Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, 1 This probably alludes to the kissing comfits' mentioned by Falstaff in the last act of the Merry Wives of Windsor. 18 This speech received much alteration after the first edition in the quarto of 1597: and Shakspeare has inadvertently introduced the courtier twice. Mr. Tyrwhitt finding countries knees' in the first instance printed in the second folio, would read counties' (i. e. noblemen's) knees. Steevens remarks that the whole speech bears a resemblance to a passage of Claudian In Sextum Consulatum Honorii Augusti Præfatio. 19 A place in court. 20 The quarto of 1597 reads, counter mines. Spanish blades were held in high esteem. A sword was called a Toledo, from the excellence of the Toletan steel 21 i e. fairy locks, locks of hair clotted and tangled in the night. It was a common superstition: and Warburton conjectures that it had its rise from the horrid disease called Plica polonica. Making them women of good carriage22. Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace; Thou talk'st of nothing. Mer. True, I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Which is as thin of substance as the air; Ben. This wind, you talk of, blows us from ourselves; Supper is done, and we shall come too late. With this night's revels; and expire23 the term [Exeunt. 22 So in Love's Labour's Lost, Act i. So. 2: let them be men of great repute and carriage. 'Moth. Sampson, master; he was a man of good carriage, great carriage; for he carried the town-gates. 23 So in The Rape of Lucrece :— An expir'd date cancell'd ere well begun." 'Now whereas time flying with wings swift 24 Here the folio adds:- They march about the stage, and serving men come forth with their napkins. SCENE V1. A Hall in Capulet's House. Musicians waiting. Enter Servants. 1 Serv. Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away ? he shift a trencher2! he scrape a trencher! 2 Serv. When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's hands, and they unwashed too, 'tis a foul thing. 1 Serv. Away with the joint-stools, remove the court-cupboard3, look to the plate:-good thou, save me a piece of marchpane1; and, as thou lovest me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone, and Nell.-Antony! and Potpan! 2 Serv. Ay, boy; ready. 1 Serv. You are looked for, and called for, asked for, and sought for, in the great chamber. 1 This scene is not in the first copy in the quarto of 1597. To shift a trencher was technical. So in The Miseries of Enforst Marriage, 1608:-' Learne more manners, stand at your brother's backe, as to shift a trencher neately,' &c. Trenchers were used in Shakspeare's time and long after by persons of good fashion and quality. They continued common till a late period in many public societies, and are now, or were lately, still retained at Lincoln's Inn. 3 The court cupboard was the ancient sideboard: it was a cumbrous piece of furniture, with stages or shelves gradually receding, like stairs, to the top, whereon the plate was displayed at festivals. They are mentioned in many of our old comedies. Thus in Chapman's Monsieur D'Olive, 1606: Here shall stand my court cupboard, with its furniture of plate. Again in his May Day, 1611 :• Court_cupboards planted with flaggons, cans, cups, beakers,' &c. Two of these ancient pieces of furniture are still in Stationers' Hall they are used at public festivals to display the antique silver vessels of the Company, consisting of cans, cups, beakers, flaggons, &c. There is a print in a curious work, entitled Laurea Austriaca, folio, 1627, representing an entertainment given by King James I. to the Spanish ambassadors, in 1623; from which the reader will get a better notion of the court cupboard than volumes of description would afford him. It was sometimes also called a cupboard of plate, and a livery cupboard. 4 Marchpane was a constant article in the desserts of our ancestors. It was a sweet cake, composed of filberts, almonds, pistachoes, pine kernels, and sugar of roses, with a small portion of flour. They were often made in fantastic forms. In 1562 the Stationer's Company paid for ix marchpayues xxvi. s. viii. d.' 2 Serv. We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys; be brisk a while, and the longer liver take all. [They retire behind. Enter CAPULET, &c. with the Guests and the Maskers. Cap. Gentlemen, welcome! ladies, that have their toes Unplagu'd with corns, will have a bout with you:Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance? she that makes dainty, she I'll swear, hath corns; Am I come near you now? You are welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day, That I have worn a visor; and could tell A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear, Such as would please ;-'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone: You are welcome, gentlemen!-Come musicians, play. A hall! a hall5! give room, and foot it, girls. [Musick plays, and they dance. More lights, ye knaves; and turn the tables up, And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot.Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well. Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet; For you and 1 are past our dancing days: How long is't now, since last yourself and I Were in a mask? 2 Cap. By'r lady, thirty years. An exclamation commonly used to make room in a crowd for any particular purpose, as we now say a ring! a ring! So Marston, Sat. iii,: A hall a hall! Roome for the spheres, the orbs celestial Will dance Kempe's jigg The passages are numberless that may be cited in illustration of this phrase. 6 The ancient tables were flat leaves or boards joined by hinges and placed on tressels; when they were to be removed they were therefore turned up. The phrase is sometimes taken up. Thus in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, ed. 1825, p. 198: After that the boards-end was taken up. Cousin was a common expression for kinsman. Thus in Hamlet, the king, bis uncle and stepfather, addresses him with 'But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son.' 1 Cap. What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much: 'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, Come pentecost as quickly as it will, Some five and twenty years; and then we mask'd. 2 Cap. 'Tis more, 'tis more: his son is elder, sir: His son is thirty. 1 Cap. Will you tell me that? His son was but a ward two years ago. Rom. What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight? Serv. I know not, sir. Rom. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! Tyb. This, by his voice, should be a Montague:- This speech stands thus in the quarto of 1597:- Good youths, i'faith!—Oh, youth's a jolly thing!' There are many trifling variations in almost every speech of this play; but when they are of little consequence I have not encumbered the page with them. The last of these three lines, however, is natural and pleasing.-Steevens. 9 Steevens reads, with the second folio :— Her beauty hangs upon,' &c. Shakspeare has the same thought in his 271h Sonnet:-- Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.' |