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Cambridge University

SHAKESPEARE AND FLETCHER.
ITHE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Cambrtbge :

PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

5 ^5^ two t)

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SHAKESPEARE AND FLETCHER.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

EDITED BY THE

REV. WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A.,

FORMERLY FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;

EDITOR OF THE GOSPELS OF ST MARK AND ST LUKE IN THE

ANGLO-SAXON AND NORTHUMBRIAN VERSIONS, ETC.

EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

(Eambtftrge :

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
ILon&on: CAMBRIDGE WAREHOUSE, 17, PATERNOSTER Row.

: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND co.
1875.

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INTRODUCTION.

CONTENTS — i. The subject, 2. The story in Boccaccio and Chaucer.
3. Various versions of it. 4. Editions of the play. 5. Formation
of the text. 6. The play due to two authors. 7. Opinions of
Lamb, Coleridge, and others. 8. First considerations. 9. Further
considerations. 10. Opinion of Mr Spalding. n. Opinion of Mr
Hickson. 12. Act II. 13. Act III. 14. Act IV. 15. Act V.
1 6. Shares of Shakespeare and Fletcher. 17. Metrical Tests.
18. Principle of division. 19. Date about 1612. 20. Perhaps
revised by Fletcher or another. 21. Shakespeare's the better
share. 22. Table of results. 23. Conclusion.

1. THE subject of the play of the Tivo Noble Kinsmen is
the story of Palamon and Arcite, as told in the Knightes. Tale
of Chaucer, from whom the story was avowedly borrowed.

"Chaucer of all admired the story gives." (Prol. i.)

The title is due to the fact that Palamon and Arcite were
supposed to be first cousins. Chaucer describes them as "of
sistren tuo yborn", Kn. Ta. 161 : and, in the play, Palamon
says to Arcite — "thou art mine aunt's son", ill. 6. 95.

2. The story has at all times been a favourite one. As
far as the present play is concerned, Chaucer is the only
authority to be consulted, and the Knightes Tale should be
carefully read and compared with it. Some of the more
striking parallels between the Play and the Tale are pointed
out in the Notes, but the original is so easily accessible that
it is unnecessary to enumerate either the resemblances or the
variations ; see, in particular, Dr Morris's edition of Chaucer's
Prologue and Knightes Tale, in the Clarendon Press Series.
It is sufficient to say here that the Play follows the Tale in the
general outline of the principal part of the plot, and that some

vi THE TII'O NOBLE A'AV.VJ//

expressions used by Chaucer are carefully copied ; but there is,
nevertheless, a wide difference between the two, and, in particu
lar, there is an underplot in the Play, of which Chaucer afforded
only the merest hint ; K. T. 610. Chaucer's Tale itself stands
in a somewhat similar relation to its own original, which was
an Italian poem in twelve books named the Tescide, written by
Boccaccio ; that is to say, Chaucer, though following Boccaccio,
tells the story in his own way, with considerable alterations,
omissions, and additions. For a comparison of the Knightcs
Talc with the Tescide, sec the extract from Tyrwhitt's Intro
ductory Discourse to the Canterbury Tales, reprinted in Dr
Morris's Introduction. If we attempt to trace back the story
still further, we find at least a probability that Boccaccio himself
obtained it from an older source. Warton, in his History of
English Poetry (ed. 1840, n. 131 ; or ed. 1871, IT. 300), suggests
that Boccaccio possibly took the story from a certain Greek
poem on the same subject which was first printed at Venice
in 1529, and endeavours to prove this. But there exists a
fatal objection to this theory, namely, the express declaration
of Tyrwhitt (Introd. Discourse, note 13) that "the poem in
modern Greek political verses DC Nitptiis Thesei ct Emiliae,
printed at Venice in 1529, is a mere translation of the Theseida.
The author has even translated the prefatory epistle addressed
by Boccace to the Fiammetta". All that is known upon the
subject is thus reduced to the expressions used by Boccaccio
himself; for, as Tyrwhitt points out, he calls it a very ancient
story, which he had found in Italian — " una antichissima storia,
e al piu delle genti non manifesta1, in latino volgare2". The
facts, that the scene is laid at Athens and at Thebes, and that
the chief personage referred to in it is Theseus, tend to prove

1 I take the opportunity of suggesting here that the puzzling expres
sion of Chaucer concerning Palamon and Arcite, " tho the storie is
knowen lyte" (Ltffend of Good Women, 421), has really no significance
whatever as relating to his cnvn version of it, but is a mere translation
of this very sentence of Boccaccio.

