Tickling a parfon's nofe as a' lies afleep,
Then dreams he of another benefice:
Sometime the driveth o'er a foldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambufcadoes, 7 Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear; at which he starts, and wakes;
And, being thus frighted, fwears a prayer or two,

the players having jumbled together the varieties of several editions, as they certainly have done in other parts of the play. TYRWHITT.

At the first entry of the characters in the Hiftory of Orlando Furiafo, played before queen Elizabeth, and published in 1594 and 1599, Sacripant is called the Countie Sacripant.

Again, Orlando, fpeaking of himself :

"Surnam'd Orlando, the Countie Palatine."

Countie is at least repeated twenty times in the fame play.

This speech at different times received much alteration and improvement. The part of it in queftion, ftands thus in the quarto $597:

And in this fort the gallops up and down

'Through lovers braines, and then they dream of love:
O'er courtiers knees, who ftrait on curfies dreame :
O'er ladies lips, who dream on kiffes strait ;
Which oft the angrie Mab with blifters plagues,
Because their breaths with fweetmeats tainted are.
Sometimes the gallops o'er a lawyer's lap,
And then dreames he of fmelling out a fuit :
And fometimes comes fhe with a a tithe pigs taile,
Tickling a parfon's nose that lies afleepe,
And then dreames he of another benefice.
Sometimes the gallops o'er a fouldier's nofe,
And then dreames he of cutting forraine throats,
Of breaches, ambufcadoes, countermines,
Of healths five fadome deepe, &c.

Shakspeare, as I have observed before, did not always attend to the propriety of his own alterations. STEEVENS.

Spanish blades,] A fword is called a toledo, from the excellence of the Toletan fteel. So Grotius:

66

Enfis Toletanus

"Unda Tagi non eft alio celebranda metallo,

"Utilis in cives eft ibi lamna fuos." JOHNSON.

The quarto 1597, instead of Spanish blades, reads countermines.

STEEVENS.

And

And fleeps again. This is that very Mab,
That plats the manes of horfes in the night;

And bakes the elf-locks in foul fluttifh hairs,
Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That preffes them, and learns them firft to bear,
Making them women of good carriage.
This is fhe-

Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace; Thou talk'ft of nothing."

Mer. True, I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain phantasy; Which is as thin of fubftance as the air; And more inconftant than the wind, who wooes Even now the frozen bofom of the north, And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence', Turning his face to the dew-dropping fouth. Ben. This wind, you talk of, blows us from our

felves; Supper is done, and we fhall come too late.

Rom. I fear, too early: for my mind mifgives, Some confequence, yet hanging in the ftars,

And bakes the elf-locks, &c.] This was a common fuperstition; and feems to have had it's rife from the horrid disease called the Plica Polonica. WARBURTON.

9

when maids, &c.] So, in Drayton's Nymphidia :
And Mab, his merry Queen, by Night
Beftrides young Folks that lie upright
(In elder Times the Mare that bight)
Which plagues them out of measure.

So, in Gervafe of Tilbury, Dec. 1. C. 17. Vidimus quofdam dæmones tanto zelo mulieres amare, quod ad inaudita prorumpunt ludibria, et cum ad concubitum earum accedunt, mirâ mole cas opprimunt, nec ab aliis videntur.

-of good carriage.] So, in Love's Labour's Loft, act i. fc. z. "let them be men of good repute and carriage." Moth. Sampfon, mafter; he was a man of good carriage; great carriage; for he carried the town-gates, &c." STEEVENS. 1-from thence.] The quarto 1597, reads: " in hafte."

STEEVENS.

Shall

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels; and expire the term
Of a despised life, clos'd in my breast,
By fome vile forfeit of untimely death:
But He, that hath the fteerage of my course,
Direct my fail!-On, lufty gentlemen.
Ben. Strike, drum3.

2

[Exeunt.

SCENE

V.

A Hall in Capulet's Houfe.

Enter Servants.

1 Sery. Where's Potpan, that he helps not to takeaway? he shift a trencher! he fcrape a trencher! 2 Serv. When good manners fhall lie all in one or two mens' hands, and they unwafh'd too, 'tis a foul thing.

1 Serv. Away with the joint ftools, remove the court-cupboard, look to the plate :-good thou,

fave

6

2 Direct my fail!] I have reftored this reading from the elder quarto, as being more congruous to the metaphor in the preceding line. Suit is the reading of the folio. STEEVENS.

Direct my fuit!] Guide the fequel of the adventure. JOHNSON. 3 Strike drum. Here the folio adds: They march about the ftage, and ferving men come forth with their napkins. STEEVENS.

4 This fcene is added fince the first copy. STEEVENS.

5 1

-he fhift a trencher, &c.] Trenchers were still used by perfons of good fashion in our author's time. In the houshold book of the earls of Northumberland, compiled at the beginning of the fame century, it appears that they were common to the tables of the firft nobility. PERCY.

