Enter two Officers. Fab. O good fir Toby, hold; here come the officers. [To ANTONIO, Vie. Pray, fir, put your fword up, if you please. [To SIR ANDREW. Sir And. Marry, will I, fir;-and, for that I promis'd you, I'll be as good as my word: He will bear you easily, and reins well. 1 Off. This is the man; do thy office. 2 Off. Antonio, I arreft thee at the fuit Of count Orfino. Ant. You do mistake me, fir. 1 Off. No, fir, no jot; I know your favour well, Though now you have no fea-cap on your head. Take him away; he knows, I know him well. Ant. I muft obey. This comes with feeking you; Makes me to ask you for my purfe: It grieves me 2 Off. Come, fir, away. Ant. I muft entreat of you fome of that money. For the fair kindness you have show'd me here, I'l according to his Majesty's wishes. Thefe perfons were immediately ftigmatized with the invidious name of undertakers; and the idea was fo unpopular, that the King thought it neceffary, in two fet fpeeches, to deny pofitively (how truly is another question) that there had been any fuch undertaking. Parl. Hift. Vol. V. p. 277, and 286. Sir Francis Bacon alfo (then Attorney-general) made an artful, apologetical speech in the Houfe of Commons upon the fame subject; when the boufe (according to the title of the speech) was in great beat, and much troubled about the undertakers. Bacon's Works, Vol. II. p. 236, 4to. edit. TYRWHITT. Undertakers were perfons employed by the King's purveyors to take up provifions for the royal household, and were no doubt exceedingly odious. But ftill, I think, the fpeaker intends a quibble; the fimple meaning of the word being one who undertakes, or takes up the quarrel or business of another. RITSON. I'll lend you fomething: my having is not much; Ant. Will you deny me now Can lack perfuafion? Do not tempt my mifery, As to upbraid you with. those kindnesses That I have done for you. Vio. I know of none; Than lying, vainnefs, babbling, drunkenness, Ant. O heavens themselves! 2 Off. Come, fir, I pray you, go. you Ant. Let me fpeak a little. This youth that fee here, I Off. What's that to us? The time goes by; away. Ant. Lead me on. [Exeunt Officers, with ANTONIO. Vio. Methinks, his words do from fuch paffion fly, That * In the time of Shakspeare, trunks, which are now deposited in lumber-rooms, or other obfcure places, were part of the furniture of apartments in which company was received. I have feen more than one of thefe, as old as the time of our poet. They were richly ornamented on the tops and fides with scroll. work, emblematical devices, &c. and were elevated on feet. Shakspeare has the fame expreffion in Meafure for Measure. STALVENS, That he believes himself; fo do not I.9 Sir To. Come hither, knight; come hither, Fabian; we'll whisper o'er a couplet or two of moft fage faws. Vio. He nam'd Sebastian; I my brother know 2 Yet living in my glafs; even fuch, and so, Tempefts are kind, and falt waves fresh in love! [Exit. Sir To. A very dishonest paltry boy, and more a coward than a hare: his difhonefty appears, in leaving his friend here in neceffity, and denying him; and for his cowardship, afk Fabian. Fab. A coward, a moft devout coward, religious in it. Sir And. 'Slid, I'll after him again, and beat him. Sir To. Do, cuff him foundly, but never draw thy fword. Sir And. An I do not, Fab. Come, let's fee the event. [Exit. [Exeunt. Sir To. I dare lay any money, 'twill be nothing yet. The Street before Olivia's house. Enter SEBASTIAN and Clown. Ch. Will you make me believe, that I am not sent for you? Seb. Go to, go to, thou art a foolish fellow; Let me be clear of thee. Clo. Well held out, i'faith! No, I do not know you; nor I am not fent to you by my lady, to bid you come speak with 9 This, I believe, means, I do not yet believe myself, when, from this accident, I gather hope of my brother's life. JoHNSON. 2 I fuppofe Viola means As often as I bebold my felf in my glass, I think I fee my brother alive; i. e. I acknowledge that his refemblance furvives in the reflection of my own figure. STEEVENS. with her; nor your name is not mafter Cefario; nor this is not my nofe neither.