choose but weep for him.] Ophelia in Hamlet ufes the fame words. See that play, last edit. vol. x. p. 348. STEEVENS. 3-nothing was fo hot, nor too dear for me.] Thus the quarto. I fuppofe the author wrote-too hot, nor too dear for me Nothing is too hot nor too cold for him, is a proverbial expreffion mentioned by Cotgrave, applied to one who can digeft every thing. MALONE. I am told that "nothing is too hot or too cold" for a person, is still a common vulgarifm. Chaucer has this phrase in the Frere's Tale, v. 7018. Now certes, (quod this fompnour) fo fare I; "I fpare not to taken, God it wote, "But if it be to hevy or to hote." Here Mr. Tyrwhitt has the following obfervation. "We have nearly the fame expreffion in Froiffart, v. i. c. 229.-" ne laiffoient rien à prendre, s'il n'eftoit trop chaud, trop froid, ou trop pefant." STEEVENS. A Befides, I had the keys of all, kept all, received all, had money in my purfe, spent what I would, went abroad when I would, came home when I would, and did all what I would.] So in the Merry Wives of Windfor, laft edit. vol. i. p. 280: Never a wife in Windfor leads a better life than fhe does; do what the will, fay what he will, take all, pay all, go to bed when she lift, rise when he lift, all is as the will." STEEVENS. Sir God. Sifter, ne'er fay fo. He was an honeft brother of mine, and fo; and you may light upon one as honest again, or one as honeft again may light upon you that's the properer phrafe indeed. Wid. Never: O, if you love me, urge it not. O may I be the by-word of the world, The common talk at table in the mouth Of every groom and waiter, if e'er more I entertain the carnal fuit of man. [Kneels Mary. I muft kneel down for fashion too. Even in this depth of general forrow, vow As a dear husband feems to be, once dead. Tut! women must live by the quick, and not by the dead. thee! Wid. Dear copy of my hufband, O let me kifs [Kiffes her husband's picture. How like him is this model! This brief picture Quickens my tears: my forrows are renew'd At this fresh fight '. Sir God. Sifter Wid. Away! All honefty with him is turn'd to clay. How like him is their model! their brief picture Ar their fresh fight.] Thus the old copies. It is manifeft that the compofitor has here three times printed their instead of this. In Shakspeare's Sonnets their is printed instead of thy not lefs than twenty times. Probably abbreviations were used for thefe words fo nearly refembling each other as not to be easily diftinguifhed. MALONE. Fran. Fran. My dear father! [Exeunt Widow and Frances. Mary. Here's a puling indeed! I think my mother weeps for all the women that ever buried husbands; for if from time to time all the widowers' tears' in England had been bottled up, I do not think all would have fill'd a three-halfpenny bottle. Alas, a fmall matter bucks a handkerchief! and fometimes the 'spital stands too nigh Saint Thomas a' Waterings . Well, I can mourn in good fober fort as well as another; but where I fpend one tear for dead father, I could give twenty kiffes for a quick hufband 9. 8 [Exit. Sir God. Well, go thy ways, old fir Godfrey, and thou may'st be proud on't; thou haft a kind loving avidowers' tears-] Surely we fhould read widows'. STEEVENS. I think I have obferved in old English books the word widower applied to both fexes. MALONE. 7 bucks a handkerchief!] i. e. vets a handkerchief, A great washing of the coarfer linen is called a bucking. PERCY. Bucking is a particular manner of washing; but as it cannot be explained in few words, I forbear to fay any more about it. STEEVENS. and fometimes the 'fpital ftands too nigh St. Thomas a' Water. ings. I fuppofe the meaning is, that those widows who affume the greatest appearance of forrow, and shed moft tears, are fometimes guilty of fuch indifcretions as render them proper fubjects for the publick hofpital. There feems to be a poor quibble on the word waterings. This Saint is mentioned by Peele in his Edward I, 1599: "I am his receiver, and am now going to him: 'a bids St. Thomas a' Waterings to breakfast this morning to a calf's head and bacon." MALONE. 66 Here is a wretched quibble between Spittle the moisture of the mouth, and spital a corruption from hofpital. St. Thomas a' Waterings is the name of a church which was burnt down in the fire of London, and has never fince been rebuilt, the parish to which it belonged being confolidated with another. It appears from Stowe's Survey, vol. ii. p. 167, that this edifice ftood fomewhere on the outfide of the city. STEEVENS. 9 I could give twenty kiffes for a quick husband.] Quick, i. e, alive, PERCY, fifter fifter-in-law. How conftant! how paffionate! how full of April the poor foul's eyes are! Well, I would my brother knew on't; he fhould then know what a kind wife he had left behind him. 'Truth, an 'twere not for fhame that the neighbours at the next garden should hear me, between joy and grief I should e’en cry outright. [Exit. Edm. So; a fair riddance! My father's laid in duft; his coffin and he is like a whole meat-pye, and the worms will cut him up fhortly. Farewel, old dad, farewel! I'll be curb'd in no more. I perceive a fon and heir may be quickly made a fool, an he will be one; but I'll take another order '. Now she would have me weep for him forfooth; and why? because he cozen'd the right heir being a fool, and bestow'd those lands on me his eldest fon; and therefore I muft weep for him; ha, ha! Why, all the world knows, as long as 'twas his pleasure to get me, 'twas his duty to get for me: I know the law in that point; no attorney can gull me. Well, my uncle is an old afs, and an admirable coxcomb. I'll rule the roaft myfelf; I'll be kept under no more; I know what I may do well enough by my father's copy: the law's in mine own hands. now. Nay, now I know my ftrength, I'll be ftrong enough for my mother, I warrant you. [Exit. but I'll take another order.] I'll purfue another course. The phrase is common in old English writers. MALONE. SCENE |