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Enter MARIA.

Mar. What a catterwauling do you keep here! If my lady have not call'd up her steward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors, never trust me.

Sir To. My lady's a Cataian,3 we are politicians; Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey,+ and Three merry men be we. Am not

I con

The catch above-mentioned to be fung by fir Toby, fir Andrew, and the Clown, from the hints given of it, appears to be fo contrived as that each of the fingers calls the other knave in turn; and for this the clown means to apologize to the knight, when he fays, that he fhall be conftrained to call him knave. I have here fubjoined the very catch, with the mufical notes to which it was fung in the time of Shakspeare, and at the original performance of this Comedy :.

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Hold thy peace and I pree thee hold thy peace

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Thou knave, thou knave: hold thy peace thou knave:

The evidence of its authenticity is as follows. There is extant a book
entitled, "PAMMELIA, Mufickes Mifcellanie, or mixed Varietie of pleasant
Roundelays and delightful catches of 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 parts in one."
Of this book there are at least two editions, the fecond printed in 1618.
In 1609, a fecond part of this book was published with the title of DEU-
TEROMELIA, and in this book is contained the catch above given.
SIR J. HAWKINS.

3 It is in vain to feek the precife meaning of this term of reproach. I have already attempted to explain it in a note on The Merry Wives of Windfor. I find it used again in Love and Honour, by Sir W. D'Avenant, 1649:

"Hang him, bold Cataian." STEEVENS.

4 In Durfey's Pills to purge Melancholy is a very obfcene old fong, entitled Peg-a-Ramfey. See alfo Ward's Lives of the Profeffors of Gresham College, p. 207. PERCY,

I confanguineous? am I not of her blood? Tilly-valley lady! There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady! i

[Singing. Clo.

Nath mentions Peg of Ramsey among feveral other ballads, viz. Rogers, Bafiline, Tarkelony, All the flowers of the Broom, Pepper is Black, Green Sleeves, Peggie Ramfie. It appears from the fame author, that it was likewife a dance performed to the music of a song of that name.

STEEVENS. Peggy Ramfey, is the name of fome old fong; the following is the tune to it:

Peggy Ramfey.

SIR J. HAWKINS.

STEEVENS.

5 Three merry men be we, is likewife a fragment of fome old fong.

This is a conclufion common to many old fongs. One of the most humorous that I can recollect, is the following:

"The wife men were but feaven, nor more fhall be for me; The mufes were but nine, the worthies three times three; And three merry boyes, and three merry boyes, and three merry-boyes are wee.

The vertues they were feven, and three the greater bee; The Cæfars they were twelve, and the fatal fifters three. "And three merry girles, and three merry girles, and three

merry girles are wee."

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There are ale-houfes in fome of the villages in this kingdom, that have the fign of The Tisree Merry Boys; there was one at Highgate in my memory. SIR J. HAWKINS.

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Three merry men be que, may, perhaps, have been taken originally from the fong of Robin Hood and the Tanner. TYRWHITT.

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6 Tilly-valley was an interjection of contempt, which Sir Thomas More's lady is recorded to have had very often in her mouth. JOHNSON Tilly-valley is uted as an interjection of contempt in the old play of Sir John Oldcastle; and is likewife a character in a comedy intituled Lady Alimony. Tillie valle may be a corruption of the Roman word (without a 2. You, J.

precife

1

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Clo. Befhrew me, the knight's in admirable fooling.

Sir And. Ay, he does well enough, if he be difpos'd, and fo do I too; he does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.

Sir To. O, the twelfth Day of December,-

Mar. For the love o'God, peace.

Enter MALVOLIO.

[Singing.

Mal. My mafters, are you mad? or what are you? Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an alehoufe of my lady's houfe, that ye fqueak out your coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorfe of voice? Is there no refpect of place, perfons, nor time, in you?

Sir To. We did keep time, fir, in our catches. Sneck up!"

Mal.

precife meaning, but indicative of contempt) Titivilitium. See the Cafina of Plautus, 2. 5. 39. STEEVENS.

Tilly valley is a hunting phrafe borrowed from the French. In the Venerie de Jacques Fouilloux, 1585, 4to. fo. 12. the following cry is mentioned: Ty a hillaut & vallecy ;" and is fet to mufic in pp. 49 and 50. DOUCE.

7 The ballad of Sufanna, whence this line is taken, was licensed by T. Colwell, in 1562, under the title of The goodly and confiant wyfe Susanna. There is likewife a play on this fubject. T. WARTON.

Maria's ufe of the word lady brings the ballad to fir Toby's remembrance: Lady, lady, is the burtben, and should be printed as fuch. My very ingenious friend, Dr. Percy, has given a stanza of it in his Reliques of Ancient Poetry, Vol. I. p. 204. Juft the fame may be faid, where Mercu tio applies it, in Romeo and Juliet, A& II fc, iv. FARMER.

This fong, or, at least, one with the fame burthen, is alluded to in B. Jonfon's Magnetic Lady, Vol. IV. p 449. TYRWHITT.

The oldek fong that I have feen with this burthen is in the old Morality, entitled The Trial of Treafure, 4to. 1567. MALONE.