-Nothing, that is fo, is fo. Seb. I pr'ythee, vent thy folly fomewhere else; Thou know'ft not me. Clo. Vent my folly! He has heard that word of fome' great man, and now applies it to a fool.3 Vent my folly! I am afraid this great lubber + the world will prove a cockney.s -I pr'ythee now, ungird thy ftrangeness, and tell me what I fhall vent to my lady; Shall I vent to her, that thou art coming? Seb. I pr'ythee, foolish Greek, depart from me; There's money for thee; if you tarry longer, I fhall give worse payment. Clo. By my troth, thou haft an open hand :-Thefe wife men, that give fools money, get themselves a good report after fourteen years' purchase." Enter 3 This affected word feems to have been in ufe in Shakspeare's time. In Melvil's Memoirs, p. 198, we have " My Lord Lindsay vented himself that he was one of the number," &c. REED. 4 That is, affectation and foppery will overfpread the world. JOHNSON. -'tis not their 5 So, in A Knight's Conjuring, by Decker: fault, but our mothers', our cockering mothers, who for their labour make us to be called Cockneys, &c. STEEVENS. 6 Greek, was as much as to say bawd or pander. He understood the Clown to be acting in that office. A bawdy-house was called Corinth, and the frequenters of it Corinthians, which words occur frequently in Shakspeare, efpecially in Timon of Aibens, and Henry IV. Yet the Oxford editor alters it to Geck. WARBURTON, 7 This feems to carry a piece of fatire upon monopolies, the crying grievance of that time. The grants generally were for fourteen years; and the petitions being referred to a committee, it was fufpected that money gained favourable reports from thence. WARBURTON. Perhaps fourteen years' purchase was in Shakspeare's time, the highest price for land. Lord Bacon's Effay on Ufury mentions fixteen years purchafe. I will not give more than according to fifteen years purchase, faid a dying ufurer to a clergyman, who advised him to study for a purchase of the kingdom of heaven." TOLLET. Mr. Heath thinks the meaning is, " -purchase a good report for character] at a very extravagant price." MALONE. Dr. Warburton's conjecture that there is here a reference to monopolies, is, I believe, unfounded. Mr. Tollet and Mr. Heath are probably right. Sir Jofiah Child, in his Difcourse on Trade, fays, "certainly anno 1621, the Enter SIR TOBY, SIR ANDREW, and FABIAN. Sir And. Now, fir, have I met you again? there's for you. [Striking SEBASTIAN. Seb. Why, there's for thee, and there, and there: Are all the people mad? [Beating SIR ANDREW. Sir To. Hold, fir, or I'll throw your dagger o'er the house. Clo. This will I tell my lady ftraight: I would not be in fome of your coats for two-pence. [Exit Clown. Sir To. Come on, fir; hold. [Holding SEBASTIAN. Sir And. Nay, let him alone, I'll go another way to work with him; I'll have an action of battery against him, if there be any law in Illyria: though I ftruck him first, yet it's no matter for that. Seb. Let go thy hand. Sir To. Come, fir, I will not let you go. Come, my young foldier, put up your iron: you are well flesh'd; come on. Seb. I will be free from thee. What would'st thou now? If thou dar'ft tempt me further, draw thy fword. [draws. Sir To. What, what? Nay, then I must have an ounce or two of this malapert blood from you. Enter OLIVIA. {draws. Oli. Hold, Toby; on thy life, I charge thee, hold. Oli. Will it be ever thus? Ungracious wretch, Rudefby, be gone I-I pr'ythee, gentle friend, [Exeunt SIR TOBY, SIR ANDREW, and FABIAN, Let thy fair wisdom, not thy paffion, sway the current price of lands in England was twelve years purchase; and fo I have been affured by many ancient men whom I have queftioned particularly as to this matter; and I find it fo by purchases made about that time by my own relations and acquaintance." Sir Thomas Culpepper, fenior, who wrote in 1621, affirms, that land was then at twelve years purchafe." REED. VOL. I. S |