QUICK. Good corporal Nym, fhow the valour of a man, and put up thy fword. Nrм. Will you fhog off? I would have you folus. [Sheathing his fword. PIST. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile! The folus in thy moft marvellous face; The folus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, "Par. No, 'tis but the hair of a dog in fashion, pulled from thefe Iceland dogs." Again: 66 for torturing of thefe Iceland imps, with eradi cating their fleeces, thereby to enjoy the roots." Again, in the Preface to Swetnam's Arraignment of Women, 1617: But if I had brought little dogs from Iceland, or fine glaffes from Venice," &c. It appears from a proclamation in Rymer's Fadera, that in the reign of Henry V. the English had a fishery on the coafts of Norway and Iceland; and Holinfhed, in his Defcription of Britain, p. 231, fays, we have fholts or curs dailie brought out of Ise land." STEEVENS. Ifland [that is, Iceland] cur is again ufed as a term of contempt in Epigrams ferved out in fifty two feveral dishes, no date, but apparently written in the time of James the First: "He wears a gown lac'd round, laid down with furre, "Could thrust his finger, but this island curre." See alfo Britannia Triumphans, a Mafque, 1636:" 5 66 fhe who hath been bred to ftand "Near chair of queen, with Island shock in hand.” MALONE. -prick-ear'd cur-] A prick-ear'd cur is likewife in the lift of dogs enumerated in The Booke of Huntyng, &c. bl. 1. no date : -trundle-tails and prick-ear'd curs." STEEVENS. "There were newly come to the citie two young men that were Romans, which ranged up and downe the ftreetes, with their ears upright." Painter's Palace of Pleafure. This is faid of two fharpers, and feems to explain the term prick-car'd. HENDERSON. 6 Will you fhog off?] This cant word is ufed in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coxcomb: "Come, pr'ythee, let us bog off." Again, in Pafquill and Katharine, 1601: 66 thus it fogges," i. e. thus it goes. STEEVENS. And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy;" For I can take, and Piftol's cock is up, Nrм. I am not Barbafon; you cannot conjure me. I have an humour to knock you indifferently well: If you grow foul with me, Piftol, I will fcour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the humour of it. 3 PIST. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale.+ [PISTOL and NYм draw. 7 in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy;] Such was the coarfe language once in ufe among vulgar brawlers. So, in The Life and Death of William Summers, &c.' 66 Thou lyeft in thy throat and in thy guts.' - thy nafty mouth!] The quartos read: mefsful mouth. STEEVENS. STEEVENS. 9 For I can take,] I know not well what he can take. The quarto reads talk. In our author to take, is fometimes to blaft, which fenfe may ferve in this place. JOHNSON. The old reading, I can take, is right, and means, I can take fire. Though Piftol's cock was up, yet if he did not take fire, no flashing could enfue. The whole fentence confifts in allufions to his name. M. MASON. The folio here, as in two other places, corruptly reads-take. See Vol. VII. p. 449, n. 9. MALONE. 2 I am not Barbafon; you cannot conjure me.] Barbafon is the name of a dæmon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windfor, Vol. III. p. 389, n. 3. The unmeaning tumour of Pistol's fpeech very naturally reminds Nym of the founding nonfenfe uttered by conjurers. STEEVENS. 3 doting death is near;] Thus the folio. The quarto has groaning death. JOHNSON. Therefore exhale.] Exhale, I believe, here fignifies draw, or BARD. Hear me, hear me what I fay:-he that ftrikes the firft ftroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a foldier. [Draws. PIST. An oath of mickle might; and fury fhall abate. Give me thy fift, thy fore-foot to me give; Nrм. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humour of it. PIST. Coupe le gorge, that's the word?—I thee defy again. O hound of Crete,' think'ft thou my fpoufe to get? No; to the spital go, And from the powdering tub of infamy Fetch forth the lazar kite of Creffid's kind," in Piftol's language, bale or lug out. The ftage-direction in the old quarto, [They drawe.] confirms this explanation. MALONE. Therefore exhale means only-therefore breath your left, or die, a threat common enough among dramatick heroes of a higher rank than Pistol, who only expreffes this idea in the fantastick language peculiar to his character. STEEVENS. 5 O hound of Crete,] He means to infinuate that Nym thirsted for blood. The hounds of Crete defcribed by our author in A Midsummer Night's Dream, appear to have been bloodhounds. See Vol. V. p. 129, n. 2. MALONE. This is an ingenious fuppofition; and yet I cannot help thinking that Pistol on the prefent, as on many other occafions, makes use of words to which he had no determinate meaning. STEEVENS. 6 the lazar kite of Creffid's kind.] The fame expreffion occurs in Green's Card of Fancy, 1601: "What courtefy is to be found in fuch kites of Creffid's kind ?” Again, in Gafcoigne's Dan Bartholomew of Bathe, 1587: Shak fpeare might defign a ridicule on the last of these paffages. For fuch rewardes they dayly fynde "That fyxe their fancy faithfully "On any catte of Creffed's kinde." STEEVENS. I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly Enter the Boy. Bor. Mine hoft Pistol, you must come to my master, and you, hoftefs; -he is very fick, and would to bed.-Good Bardolph, put thy nose between his sheets, and do the office of a warmingpan: 'faith, he's very ill. BARD. Away, you rogue. QUICK. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one of thefe days: the king has kill'd his heart.-Good husband, come home prefently. [Exeunt Mrs. QUICKLY and Boy. BARD. Come, fhall I make you two friends? We must to France together; Why, the devil, fhould we keep knives to cut one another's throats? PIST. Let floods o'erfwell, and fiends for food howl on! Nrм. You'll pay me the eight fhillings I won of you at betting? PIST. Bafe is the flave that pays.9 Nrм. That now I will have; that's the humour of it. 7 to go to. 8 - there's and you, hoftefs;] The folio has-and your hoftefs. Corrected by Sir T. Hanmer. The emendation is fupported by the quarto: Hoftefs, you must come ftraight to my mafter, and you hoft Piftol." MALONE. 9 Bafe is the flave that pays.] Perhaps this expreffion was proverbial. I meet with it in The Fair Maid of the Weft, by Heywood, 1631: My motto fhall be, Bafe is the man that pays.” PIST. As manhood fhall compound; Pufh home. BARD. By this fword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this fword, I will. PIST. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course. BARD. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends: an thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up. Nrм. I fhall have my eight fhillings, I won of you at betting? PIST. A noble fhalt thou have, and prefent pay; Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. Nrм. I fhall have my noble? PIST. In cash moft justly paid. Nrм. Well then, that's the humour of it. Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY. QUICK. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to fir John: Ah, poor heart! he is fo fhaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him. Nrм. The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it. PIST. Nym, thou haft spoke the right; His heart is fracted, and corroborate. Nrм. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he paffes fome humours, and careers. |