3 I do not suppose that this expression means "Latin"; it more
likely implies an Italian dialect.

INTRODUCTION. vii

that the ultimate source of the Tale was Greek, though we
shall hardly succeed in discovering more than is conveyed in
Tyrwhitt's remark that — "if it was of Greek original, as I
rather suspect, it must have been thrown into its present form
[the form in which it appears in Boccaccio] after the Norman
Princes had introduced the manners of chivalry into their
dominions in Sicily and Italy"; that is, roughly speaking, after
A. D. 1130. The very names of the Two Kinsmen are strong
evidence of a Greek origin. Arcite or Arcyta is the Greek
Archytas ('Apxvras), whilst Palamon, spelt Palemone in Boc
caccio, is the Greek Palaemon (IlaAai'/iwi/). These names wera
discussed by Mr Hales in a letter to the Academy; Jan. 17, 1874.
3. Tracing the story downwards, we find, then, a pro
bability that it may have had a Greek original, and was thence'
translated into Latin or Italian, and first appears, in a known
form, in Boccaccio's Tescide. Next we find it in Chaucer's
Knightcs Tale, which is the acknowledged and immediate
source of the present play ; though we must not forget that
Chaucer borrowed some of his descriptions from the Thebaid
of Statins. Chaucer's poem of Queen Anclida and False
Arcite is also worth consulting, because of the idea of falseness
there attributed to Arcite ; see note to v. 4. 92. Lydgate
mentions Palamon and Arcite in his Complaint of the Black
Knight1. 11. 368, 379. Sir Thomas Wiat alludes to the "story
that the Knight tolde " in his 2nd Satire, 1. 51. Next we come
to the appearance of the story in a dramatic form, respecting
which I shall quote Mr Knight's account, from the Supplement
ary Volume to his Pictorial edition of Shakespeare, p. 170:
" Before the first builders-up of that wondrous edifice the English'
drama, lay the whole world of classical and romantic fable,'
' where to choose'. One of the earliest, and consequently lea'it-
skilful, of those workmen, Richard Edwards, went to fltfe
ancient stores for his 'Damon and Pythias', and to Chaucer

1 This poem was inserted into the early editions of Chaucer's Works,
but by mistake. It is really Lydgate's, as plainly marked in MS.
Afldit. 16165 in the British Museum by a contemporary authority.

'

for his ' Pulamon and Arcyte'. We learn from Wood's MSS.
that when Elizabeth visited Oxford, in 1566, 'at night the
( Hicen heard the first part of an English play, named Palawan,
or Palanio:: made by Mr Richard Edwards, a gentle

man of her chapel, acted with very great applause in Christ
Church Hall'. An accident happened at the beginning of the
play by the falling of a stage, through which three persons
were killed — a scholar of St Mary's Hall, and two who were
probably more missed, a college-brewer and a cook. The
mirth, however, went on, and 'afterwards the actors performed
their parts so well, that the Queen laughed heartily thereat, and
gave the author of the play great thanks for his pains'. It is
clear that the fable of Chaucer must have been treated in a
different manner by Edwards than we find it treated in the Two
Kinsmen. We have another record of a play on a similar
subject. In Hcnslowe's 'Diary' we have an entry, under the
date of September, 1594, of Palamon and Arsett being acted
four times. It is impossible to imagine that The Two Noble
Kinsmen is the same play1."

4. The existence of these plays in 1566 and 1594— whether
they were different plays or the same we cannot tell — shews
that the subject was not forgotten, and we may readily suppose
that the playwrights took the outline of their plays from
Chaucer. In the same way, we may feel sure that the authors2
of the Two Noble Kinsmen followed Chaucer, as they professed
to do, without troubling themselves with examining these
earlier plays.' Edwards's play could not have been of much

1 Mr Knight no doubt grounds this statement of "impossibility"

':e fact of the date being so early as 1594. Mr Ilickson most

.limes that Henslowe is here referring to The Two Noble

.mption which is wholly unnecessary to his argu-

introduces unnecessary confusion, and is positively contradicted

by Mr Fleay, who undertook to "confirm" Mr Hickson's views. In

1594, Fletcher was scarcely 15 years old; being horn in Dec. 1579

(I)yce), not in 1576, as the date is usually given.

8 \Ylio were the authors, is a disputc'l point, and is discussed
. in any case, the play is by two authors, not by one only.

INTRODUCTION. ix

use to them; and as to the play of 1594, there is no mention
of it beyond that in Henslowe's Diary, nor was it ever (to our
knowledge) printed. We have no clear external evidence as
to the date of the composition of our play, but we shall con
sider this question presently. It was not printed till 1634,
nine years after the death of Fletcher (in 1625), and eighteen
years after that of Shakespeare (in 1616). It then appeared,
by itself, in a small quarto, the title-page of which runs as
follows : — 'The Two Noble Kinsmen : Presented at the Black-
friers by the Kings Maiesties servants, with great applause :
Written by the memorable Worthies of their time, Mr. John
Fletcher, and Mr. William Shakspeare, Gent. Printed at
London by Tho. Cotes, for lohn Waterson : and are to be'
sold at the signe of the Crowne in Pauls Church-yard. 1634.
Of this quarto edition there are two copies in the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge ; and the text of the present edition
has been carefully collated with one of them ^marked S. 4).
is interesting to find that this quarto edition was printed from a
prompter's copy; for it contains a few marginal notes that
refer to the representation of the play. We learn from these
that the name of the actor who took the part of the Messenger
in Act IV. Sc. 2, was Curtis ; and that two of the Attendants in
Act V. Sc. 3, were Curtis and T. Tucke. A folio edition of the
collected plays of Beaumont and Fletcher appeared in 1647,
but our play is not included in it. A second folio edition
appeared in 1679, with a notice that it contained 17 more plays
than the former folio edition — The Tii'u Noble Kinsmen being
one of them — and that these plays were reprinted from the
quarto editions. Since then, it has been often reprinted ; see
the Critical Notes, at p. 89. Lastly, it may be remarked that
The Two Noble Kinsmen appeared again on the stage in a new
form and under a new title ; this reproduction of it being due
to Sir William Davenant, who named it The Rivals; and it
is said to have been acted with great success. TJie Rivals was
printed in quarto in 1668. Drydcn's version of Chaucer's
KnigJites Tale is preceded by a dedication to the duke of
Ormond, which is dated 1669.

s b

x THE TWO NOBLE KIXSVEX.

