Enter DAVY. Davy. Here, sir. Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy; let me see, Davy; let me see; yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither. Sir John, you shall not be excused. Davy. Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot be served; and, again, sir, shall we sow the hade land with wheat? 1Ο Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook: 15 are there no young pigeons? Davy. Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note for shoeing and plough-irons. Shal. Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not be excused. 8. Davy] thrice only in Ff. 8. let om. Ff. 13. hade land] headland Ff. 9, 10. William cook] The designation of occupation continued, in popular speech, to be placed after the proper name, as in O.E. [so, to-day, in Icel. (e.g. Peary norðurfari) and vulgarly in Norway, Sweden and Denmark]. Cf. Arden of Feversham, v. i: “tell John Cooke of our guests"; Sir Thomas More, v. ii: "Robin brewer . . Ned butler Rafe horssekeeper Gyles porter"; The Return from Parnassus, II. v: "Can Robin hunter tell where a hare sits?" and Jonson, The Alchemist, v. i: "Jeremy butler." 12. precepts] orders requiring something to be done or requisitioning something. Henry V. . iii. 26; and Jonson, A Tale of a Tub, III. i: "We good vreeholders cannot live in quiet, But every hour new precepts, hues and cries, Put us to requisitions night and day." 12. served] observed, as in All's Well, 11. i. 205, and Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, 1. i: "Sord. Who brought this same, sirrah? Hind. Marry, sir, one of the justice's men; he says 'tis a precept . . . Sord. . . . I am wiser than to serve their precepts, Or follow their prescriptions. Here's a device, To charge me bring my grain unto the markets: ay, much!' 13. hade land] The reading hade land (Q) seems preferable on the whole, in point of authority and in light of the context, to the headland of Ff. "Hade land" is high-lying land, land on a hill-side; thus, Drayton, Polyolbion, xiii, distinguishes "higher Hades' from "lower Leas." A headland is a strip of unploughed land at the end of the furrows, where the plough was turned. "As this," Vaughan asserts, "became available for sowing later than the field, it was often sowed with a later species of wheat." wheat," Vaughan continues, "is a spring wheat, white, a winter wheat." Madden, however, shows that red wheat was sown in early autumn, and was known in the country of the Cotswolds as "red lammas wheat" (Diary of Master William Silence, p. 273). "Red 17. Here is . . .] The satirical intention of the dialogue between Shallow and Davy is illustrated by a contemptuous reference to the office of a steward in Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady, I. i: "thou art my brother's steward, his cast off mill-money, his kitchen-arithmetic." 19. cast] reckoned. The Puritan, .i: "doost thou not know numbers? canst thou not cast?" Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair? Shal. A' shall answer it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple 25 of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook. Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir? Shal. Yea, Davy. I will use him well: a friend i' the court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well, Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will back bite. Davy. No worse than they are backbitten, sir; for they have marvellous foul linen. 23. the other day] om. Q. 21. Now] om. Ff. 27. tiny] tinie Q; tine Ff. 34. marvellous] maruailes Q. 21. link] a loop, or segment, of the rope or chain for winding up and down a bucket in a well. So in Jacob's Well (1440), 3: “ Be þe wyndas of þi mynde, wyth his roop made my3ty in thre lynkes schal be turnyd vp pe bokett of þi desyre." 24. Hinckley] A market town in Leicestershire, to the north-east of Coventry. 25. answer] atone, or pay, for, as in Richard III. IV. ii. 96, and Julius Cæsar, III. ii. 86. 26. short-legged hens] Craig refers to Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Pilgrimage, I. i: "a short-legg'd hen, Daintily carbonadoed." Short-legged fowls are better table birds than the long-legged varieties. 27. tiny] A word, according to Blount, Glossogr. (1656), "used in Worcestershire and thereabouts"; cf. Twelfth Night, v. i. 401, and King Lear, III. ii. 74. Onions accepts the form "tine" (old edd. also "tyne "), the spelling of Ff here. 27. kickshaws] fancy dishes. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of Burning Pestle, To the Readers: "the French kickshaws that are delicate"; Middleton, No Wit, no Help Like a Woman's, III. i: "kickshaws And delicate-made dishes"; Rowley, Dekker and Ford, The Witch of Edmonton, 1. ii: Kickshaws: full Dishes, whole belly no 30 24. Hinckley] Hunkly Q. 33. backbitten] bitten Ff. fulls." In Nabbes, The Bride, 1. ii, Kickshaw, a French cook, in describing a number of French dishes to be prepared for a wedding feast, mentions two kickshaws, viz.de gran Kickeshaw" and "de kickeshaw royall." "Kickshaw" is a corruption of Fr. quelque chose; Cotgrave has "Fricandeaux. Short skinlesse, and daintie puddings, or Quelkchoses"; and Florio (1598) defines the Italian "Carabozzada as "a kinde of daintie dish or quelquechose vsed in Italie." 28. man of war] soldier. So in Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, I. i: "the soldier, The man of war; and man of peace, the lawyer "; and Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, 1. ii; Exodus, "The Lord is a man of war." xv. 3: a 29, 30. a friend ... purse] A proverb to be found, as Grey reminds us, in The Romaunt of the Rose, 5540. See Hickscorner (Haz. Dods., i. 178): friend in court is worth a penny in purse," and Lyly, Euphues and His England (Arber, p. 476): "a friende in the court is better than a penney in the purse." 