ripe as a pomwater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of Calo, the fky, the welkin, the heav'n; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra, the foil, the land, the earth. Nath. Truly, mafter Holofernes, the epithets are fweetly varied, like a fcholar at the leaft: but, Sir, I affure ye, it was a buck of the firft head. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo. Dull. "Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket. Hol. Moft barbarous intimation; yet a kind of infinuation, as it were in via, in way of explication; fa cere, as it were, replication; or rather, oftentare, to show, as it were, his inclination; after his undreffed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or rathereft unconfirmed fashion, to infert again my baud credo for a deer. Dull. I faid, the deer was not a haud credo; 'twas a pricket. Hol. Twice fod fimplicity, bis coctus; O thou monster ignorance, how deformed doft thou look ? Nath. Sir, he hath never fed on the dainties that are bred in a book. He hath not eat paper as it were; he hath not drunk ink. His intellect is not replenished. He is only an animal, only fenfible in the duller parts; (20) and fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful fhould be for those parts, (which we taste and feel, ingradare) that do fructify in us, more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indifcreet, or a fool; So were there a patch fet on learning, to see him in a school, (20)- And fuch barren plants are fet before us, that we thankful fhould be; which we tafte, and feeling are for thofe parts that do fructify in us more than be.] If this be not a ftubborn piece of nonfenfe, I'll never venture to judge of common fenfe. That editors fhould take fuch paffages upon content, is, furely, furprifing. The words, 'tis plain, have been ridiculously, and ftupidly, tranfpos'd and corrupted. The emendation I have offer'd, I hope, restores the author; at least, I am fure, it gives him fenfe and grammar: and answers extremely well to his metaphors taken from planting.ingradare, with the Italians, fignifies, to rife higher and higher; andare di grado in grado, to make a progreffion; and fo at length come to fructify, as the poet expreffes Mr. Warburton. it. But But omne bene, fay I; being of an old father's mind, Many can brook the weather, that love not the wind. Dull. You two are book-men; can you tell by your wit, What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet? Hol. Dialynna, good-man Dull; Dictynna, good-man Dull. Dull. What is Dictynna? Nath. A title to Phabe, to Luna, to the Moon. Hol. The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more: And rought not to five weeks, when he came to five-score. Th' allufion holds in the exchange. Dull. 'Tis true, indeed; the collufion holds in the exchange. Hel. God comfort thy capacity! I fay, the allufion holds in the exchange. Dull. And I fay, the pollution holds in the exchange; for the moon is never but a month old; and I fay befide, that 'twas a pricket that the Princess kill'd. Hol. Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer; and to humour the ignorant, I have call'd the deer the Princess kill'd, a pricket. Nath. Perge, good mafter Holofernes, perge; fo it fhall please you to abrogate fcurrility. Hol. I will fomething affect the letter; for it argues facility. The praiseful Princess pierc'd and prickt Some fay, a fore; but not a fore, The dogs did yell; put L to fore, Nath Nath. A rare talent! Dull. If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent. Hol. This is a gift that I have, fimple, fimple; a foolish extravagant fpirit, full of forms, figures, fhapes, objects, ideas, apprehenfions, motions, revolutions. These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourish'd in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the mellowing of occafion; but the gift is good in thofe in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it. Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you, and fo may my parishioners; for their fons are well tutor❜d by you, and their daughters profit very greatly under you; you are a good member of the common-wealth. Hol. Mebercle, if their fons be ingenuous, they fhall want no inftruction: if their daughters be capable, I will put it to them. But vir fapit, qui pauca loquitur ; a foul feminine faluteth us. Enter Jaquenetta, and Coftard. faq. God give you good-morrow, mafter Parfon. Hol. Mafter Parfon, quafi Perfon. And if one should be pierc'd, which is the one? Coft. Marry, master school-master, he that is likeft to a hog fhead. Hol. Of piercing a hogfhead, a good luftre of con ceit in a turf of earth, fire enough for a flint, pearl enough for a swine: 'Tis pretty, it is well. Faq. Good mafter Parfon, be fo good as read me this letter; it was given me by Coftard, and fent me from Don Armatho. I befeech you, read it. Hol. Faufte, precor, gelida (21) quando pecus omne fub umbrâ Ruminat, (21) Nath. Faufte, precor, gelida) Tho' all the editions concur to give this fpeech to Sir Nathaniel, yet, as Dr. Thirlby ingeniously obferv'd to me, it is evident, it must belong to Holofernes. The curate is employ'd in reading the letter to himself; and while he is doing fo, that the stage may not ftand ftill, Holofernes either pulls out a book; or, repeating fome verfes by heart from Mantuanus, comments upon the character of that poet. Baptifta Spagnolus, (firiamed Mantuanus, from Ruminat, and fo forth. Ah, good old Mantuan, I may fpeak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice; Vinegia, Vinegia! qui non te vedi, ei non te pregia (22). Old Mantuan, old Mantuan! Who understandeth thee not, loves thee not:-ut re fol la mi fa. Under pardon, Sir, what are the contents? or rather, as Horace fays in his: What! my foul! verses? (23) Nath. Ay, Sir, and very learned. Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verse; Lege, Domine. Nath. If love make me forfworn, how fhall I fwear to love? Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow'd; Though to myfelf forfworn, to thee I'll faithful prove; Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like ofters bow'd. Study his bias leaves, and makes his book thine eyes; Where all thofe pleasures live, that art would comprehend: If knowledge be the mark, to know thee fhall fuffice; Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee commend. All ignorant that foul, that fees thee without wonder: Which is to me fome praise, that I thy parts admire; Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder; Which, not to anger bent, is mufick, and sweet fire. Celestial as thou art, Oh pardon, love, this wrong, That fings heav'n's praise with such an earthly tongue. from the place of his birth;) was a voluminous writer of poems, who flourish'd towards the latter end of the 15th century. (22) Venechi, veneche a, qui non te vide, i non te piaech.] Thus Mr. Rowe, and Mr. Pope, from the old blundering editions. But that thefe gentlemen, poets, fcholars, and linguifts could not afford to restore this little fcrap to true Italian, is to me unaccountable. Our author is applying the praises of Mantuanus to a common proverbial fentence, faid of Venice. Vinegia, Vinegia! qui non te vedi, ei non te pregia. O Venice, Venice, he, who has never feen thee, has thee not in eftcem. (23) What! my foul! verfes?] As our poet has mention'd Horace, I prefume, he is here alluding to this paffage in his I. Sermon. 9. Quid agis, dulciffime rerum ? Hol. Hol. You find not the Apostrophes, and fo mifs the ac cent. Let me fupervife the canzonet (24). Here are only numbers ratify'd (25); but for the elegancy, faci lity, and golden cadence of poefy, caret : Ovidus Na was the man. And why, indeed, Nafo; but for fmelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention? imitari, is nothing: fo doth the hound his mafter, the ape his keeper, the try'd horse his rider: But Da mofella Virgin, was this directly to you? (24) Let me fupervise the Cangenet.] If the editors have met with any fuch word, it is more than I have done, or, I believe, ever shall do. Our author wrote Canzonet, from the Italian word Canzonetto, a little fong. We meet with it in B. Jonfon's Cynthia's Revells. O! what a call is there! I will have a Canzonet made with nothing in it but, Sirrah! and the burden fhall be, I come. (25) Nath. Here are only numbers ratified;] Tho' this fpeech has been all along plac'd to Sir Nathaniel, I have ventur'd to join it to the preceding words of Holofernes; and not without reafon. The fpeaker here is impeaching the verses; but Sir Nathaniel, as it appears above, thought them learned ones: befides, as Dr. Thirlby oblerves, almost every word of this speech fathers itfelf on the pedant. So much for the regulation of it; now, a little, to the contents. And why indeed Nafo, but for fmelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention imitary is nothing. Sagacity with a vengeance! I fhould be afham'd to own myself a piece of a scholar, to pretend to the task of an editor, and to pass fuch ftuff as this upon the world for genuine. Who ever heard of invention imitary? invention and imitation have ever been accounted two diftin&t things. The fpeech is by a pedant, who frequently throws in a word of Latin amongst his English; and he is here flourishing upon the merit of invention, beyond that of imitation, or copying after another. My correction makes the whole fo plain and intelligible, that, I think, it carries conviction along with it. Again; So doth the bound his mafter, the ape his keeper, the tired horse his rider. The pedant here, to run down imitation, fhews that it is a quality within the capacity of beafts: that the dog and the ape are taught to copy tricks by their master and keeper; and fo is the tir'd horse by his rider. This laft is a wonderful inftance; but it happens not to be Mr. Warburton ingeniously faw, that the author must have -the tried horse his rider. true. wrote i. e. One, exercis'd, and broke to the manage: for he obeys every fign, and motion of the reign, or of his rider. This is not the only paffage, where our author employs tried in the fenfe of, exercis'd, train'd. So in Two Gentlemen of Verona. And how he cannot be a perfect man, Jaq. |