5. In order to form what is. I hope, a sufficiently sound
text, I have examined nearly all the existing editions, and
very readily came to the conclusions that the original quarto
of 1634 is the sole authority for the text, and that the only
editions containing any conjectural emendations of any value
are that of 1750, (containing notes by Scward, Sympson, and
Theobald), and Mr Dycc's edition, printed in 1843 — 6.
A full account of all the various readings is given in the
Critical Notes, wherein I have also accounted for all the
passages which have been in any way altered or curtailed.
In conformity with the common usage, I have modernised the
spelling in the case of ordinary words ; but the old spelling
is retained in a few cases, where the words are of unu
sual occurrence, as, e.g. the words grcisc, n. i. 27; cesiron,
v. r. 46. In many small particulars I have followed, in general,
the peculiarities of the quarto, especially in the variable
use of them and 'cm; in the variable use of ye and you in the
accusative case ; in the abbreviation fare for ye are; &c.
It is necessary for the metre that the reader should remember
to sound the final -ed as a distinct syllable, when printed at
length; thus nncarihed has three syllables in v. i. 52. In
general, the final -cd does not form a distinct syllable, but the
elision of e is denoted by an apostrophe ; such forms zsfiard,
suffered (i. i. 48, 55) are very common, Similarly we find blest
in I. i. 45. The words I have are to be pronounced as I've in
most instances ; and this must be attended to, or the metre will
be less perceived ; see I. i. 56. Sometimes they are so printed,
as in ill. i. 63. So also / am is to read as /'///, II. i. 153. In
many places the punctuation has required correction, and such
corrections frequently occur in all the modern editions.

6. Who were the authors of The Two Noble Kinsmen, and
what was the date of its composition, are questions of some diffi
culty, concerning which various opinions have been expressed ;
and, as there is no certain evidence upon the subject, I must
beg leave to remind the reader that what will be here advanced
is all more or less founded on conjecture ; that I rather record
the conclusions of others than advance anv decided conclusion

INTR OD UCTIOX. xi

of my own ; and that he is advised to rcr.d the play carefully,
and to form his own opinion on the subject. Still there are
certain points about which there cannot be much doubt, and to
these I shall first draw attention. All critics are agreed that
Fletcher had a hand in the production of the play. The ex
treme view is that he wrote the whole of it, a position which
was maintained by Steevens, in a note subjoined to the play of
Pericles; and which seems to have been held by Hallam, though
at a later period he felt some doubts about it. Hallam's words
are as follows : " The Two Noble Kinsmen is a play that has
been honoured by a tradition of Shakespeare's concern in it. The
evidence as to this is the title-page of the first edition ; which,
though it may seem much at first sight, is next to nothing in
our old drama, full of misnomers of the kind. The editors of
Beaumont and Fletcher [previous to Knight and Dyce] have
insisted upon what they take for marks of Shakespeare's style ;
and Schlegel, after 'seeing no reason for doubting so- probable
an opinion ', detects the spirit of Shakespeare in a certain ideal
purity which distinguishes this from other plays of Fletcher,
and in the conscientious fidelity1 with which it follows the
Knight's Tale in Chaucer. The Two Noble Kinsmen has
much of that elevated sense of honour, friendship, fidelity, and
love, which belongs, I think, more characteristically to Fletcher,
who had drunk at the fountain of Castilian romance, than to
one in whose vast mind this conventional morality of par
ticular classes was subordinated to the universal nature of
man. In this sense Fletcher is always, in his tragic compo
sitions, a very ideal poet. The subject itself is fitter for him than
for Shakespeare. In the language and conduct of this play,
with great deference to better and more attentive critics, I see
imitations of Shakespeare rather than such resemblances as
denote his powerful stamp. The madness of the gaoler's

1 This 'conscientious fidelity' is not always conspicuous; the
authors follow Chaucer when they please. It is well worth remarking
that the confusion in Act iv. Sc. 2, where the descriptions, copied from
Chaucer, are applied to the wrong persons, occurs in a scene which was
almost certainly written by Fletcher.

b2

xii THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX.

daughter, where some have imagined they saw the master-
hand, is doubtless suggested by that of Ophelia, but with an
inferiority of taste and feeling which it seems impossible not
to recognize." — Introduction to tJie Literature of Kuropc, 6th ed.
(1860), Vol. in. p. 330. Now it may be replied to this, that the
question can hardly be reduced to this simplicity. Nearly all
other critics are agreed (and indeed Hallam himself seems to
have admitted at a later period) that two hands are plainly
visible in this play ; indeed, the fifth Scene of the third Act is
so bad that Mr Hickson declares it to be even inferior to
everything else written by Fletcher, containing as it does " a
terrible dull pedantic schoolmaster, a most spiritless imitation
of Holofernes "; and being, as it is, so obviously copied from a
similar scene in the Midsummer Xighfs Dream. It is indeed
hard to believe that the author of this Scene could have
written the first Act of the play. But if it once be conceded
that some author besides Fletcher was employed upon the
play, and if it be supposed for a moment that that other
author was Shakespeare, we are at once involved in new
complexities ; it is no longer a case of seeing " imitations rather
than resemblances", but we have to consider whether there
may not be " imitations" in one place, and " resemblances" in
another. Before proceeding to consider this, it will be best to
see what division of the play into two parts has been at
tempted. Accordingly, in sections 7, 8, and 9, I give some sug
gestions of a more general character, before entering into
particulars, as in section 10.