A cozier is a tailor, from coudre to few, part. coufu, Fr. JouNSON. Our author has again alluded to their love of vocal harmony in King Henry IV. P. I. A cozier, it appears from Minshieu, fignified a batcher, or mender of old clothes, and also a cobler. Here it means the former. MALONE.

Minthieu tells us, that cozier is a cobler or fowter: and, in Northamptonshire, the waxed thread which a cobler ufes in mending fhoes, we call

a fodger's end. WHALLEY.

A coziers' end is till used in Devonshire for a cobler's end. HENLEY. 9 Mr. Malone, and others obferve, that from the manner in which this

It seems to be equivalent to the phrase of will- I Shall J. W.T.

Cang

Mal. Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade
me tell you, that, though the harbours you as her kinfman,
fhe's nothing allied to your diforders. If you can separate
yourfelf and your misdemeanors, you are welcome to the
houfe; if not, an it would please you to take leave of her,
she is very willing to bid you farewel.

Sir To. Farewel, dear heart, fince I muft needs be gone
Mal. Nay, good fir Toby.

Clo. His eyes do fhew his days are almoft done.

Mal. Is't even fo?

Sir To. But I will never die.

Clo. Sir Toby, there you

lie.

Mal. This is much credit to you.

Sir To. Shall I bid him go?

Clo. What an if you do?

Sir To. Shall I bid him go, and spare not?
Clo. O no, no, no, no, you dare not.

[Singing.

Sir To. Out o'time? fir, ye lie.3-Art any more than a fteward Doft thou think, because thou art virtuous, there fhall be no more cakes and ale ? +

Clo. Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger fhall be hot i'the mouth too.

Sir To. Thou'rt i'the right.-Go, fir, rub your chain with crums: A ftoop of wine, Maria!

Q 2

Mal

cant phrafe is employed in our ancient comedies, it feems to have been
fynonymous to the modern expreffion-Go bang yourself. STEEVENS. B
2 Farewel, dear beart, &c.] This entire long, with fome variations,
is published by Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of Ancient
English Poetry. STEEVENS.

The old copy has—“ out o`
o'tune." We should read, "out of time,"
as his fpeech evidently refers to what Malvolio faid before.

In the Mfs. of our author's age, tune and time are often quite undiftin-
guishable; the fecond stroke of the a feeming to be the first stroke of the
m, or vice versâ. Hence, in Macbeth, A&t IV. sc. ult. edit. 1623, we
have This time, goes manly," instead of "This tune goes manly."

MALONE.

+ It was the custom on holidays and faints' days to make cakes in honour of the day. The Puritans called this, fuperftition; and in the next page Maria fays, that Malvolio is fometimes a kind of Puritan. See, Quar Jous's count of Rabbi Busy, A&t I. fc. iii. in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew

Fair.

LETHERLAND.

5 That stewards anciently wore a chain, as a mark of fuperiority over

other

B Inshore Sneakup agreably to Maria character of him below a time pleaser po And see 11.1V.A.3.1.3.48341. & Johnson's &

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Mal. Miftrefs Mary, if you priz'd my lady's favour at any thing more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule; fhe fhall know of it, by this hand.. [Exit. Mar Go hake your ears.

Sir And. Twere as good a deed, as to drink when a man's a liungry, to challenge him to the field; and then to break promife with him, and make a fool of him.

Sir To Do't, knight; I'll write thee a challenge: or I'll deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth.

Mar. Sweet fir Toby, be patient for to-night; fince the youth of the count's was to-day with my lady, fhe is much out of quiet. For monfieur Malvolio, let me alone with him :- if I do not gull him into a nay-word,? and make him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie fraight in my bed: I know, I can do it.

8

Sir To. Poffefs us, poffefs us; tell us fomething of him.

Mar.

other, fervants, may be proved from the following paffage in The Martial Maid of Beaumont and Fletcher:

Dost thou think I fhall become the steward's chair? Will not these flender haunches fhew well in a chain ?".

The best method of cleaning any gilt plate, is by rubbing it with crums. Nafh, in his piece entitled, Have with you to Saffron Walden, 1595, taxes Gabriel Harvey with "baving ftolen a nobleman's steward's chain, at bis lord's inftalling at Windfor.

To conclude with the most appofite inftance of all. See, Webster's Dutchefs of Malfy, 1623 :

Yea,

and the chippings of the buttery fly after him, to fcover his gold chain." STEEVENS.

6 Rule is method of life; fo mifrule is tumult and riot. JOHNSON. Rule, on this occafion, is fomething less than common method of life. It occafionally means the arrangement or conduct of a festival or merrymaking, as well as behaviour in general.

There was formerly an officer belonging to the court, called Lord of Mifrule. So, in Decker's Satiromaftix: "I have fome coufins-german at court fhall beget you the reverfion of the matter of the king's revels, or elfe be lord of his Mifrule now at Chriftmas." Again, in The Return from Parnafus, 1606: "We are fully bent to be lords of Mifrule in the world's wild heath." In the country, at all periods of festivity, and in the inns of court at their Revels, an officer of the fame kind was elected. STEEVENS,

7 A nayword is what has been fince,called a byeword, a kind of proverbial reproach. STEEVENS.

8 That is, inform us, tell us, make us mafters of the matter.

JOHNSON.

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