32. backbite] traduce, or give abuse; cf. Dekker and Webster, Westward Hoe, v. i: “you backbite my friends and me to our faces." Shallow may mean "bite back"; a verb "biteback" occurs in Glapthorne, The Hollander, 1. i. Shal. Well conceited, Davy: about thy business, Davy. 35 Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of Woncot against Clement Perkes o' the hill. Shal. There is many complaints, Davy, against that Visor: that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge. Davy. I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is 40 I have served your worship truly, sir, this 45 Shal. Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look about, Bard. I am glad to see your worship. 37. Woncot] Woncote Q. 37. o' the] a' th 42. God] heauen Ff. 45. this] these Ff. as three lines in Ff. 35. Well conceited] very ingenious, witty, as in The Merry Wives, 1. iii. 24. 36, 37. William hill] Woncot has been usually identified with Wilnecote, a village near Stratford. Reed (1803), adopting a suggestion by Malone, read Wincot (cf. Taming of the Shrew, Ind., ii. 23), and Collier proposed to read Wilnecot. Madden, however, identifies "Woncot" with "Woodmancote," the name of a village in Gloucestershire, which is still pronounced as "Woncot." Madden mentions that a family of Visor or Vizard has been associated with Woodmancote since the sixteenth century, and that a house on the adjoining Stinchcombe Hill (now as then locally known as "The Hill") was then occupied by the family of Perkes (Diary of Master William Silence, p. 86). 41-51. I grant . . ... no wrong] For the satire on the administration of the law by justices of the peace, cf. Middle 50 Give me 55 ... Q; of the Ff. 38. is] are Ff. Fal. The more shame for 47. bear out] testify in favour of, Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master 60 Fal. I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow. [Exit Shallow.] Bardolph, look to our horses. [Exeunt Bardolph and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermits' staves as Master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his: they, by observing of him, do bear 65 themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like serving-man : their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society that they flock together in consent, like so many 'wild-geese. If I had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with the imputation of being near their master; if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is 75 caught, as men take diseases, one of another : therefore let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing 60. Exit Shallow.] Capell 56. all] om. Q. 61. Exeunt. . .] Capell. 57. to the Page] Rowe. 57. tall] fine, proper (as in Taming of the Shrew, IV. iv. 17); with, perhaps, an ironical reference to the "soldiership," or to the stature, of the Page. 62. quantities] small pieces, as in Taming of the Shrew, iv. iii. 112; "thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant," and King John, v. iv. 23: "Retaining but a quantity of life." 64. coherence] agreement. 66. conversing] associating. 68. so... conjunction] joined in so intimate a union. 70. consent] unity of feeling; cf. Henry V. II. ii. 22. 72. near] on terms of intimacy with. Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid's Revenge, IV. i; and T. Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West, Part II. 1. i: "yet will grow More near to us." 73. curry] use flattery. The metaphor is from currying a horse; hence 70 to curry, to stroke down a person, to employ flattery so as to win favour. For the figurative sense, New Eng. Dict. quotes Brieff Disc. Troubl. at Franckford (1575): "Such as... can cap it, can cope it, and curry for advantage" (ed. 1642, p. 167). Cf. also the expression curry favour," as in Middleton, The Mayor of Queenborough, III. iii. 75. carriage] demeanour, behaviour, as in Rowley, Dekker and Ford, The Witch of Edmonton, 1, i: "a Maid, Approv'd for... civil carriage." 79, 81. the wearing actions] To this method of computing time many parallels might be adduced. Cf. Wilkins, Miseries of Enforced Marriage, III. i: "Not so long as Noah's flood, yet long enough to have drowned up the livings of three knights, as knights go nowadays-some month, or thereabouts"; and Fletcher, The Honest out of six fashions, which is four terms, or two 80 Shal. [Within] Sir John! Fal. I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow. SCENE II-Westminster. The palace. 85 [Exit. Enter WARWICK and the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, meeting. War. How now, my lord chief justice! whither away? War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended. Ch. Just. I hope, not dead. War. He's walk'd the way of nature; 81. without] with Ff. 86. Within] Theobald. Theobald; Exeunt. Ff; om. Q. SCENE II. 5 87. Exit.] Exit Falstaff. Enter. Westminster. The Palace.] Capell (subst.). .] Capell; Enter the Earle of Warwicke, and the Lord Chiefe Iustice. Ff; Enter Warwike, duke Humphrey, L. chiefe Iustice, Thomas Clarence, Prince Iohn, Westmerland. Q Cap., Steev. (Prince, Iohn Westmerland. Q, Mus., Dev.). I. whither] whether Fi. 2. Ch. Just.] Iust. Q (throughout). lines, the first ending Cares, in Ff. Man's Fortune, III. i (see note to II. ii. 83. sad] serious, grave. 85. till.. up] till his face is in as many wrinkles as a cloak that has been carelessly folded and laid by while still wet. Craig remarks that Shakespeare was fond of dilating upon this effect of laughter, and refers to Merchant of 3. Exceeding . . . ended.] two Venice, 1. i. 80. Dekker, Old Fortunatus (Pearson, i. 127), describes Derision as thrusting out "cheekes Wrinckled with Idiot laughter." Marston, What You Will, v. i: "Laughter, pucker our cheekes." Laid up, put away (in a receptacle); so in Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part II. (Pearson, ii. 112): "my cloake prethee lay't vp"; T. Heywood, The Wise-Woman of Hogsdon, 1. ii; and Henry V. v. ii. 247. Scene II. 3. Exceeding well] So in Winter's Tale, v. i. 30, and Beaumont and Fletcher, Valentinian, v. viii: "Did I not tell you he was well? he's dead." |