7. First, we may cite the old stage tradition, that the First
Act was written by Shakespeare. Again, Lamb, in his Speci
mens of English Dramatic Poets (London, 1808), p. 419, assigns
to Shakespeare Act I. Scenes I and 3, and to Fletcher the latter
part of Act II. Sc. I, containing the dialogue of Palamon and
Arcite in prison. Coleridge says, " I have no doubt that the
First Act and the First Scene of the Second Act1 of the

1 Mr Dyce suggests that Coleridge meant the First Scene of the
Act. More probably, he meant Act u. Sc. I. 11. i — 53.

INTR OD UCTION. xi i i

Noble Kinsmen are Shakespeare's"; Table Talk, 2nd ed. 1836,
p. 200. The remarks of Seward and Colman, in their editions
of the play, do not much help us, though I think Seward makes
a point in assigning to Fletcher Act in. Sc. 5 on account of its
general contents, and because it contains some Latin quotations ;
and again, Colman points out that the curious word trace in the
same scene occurs in Fhilastcr, Act v. Sc. 4, and that 11. 21 — 24
of Act IV. Sc. 2 also strongly resemble a passage in Philastcr,
Act iv. Sc. 4 (see Note to IV. 2. 2I1). Weber, in his edition
of Beaumont and Fletcher, assigns to Shakespeare the whole of
Act L, Act ill. Sc. i, Act iv. Sc. 3 (in prose), and Act v., excepting
Sc. 4 ; whilst he assigns to Fletcher the whole of Act II., Act in.
Scenes 2 — 6, Act iv. Scenes I and 2, Act v. Scenes i — 3. He
does not, however, express himself very positively upon the sub
ject. If we put these opinions together, we find a close agree
ment amongst them, and we obtain, as an antecedent probability
resulting from them, that the scenes most likely to be Shake
speare's are Act I., Act III. Sc. I, and part of Act V. ; whilst
Fletcher's work is most likely to be found in Act II., part of
Act ill., and Act IV.

8. If we now examine the play carefully, taking this rough
scheme as a probable guide, I think there will be found to be
several things in its favour ; or, at least, in favour of most of it.
The First Act is particularly good ; and, although it has been
rightly argued that it is hardly fair to assign it to Shakespeare
upon that ground, it is difficult to resist the feeling that, if his hand
is to be found in the play at all, it is here (and in Act v.) that we
find it. There are " resemblances" to his manner here, and there
are no palpable "imitations "of it. On the other hand, we do find
such " imitations" in Act ill. Sc. 5, which was clearly suggested
by the Midsummer Night's Dream; and it is also evident that

. 1 Mr Hickson, I do not know why, assures us that this passage in
Philastcr is not by Fletcher, but by Beaumont. He also denies that
Philaster preceded The Two Noble Kinsmen. Yet Philaster (first
printed in 1620) is said to have been one of the first plays written by
Beaumont and Fletcher in conjunction, and to have been produced in
i(5oS.

xiv THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

the author of that scene must have written Act n. Sc. 2. So
again, in Act IV. Sc. i there is a description of the appearance
of the Gaoler's Daughter which " has a certain resemblance to
the circumstances of the death of Ophelia, and was probably
written with that scene in view1", and which is surely Fletcher's.
In the Fifth Act, without considering Scenes I and 2, the last
two Scenes are so well put together, and so simple and perfect
in their action, that we may here again recognise, as most critics
have done, the hand of the master.

9. There are yet two more considerations that are not with
out weight. It has been observed that Shakespeare often wrote
in prose, whilst Fletcher is not certainly\&ovrD. to have done so.
The two pieces in prose are Act u. Sc. i, 11. I — 53, and Act iv.
Sc. 3. Again, it has been observed that Fletcher sometimes
indulged in perfectly unmeaning and gratuitous grossness of
expression, of a character peculiarly his own ; and, although
these instances have not been printed in this edition (especially
as they are, for the most part, superfluous), I may point out
that the scenes which may confidently be assigned to Fletcher
on this account are Act II. Sc. i (latter part), and Sc. 2, Act ill.
Scenes 3 and 5, and Act iv. Sc. i2. Adding the results thus
gained to those in sections 7 and 8, we obtain the following
distribution of scenes, and this too without having taken into
careful consideration the plot and action of the play.

Some of Shakespeare's scenes — Act. I. (all) ; Act II. Sc. i
(prose part) ; Act in. Sc. I ; Act iv. Sc. 3 (prose); part of Act v.

Some of Fletcher's scenes — Act II. Sc. I (verse part) ; Sc. 2 ;
Act in. Scenes 3, 5 ; Act iv. Scenes I and 2.

10. But the examination of the plot of the play, and of the
distribution of the characters, will do more for us than this.
The above considerations are but preliminary, and the test of

1 Quoted from Mr Hickson; see section 10 below. Mr Hickson
rightly protests against any resemblance between the charactci-s of
Ophelia and of the Gaoler's Daughter.

8 I have also omitted some lines in Act iv. Sc. 3 (in prose) ; but
these, as Mr Hickson suggests, are different in character, and have
some purpose in them.