They continued common much longer in many public societies, particularly in colleges and inns of court; and are still retained at Lincoln's-Ina. NICHOLS.

On the books of the Stationers' Company, in the year 1554, is the following entry: "Item, payd for x dofyn of trenchers. xxi d. STEEVENS.

6-court-cupboard,] I am not very certain that I know the exact fignification of court-cupboard. Perhaps it is what we call at prefent the fide-board. It is however frequently mentioned in the

old

7 fave me a piece of march-pane; and, as thou lov❜st me, let the porter let in Sufan Grindstone, and Nell. -Antony and Potpan!

old plays: fo, in a Humorous Day's Mirth, 1599: "-shadow thefe tables with their white veils, and accomplish the courtcupboard."

Again, in Monfieur D'Olive, 1606, by Chapman :

"Here fhall ftand my court-cupboard with its furniture of plate." Again, in the Roaring Girl, 1611:

"Place that in the court-cupboard."

Again, in Decker's Honeft Whore, 1635:

"they are together on the cupboard of the court, or the court-cupboard."

Again, in Chapman's May-Day, 1611: "Court-cupboards planted with Flaggons, Cans, Cups, Beakers, &c."

Two of these court-cupboards are still in Stationers' Hall. STEEVENS.

The ufe which to this day is made of thofe cupboards is exactly defcribed in the above-quoted line of Chapman; to display at public festivals the flaggons, cans, cups, beakers, and other antique filver veffels of the company, fome of which (with the names of the donors infcribed on them) are remarkably large. NICHOLS.

"

7 Save me a piece of march-pane;] March-pane was a confection made of pistacho-nuts, almonds, and fugar, &c. and in high efteem in Shakspeare's time; as appears from the account of Queen Elizabeth's entertainment in Cambridge. It is faid that the univerfity prefented Sir William Cecil, their chancellor, with two pair of gloves, a march-pane, and two fugar-loaves.

Peck's Defiderata Curiofa, vol. ii. p. 29. GREY. March-pane was a kind of sweet bread or bifcuit; called by fome almond-cake. Hermolaus barbarus terms it mazapanis, vulgarly Martius panis G. macepain and masepain, It. marjapane, il macapan. B. marcepeyn, i, e, massa pura. But, as few understood the meaning of this term, it began to be generally though corruptly called maffepeyn, marcepcyn, marifeteyn; and in confequence of this miftake of theirs, it foon took the name of martius panis, an appellation transferred afterwards into other languages. See Junius. HAWKINS.

"C

March-pane was a conftant article in the deferts of our an ceftors. So, in Acolaffus, a comedy, 1540: fecing that the iffue of the table, fruits and cheefe, or wafers hypocras, and marchpanes or comfytures, be brought in." See Dugdale's Orig. Jurid. p. 133.

In the year 1560, I find the following entry on the books of the Stationers' Company: Item, payd for is marske paynes, zxvis. viiid. STEEVENS.

"C

2 Serv.

2 Serv. Ay, boy; ready.

1 Serv. You are look'd for, and call'd for, ask'd for, and fought for, in the great chamber.

2 Serv. We cannot be here and there too.-Cheerly, boys; be brisk a while, and the longer liver take all.

[Exeunt.

Enter Capulet, &c. with the Guests and the Mafkers.

1 Cap. Welcome, gentlemen! ladies, that have their feet

Unplagu'd with corns, will have a bout with you :Ah ha, my miftreffes! which of you all

Will now deny to dance? fhe that makes dainty, fhe, I'll fwear, hath corns; Am I come near you now? You are welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day, That I have worn a vifor; and could tell

'tis gone:

A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear, Such as would please;-'tis gone, 'tis gone, • You are welcome, gentlemen.-Come, muficians,

play.

"A hall! a hall give room, and foot it, girls. [Mufick plays, and they dance. More light, ye knaves; and turn the tables up, And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot.Ah, firrah, this unlook'd-for fport comes well.

8 You're welcome, gentlemen.] Thefe two lines, omitted by the modern editors, I have replaced from the folio. JOHNSON.

9 A ball! a ball!] Such is the old reading, and the true one, though the modern editors read, A ball! a ball! The former exclamation occurs frequently in the old comedies, and fignifies, make room. So, in the comedy of Doctor Dodypoll, 1600:

"Room! room! a ball! a ball!" Again, in Ben Jonfon's Tale of a Tub: "Then cry, a ball! a ball!"

Again, in an Epithalamium, by Christopher Brooke, published at the end of England's Helicon, 1614:

(6

Čry not, a hall, a hall; but chamber-roome; "Dancing is lame, &c." And numberlefs other paffages. STEEVENS.

Nay,