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And, in conclufion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this filence, yet, I pick'd a welcome :
And in the modefty of fearful duty

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of fawcy and audacious eloquence.

Love, therefore, and tongue-ty'd fimplicity,
In least speak moft, to my capacity.

Enter Philoftrate.

Philoft. So please your grace, the prologue is ad

drest."

The. Let him approach.

Enter the prologue.

[Flour. Trum.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will.-
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good-will. To fhew our fimple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Confider then we come but in defpite-
We do not come, as minding to content you
Our true intent is-All for your delight,

We are not here, that you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand; and by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to know.
The. This fellow doth not ftand upon points.
Lyf. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt;
He knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord:-
It is not enough to fpeak, but to fpeak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; a found, but not in govern

ment. 9

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7 addreft.] That is, ready. Hen. V.

"To-morrow for cur march we are addreft."

The.

STEEVE NS.

-on a recorder.] A kind of flute. Shakespeare introduced it

in Hamlet, and Milton says,

"To

The. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all difordered. Who is next?

Enter Pyramus and Thibe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show.

Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show; "But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. "This man is Pyramus, if you would know

"This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain.

"This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth present "Wall, that vile wall, which did thefe lovers funder: "And through wall's chink, poor fouls, they are con

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"To whisper; at the which let no man wonder. "This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, "Prefenteth Moon-fhine: for, if you will know, By moon-fhine did these lovers think no scorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grifly beaft, which by name Lion hight," "The trufty Thisby, coming first by night, "Did fcare away, or rather did affright: "And as fhe fled, her mantle she did fall; 3

"To the found of soft recorders.”

It is found in very many of the old plays.

STEEVENS.

but not in government.] That is, not regularly according to the tune.

2

STEEVENS.

In this place the folio, 1623, exhibits the following prompter's direction. Tawyer with a trumpet before them. STEEVENS. which Lion hight by name.] As all the other parts of this speech are in alternate rhyme, excepting that it clofes with a couplet; and as no rhyme is left to name; we must conclude, either a verfe is flipt out, which cannot now be retriev'd; or, by a tranfpofition of the words, as I have placed them, the poet intended a triplet. THEOBALD.

3

-her mantle fhe did fall.] Thus all the old copies. The modern editions read, the let fall," unneceffarily. So in the Tempeft, a&t ii. sc. 1.

"And when I rear my hand do you the like,
"To fall it on Gonzalo."

STEEVENS.

"Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did ftain. "Anon comes Pyramus, fweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trufty Thisby's mantle flain; "Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,+ "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breaft. "And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,

"His dagger drew, and died. For all the reft, "Let Lion, Moon-fhine, Wall, and lovers twain, "At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt all but Wall. The. I wonder, if the Lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one Lion may, when many affes do.

Wall." In this fame interlude, it doth befall, "That I, one Snout by name, prefent a wall: "And fuch a wall, as I would have you think, "That had in it a crannied hole, or chink;

Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,] Mr. Upton rightly obferves, that Shakespeare in this line ridicules the affectation of beginning many words with the fame letter. He might have remarked the fame of

The raging rocks

And fhivering fhocks.

Gascoigne, contemporary with our poet, remarks and blames the fame affectation. JOHNSON.

This alliteration feems to have reached the height of its fashion in the reign of Hen. VIII. The following ftanza is quoted from a poem On the Fall and evil Success of Rebellion, written in 1537, by Wilfride Holme.

"Loe, leprous lurdeins, lubricke in loquacitie, "Vah, vaporous villeins, with venim vulnerate, "Proh, prating parenticides, plexious to pinnofitie, "Fie, frantike, fabulators, furibund, and fatuate, "Out, oblatrant, oblict, obftacle, and obcecate. "Ah addict algoes, in acerbitie acclamant "Magnall in mifchief, malicious to mugilate, "Repriving your Roy fo renowned and radiant." In Tuffer's Husbandry, page 104, there is a poem, word begins with a T. STEEVENS.

of which every

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"Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, "Did whisper often very fecretly.

"This lome, this rough-caft, and this ftone doth "fhew,

"That I am that fame wall; the truth is fo.

"And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

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99

Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper. The. Would you defire lime and hair to speak better?

Dem. It is the wittieft partition that ever I heard difcourfe, my lord.

The. Pyramus draws near the wall: filence!

Enter Pyramus.

Pyr. "O grim-look'd night! O night with hue fo "black!

"O night, which ever art, when day is not! "O night, O night, alack, alack, alack, "I fear my Thifby's promife is forgot! "And thou, O wall, O fweet, O lovely wall, "That stand'ft between her father's ground and

"mine;

"Thou wall, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall, "Shew me thy chink to blink through with mine 66 eyne.

"Thanks, courteous wall: Jove fhield thee well "for this!

"But what fee I? No Thisby do I fee.

"O wicked wall, through whom I fee no blifs; "Curst be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!" The. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould curfe again.

Pyr. No, in truth, fir, he fhould not. Deceiving me is Thiby's cue; he is to enter now, and I am to fpy her through the wall. You fhall fee, it will fall pat as I told you:--Yonder fhe comes.

Enter

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Enter Thisby.

Thif. "O wall, full often haft thou heard my

moans,

"For parting my fair Pyramus and me:

My cherry lips hath often kifs'd thy ftones;

Thy ftones with lime and hair knit up in thee." Pyr. "I fee a voice: now will I to the chink, "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thifby!"

Thif." My love! thou art, my love, I think." Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace,

"And like Limander am I trusty still.""

Thif." And I like Helen till the fates me kill."
Pyr." Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true,"
Thif. "As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.”
Pyr. "O kifs me through the hole of this vile
"wall."

Thif." I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all."
Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me ftraight-

66

way?"

Thif. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay." Wall." Thus have I Wall my part discharged fo: "And being done, thus Wall away doth go."

[Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thisby. The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wil. ful to hear without warning."

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Hip

-knit up in thee.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, knit up again. STEEVENS.

"And like Limander, &c.] Limander and Helen, are spoken by the blundering player, for Leander and Hero. Shafalus and Procrus, for Cephalus and Procris. JOHNSON.

7 Thef. Now is the Mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful to HEAR VOL. III.

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without

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