AV77? OD UCTION. xv

them will be furnished by considering the dramatic peculiarities
of each scene. This problem has been attempted, with much
success, by two writers. Mr Spalding (afterwards known as the
author of an excellent History of English Literature) published,
in 1833, a letter signed J. S., with the title, A Letter on Shake
speare's Authorship of the Two Noble Kinsmen. This letter
attracted much attention, and Mr Dyce, in his edition of Beau
mont and Fletcher, expressed his general assent to its arguments.
Mr Spalding remarks upon the distinction between the main
plot, having reference to the main action of the play, and the
underplot, which refers to the Gaoler and the Gaoler's Daughter,
the Wooer, and the Doctor. This underplot he assigns wholly
to Fletcher, and the result of his examination came to this, that
he assigned to Shakespeare "the First Act, wholly, one scene
out of six in the Third Act [i. e. Act ill. Sc. i], and the whole
of the Fifth Act, except one unimportant scene" [i. e. Act v.
Sc. 2]. Mr Spalding's work was criticised in an article by the
late Mr S. Hickson, which originally appeared as Art. iv. in the
Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xcn., Vol.
LXXVIL, for April, 1847, pp. 59 — 88, reviewing : i. A Letter
on Shakespeare's Authorship of the Two Noble Kinsmen, a
drama commonly ascribed to John Fletcher, 1833. 2. Knight's
Pictorial Edition of Shakespeare, 1841. 3. Dyce's Works of
Beaumont and Fletcher, 1846. Mr Hickson's article has been
reprinted by the New Shakspere Society, in Series I., Part I.,
Appendix, pp. 25* — 65*, with further notes by Mr Fleay and Mr
Furnivall.

II. Mr Hickson's contribution to the solution of the ques
tion is the most satisfactory that has appeared. He begins by
rejecting one of the theories proposed by Mr Knight, viz. that
our play was written by Fletcher and Chapman, a view which,
as it has found no supporter, need not be considered. He then
proceeds to shew how far Mr Spalding and Mr Dyce (who ac
cepted Mr Spalding's view for the most part) are right. In
Act I. Sc. i, which is purely dramatic, and merely suggested by
Chaucer, he finds the work of Shakespeare ; and this he con
trasts with another scene, also a fine one, viz. Act II. Sc. i (the

xv i THE TIVO NOBLE KINSMJ.

prose introduction is exceptccl), which, "with all its beautiful
poetry, docs not exhibit dramatic power". Indeed, it is remark
able that, in this scene, " between the characters of Palamon
and Arcitc there is positively no distinction ; and the speeches
of one might be given to the other without the least injury to
the plot". This is the more remarkable because, in Act I. Sc. 2,
there is a well-marked distinction between them ; in that scene
"Palamon is manifestly the superior"; which is as it ought to
Mr Hickson next remarks, very acutely, that Mr Spalding
has been "misled by the apparent simplicity of the case ; and
the source of his error would seem to lie in assuming that as,
undoubtedly, the greater part of the underplot was by the
inferior writer, the whole thereof was written by the same hand".
To this it deserves to be added that there are, in fact, tivo
underplots. There is the story of the Gaoler's Daughter, and
there is, again, the introduction of the Morris-dancers. It is
best to clear the way by claiming for Fletcher the whole of the
latter ; i. e. it is best to assign to him the characters of Gerrold,
and of the Countrymen, wholly. This disposes of Act II. 2
and Act ill. 5. But, as regards the Gaoler's Daughter, there
is no reason why Shakespeare may not have designed tins cha
racter, and imagined the underplot, leaving Fletcher literally
nothing to do but to fill up the less important part of it. It is
most significant that the same remark will apply to the main
plot. There again, the scenes left for Fletcher are those in
which he has to continue rather than to imagine, and it is
remarkable that he is, on this theory, left most to himself
exactly where Chaucer's work comes in most to guide him.

12. If the first scene of Act li. be read in this light, it is
really very easily understood. There we find a masterly intro
duction, in prose, putting us in possession, in a few lines, of
three new characters, and indicating, in Uie justest manner,
what we are to expect of them afterwards. Then follows, in
verse, a prettily worded scene, in which no distinction is made
between Palamon and Arcitc, extending to a considerable length,
and having Chaucer's poem as a guide throughout. The break
between the two is most remarkable, and fully explains the very

INTR OD UCTION. xvii

significant fact, that this scene, properly one and indivisible, is
cut in two in the quarto edition ; the latter part, beginning at 1. 54,
being marked as "Scaena 2"; see notes to II. i. Passing on
to Act II. Sc. 2, we have still Fletcher's work before us, as is
clear from its containing the underplot of the Countrymen. In
Scene 3, we have merely the following out of the hint in Scene i ;
little power is required or shewn here. In Scene 4, the writer
again had Chaucer to guide him, and the work, though neces
sary, is by no means very striking. Scene 5 is the natural
sequel of Scene 3. So that, in fact, in this Act, there is no sus
picion of Shakespeare's work beyond the prose passage with
which it commences.

13. Passing on to Act ill. Sc. i, we come across this
curious phenomenon, that the characters of Palamon and
Arcite are once more distinct, and once more our sympathy
is enlisted on the side of Palamon. It is not in the spirit of
Act II. Sc. i, but in that of Act I. Sc. 2. The whole, too, is
full of action, and the plot moves on. We need not wonder
that this scene has been claimed for Shakespeare. With regard
to Scene 2, there is a great difference of opinion. It never
seems to have occurred to Mr Spalding that this could be
Shakespeare's, because, as Mr Hickson says, he had run
away with the idea of assigning all the underplot to Fletcher.
But Mr Hickson, on the other hand, claims it for Shake
speare without hesitation, and I incline to think he is right.
Lines i — 17 are admirable, and shew us the exact -progress of
the play ; Palamon is released, but he is lost to his releaser.
In Scene 3, we have Act II. Sc. i over again ; Palamon and
Arcite are again undistinguishable ; there is much talk, and
little action. Scene 4 is entirely superfluous, and a weak
continuation of Scene 2. Scene 5, with its morris-dance, is
dearly Fletcher's also. Scene 6 is a mere continuation of
Scene 3, and in the same style. Theseus is not only repre
sented as not knowing his own mind, but changes his mind
.more than once. A review of Act ill. leads to this result, that
Shakespeare began it, and Fletcher ended it. It is merely
a question as to where Shakespeare left off. The only scene

xviii THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX.

left in doubt is Scene 2. Fletcher certainly wrote Scenes

3-6.

14. In Act IV. Sc. I, all critics have seen the work of
Fletcher; it shews an "imitation" of Hamlet, not a "resem
blance" to it. The oddest thing is in 1. 131, where the Gaoler's
Daughter, being very mad, thinks she is at sea ; merely because
she had unreasonably thought herself upon the sea-shore once
before; see Act ill. Sc. 4, 1. 5. In Scene 2, Emilia shews the
same indecision as was so remarkably shewn by Theseus in
Act in. Sc. 6; once more the author has merely to copy Chau
cer, especially in 11. 71 — 138, and it has been already remarked
(p. ix., note i) that he blunders over it. Once more we have a
palpable imitation ; Emilia, with the two pictures, speaks very
much in the strain of Hamlet when pointing to "the counterfeit
presentment of two brothers". Clearly all this is the work of
Fletcher ; yet it is not to be unjustly decried. Fletcher could
vrrite really fine lines, and he does so here. Mr Hickson calls
this scene " Fletcher's masterpiece". About Scene 3 there may
be doubts. Mr Hickson assigns it to Shakespeare, and points
out that certain strong expressions in it are of a different cha
racter to those used by Fletcher. He considers it to resemble,
in character, Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. 5, and King Lear, Act IV. Sc. 6.
We are asked, too, to consider the argument that the scene is
in prose* For all this, I have my doubts about it.

15. In Act v. the Second Scene is clearly Fletcher's ; no
one has ever doubted it. But the rest of the Act has been
claimed for Shakespeare, and the claim may, I think, be allowed.
The most suspicious portions are to be found in Scene i ; I can
not resist an impression that Fletcher may have touched up the
speeches of Palamon and Emilia ; I do not feel convinced that
we have Shakespeare's work in 11. I — 17, or much beyond
1.68.

16. Reviewing the whole, we may say that Mr Hickson's
scheme is probably right in the main, and leaves but little unex
plained. His scheme is shortly this.

SHAKESPEARE, i. i, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; n. i a (11. 1—53) ; in. i, 2 ;
iv. 3 ; v. i, 3, 4-

INTR OD UCTION. xix

FLETCHER, n. i b (11. 54— 325), 2, 3, 4, 5 ; in. 3, 4, 5, 6 ; iv.
i, 2 ; v. 2.

The only scenes that seem to me doubtful are III. 2, IV. 3,
and certain parts of v. I. These have all been claimed for
Shakespeare, but I am not convinced about them. But in all
the other scenes the marks of partnership are sufficiently distinct.
It must surely be admitted that there were two authors; that
their respective portions have been rightly assigned to them ;
and that one of those authors, the one who had the least to
invent, was Fletcher. The whole of the real conduct of the play,
the introduction of all the more important characters, the be
ginning and the ending of the piece, are clue to a greater mind
and an abler artist. Why should we hesitate to suppose that
that artist was Shakespeare?

17. By way of testing the above conclusions, two distinct
metrical tests have been applied by Mr Fleay and Air Furnivall
respectively. The results confirmed Mr Hickson's in a very
striking manner, and the tables of them may be seen at pp. 62*
— 65* of the publication by the New Shakspere Society already
referred to. Mr Fleay considered the number of lines having
double endings (i. e. having redundant syllables at the end),
and found a remarkable difference. In the Shakespeare-portion,
the proportion of lines having double endings is only 10 lines
in 35, but in the Fletcher-portion, it is just twice that, or 20 lines
in 36. Mr Fleay also counted the lines consisting of only 4 feet
instead of 5. In the Shakespeare-portion he found but i, nine
scenes being free from them ; but in the Fletcher-portion there
are 19, only three scenes being free from them. Again, Mr Fur
nivall applied what he calls the "stopt-line test," the "stopt-
lines" being those in which there is a stop at the end. The
result is, that Shakespeare employs "unstopt or run-on lines"
much more freely than Fletcher, viz. in the proportion of 100 in
241 as against 100 in 553. To these I would add a test of my
own, even more curious. The number of lines said to be written
by Shakespeare (excluding the two prose scenes) is 1124; and
the number said to be written by Fletcher is 1398. Reckoning
in the prose, their respective portions are, according to the

xx THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMKX.

theory, very nearly equal in length. Nevertheless, if Fletcher's
part were to be removed, an intelligible plot would be left, and
the play could be restored, by the help of Chaucer's poem.
But if Shakespeare's part were to be removed, the play would
be nearly destroyed, and we should possess little beyond what
we already have in Chaucer in a better form. I think this test
is even more searching. Neither must I omit to mention the
important test furnished by the words employed. I find, by the
use of -'Mrs Clarke's Concordance, many Shakespearian words
and phrases in the Shakespeare-scenes, and but few in the rest.

1 8. It is easy, also, to see the principle upon which the
division of the play was made. Shakespeare took the more
important share, began the play, started all the principal cha
racters, and left Fletcher nothing to do but to fill up the easier
portions, where he had Chaucer to guide him, or else had merely
to continue what was begun, or lastly, could introduce a morris-
dance and some countrymen by way of filling a gap. Ob
viously, the original division of labour was, that they should
write the alternate Acts ; Shakespeare taking the First, Third,
and Fifth Acts, and Fletcher the Second and Fourth. This
was slightly varied in the end, but the principle was not really
altered. Shakespeare wrote all the First Act, the first and most
important part of the Third Act, and all of the Fifth Act but one
scene ; but he also helped Fletcher (in all probability) by starting
the Second Act for him ; which Fletcher repaid by contributing
a Scene to Act v. This once perceived, there is little left to be
explained; excepting that I beg leave to urge, by way of modi
fying the preceding statements, the words of caution contained
in sect. 20.

19. I come lastly, to the question of the date. The play
must have been written before Shakespeare's death in 1616, yet
it is later than Hamlet, which may be dated about 1604 ; or, to
come still closer, we may remember that we have no play by
Fletcher much before 1607, and no play by Shakespeare after
1613. There is a remarkable absence of rime in the play, and
Mr Fleay goes so far as to assure us that this "enables us to
say with confidence that Shakespeare's part of this play was

INTR OD UCTIOX. xxi

written as late as 1610 A.D. ; as only in the Tempest and Winter's
Tale do we find that he had given up rhymes to anything like
such an extent as he has here ; even in the Roman plays we
find twenty rhymes in a play". Mr Furnivall remarks that "so
far as the stopt-line test can settle the date or place of Shak-
spere's part in the Two Noble Kinsmen, it puts it between
Cymbeline and Winters Tale", i.e. in all probability, between
1604 and 1610. But here we arc helped further by a very im
portant consideration, viz. that we have, in the play of Henry
VIII., as pointed out by Mr Spedding, another play in which
Shakespeare and Fletcher worked together ; see the publica
tions of the New Shakspere Society, Series I. Part I. Appendix.
Moreover, there is strong evidence that the date of Henry VIII.
is 1613, since the Globe theatre on Bankside was burnt down
on June 29, 1613, whilst this "new play" was being represented ;
and perhaps the Two Noble Kinsmen may be supposed to have
been in hand nearly at the same time. In the conjectural list
of dates given in the New Shakspere Society's Transactions,
Ser. I. Part I., p. 10, the date assigned to the Two Noble Kins
men is 1609, upon rather vague evidence. But surely it is far
more probable that the two plays in which Shakespeare and
Fletcher worked together were written nearly at the same time ;
and, if we allow the Two Noble Kinsmen to have been the ear
lier (which is sufficiently likely), then we cannot be far wrong in
saying that the date is about 1612. It may be remembered
that the date of our Authorised Version of the Bible is 1611 ;
so that we may fairly suppose our play to have been nearly
contemporaneous with the publication of that important Book.

20. In conclusion, let me quote an opinion once held by
Mr Knight. " The theory that Shakspere left a portion of the
Two Noble Kinsmen, which, after his death, was completed by
Fletcher, is one which, upon a mature consideration of the sub
ject, we are constrained to reject ; although it has often pre
sented itself to us as the most plausible of the theories which
would necessarily associate themselves with the belief that
Shakspere had written a considerable portion of this play."
The strongest objection to this is that the completion of the

xxii THE TWO NOBLE KIXSVEN.

play, especially the two last scenes, is almost certainly Shake
speare's ; yet I mention this opinion because I believe there is
really a sort of truth in it. I cannot resist the conviction that
the play, in t!:e exact form in whicli ', was revised by

Fletcher (or another ?) after Shakespeare's death; and that he
did to some extent, here and there, alter some phrases at his plea
sure. I think he may have done so, for instance, in Act v. Sc. i ;
and perhaps the Song at the very beginning of the play is such
a piece as he might have added. The theory is worth mention,
because it may account for some minor difficulties. The Pro
logue and Epilogue may be his ; or indeed, they may have
been added by a third person. At the same time, I must ex
press my complete dissent from the untenable opinion of Mr
Dyce, that " whatever the date of the Shakespearian portions of
the Tivo Noble Kinsmen", he feels "assured that they were
written long before Fletcher's contributions to the play". The
principle of division explained in Sect. 18 wholly forbids this,
and it is difficult to see any reason why a practical man like
Shakespeare should have written such portions of a play, on the
chance that some one else would one day finish it. The simple
and natural order of things would be somewhat of the following
description. The authors would roughly divide the work,
write contemporaneously, fit the scenes together, and the play
would be acted. In case of repetition after an interval of time,
nothing would be more natural than that it should be to some
extent revised ; and for the revision, one author would suffice.
This is, accordingly, the theory which I offer, and which agrees,
in the main, with the general result of the opinions of most
critics. Suppose Shakespeare and Fletcher to have written the
Two Noble Kinsmen in conjunction in 1612, and the play of
Henry VIII. in 1613; after which Shakespeare retires from his
labours, not to live long afterwards. The play proving a favourite
one — as seems to have been the case — Fletcher revises it, not
altering much perhaps, but adding a few lines here and there ;
and at last, after he also is dead, the play is printed from an
acting copy, representing it in its latest form. This will account
for all the circumstances of the case, whilst merely requiring the

INTR OD UCTION. xxiii

supposition that things took their natural and easiest course.
It will also account for such a phenomenon as is seen in Act v.
Sc. i, where, out of the first 17 lines, no less than 15 have one
or more redundant syllables, whilst in the next 30 lines we have
but 10 lines with redundant syllables. Those 17 lines may
easily have been a later addition ; in any case, they have the
trick of Fletcher's metre. To this theory I have nothing to
add, beyond repeating that these conclusions are, after all,
founded upon conjecture, that they are merely offered for what
they are worth, and that the reader is advised to form his own
opinion about the matter in his own way.

21. If then, upon sufficient grounds, we accept the hint
offered by the old title-page, that the play was written by
Fletcher and Shakespeare, it remains for us to make one altera
tion in it, viz. in the order of their names. As they stand, they
arc in alphabetical order, as in the case of Beaumont and
Fletcher. But we shall be justified in placing Shakespeare's
name first, not because he was the greater writer, but because
he was the older man and of more experience ; and because also
(which is more to the point) he actually wrote all the more im
portant scenes in the play, and only entrusted his younger
partner with the easier and subordinate part of it.

22. For the convenience of the reader, I here repeat the
results of section 15 in another form, viz. in the due order of the
Scenes.

ACT I. Sc. i — 5. Probably all composed by Shakespeare,
but perhaps revised by Fletcher.

ACT II. Scene I. Shakespeare may have written the prose
Introduction, in 11. i — 53. The rest of this scene is by Fletcher.

Sc. 2 — 5. All these scenes are by Fletcher.

ACT in. Sc. i, 2. These two scenes have been ascribed to
Shakespeare ; there is some doubt about Sc. 2.

Sc. 3 — 6. All these scenes are by Fletcher.

ACT IV. Sc. i, 2. These two scenes are by Fletcher.

Sc. 3. This has been ascribed to Shakespeare; there is
some doubt about it.

ACT v. Sc. i. Probably by Shakespeare ; at the beginning,
and towards the end, Fletcher may have added to it.

xxiv THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Sc. 2. Written by Fletcher.

Sc. 3, 4. Written by Shakespeare.

To which must be added that, if we have the play (as I
incline to think) in a revised form, it was obviously Fletcher,
or some third person, and not Shakespeare, who revised it.

23. I take this opportunity of stating that the New Shak-
spere Society's prospectus, elated March 28, 1874, contained the
following announcement : ' The 7\co AW/A.- Kinsmen, by Shak-
spere and Fletcher ; a. A Reprint of the Quarto of 1636 [read
1634] ; b. A revised Edition, with Introduction, Notes, and Glos-
sarial Index of all the words, distinguishing Shakspere's from
Fletcher's, by Harold Littledale, Esq., Trinity College, Dublin.'
This work lias not yet appeared, but it will doubtless contain a
great deal of information which could not well be attempted in
a small volume like the present. Also, in the Transactions of
the same Society, Series I., Part II., p. 442, will be found a
paper by Professor Ingram, 'On the \Veak Endings of Shah
spere', in which he applies the metrical test furnished by the
fact that the poet was much addicted, towards the close of his
career, to the writing of verses terminating with such weak and
light final syllables as ' and', ' but', ' for', ' am ', ' who', &c. The
application of this additional test to the T:co Xcblc Kinsmen
gives almost exactly the same division of the play as has been
already obtained ; and, though these metrical tests are certainly
of a subordinate character and must not be very highly valued,
there is a certain satisfaction in finding that they do not contra
dict our results, but remarkably confirm them.

I must not conclude without expressing my thanks to Mr
T. X. Toller, late Fellow of Christ's College, for some hints
upon the earlier portion of the play, and especially to Mr J. W.
Hales, also late Fellow of the same College, and a member of
the Committee of the New Shakspere Society, for numerous
hints, criticisms, and references, too numerous to be specified,
of which I have freely availed myself, with his kind good will
and permission.
CAMBRIDGE,

August 20. 1875.

PROLOGUE.

Flourish.]

Chaucer (of all admir'd) the story gives • »

There constant to eternity it lives.
If we let fall the nobleness of this,
And the first sound this child hear, be a hiss,
How will it shake the bones of that good man, 5

And make him cry from under ground, " O, fan
From me the witless chaff of such a writer
That blasts my bays, and my fam'd works makes lighter
Than Robin Hood !" This is the fear we bring ;
For, to say truth, it were an endless thing, 10

And too ambitious, to aspire to him.
Weak as we are, and almost breathless swim
In this deep water, do but you hold out
Your helping hands, and we shall tack about,
And something do to save us : you shall hear 15

Scenes, though below his art, may yet appear
Worth two hours' travail. To his bones sweet sleep !
Content to you ! — If this play do not keep
A little dull time from us, we perceive
Our losses fall so thick, we needs must leave. 20

^Flourish.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

DRAMATIS PERSONS.

THESEUS, Duke of Athens.

PALAMON, \The Two Noble Kinsmen,

ARCITE, ) in love •with Emilia.

PIRITHOUS, an Athenian general.

ARTESIUS, an Athenian captain.

VALERIUS, a Theban nobleman.

Si.v valiant Knights.

Herald.

Gaoler.

Wooer to the Gaoler's Daughter.

Doctor.

Gentleman.

GERROLD, a schoolmaster.

HIPPOLYTA, an Amazon, Iride to
Theseus.

EMILIA, her sister.

Three Queens.

Gaoler's Daughter, in love with
Palamon.

Servant to Emilia.

Country Wenches, and -women perso
nating Nymphs.

A Taberer, Countrymen, Messengers,
a man personating Hymen, Boy,
Executioner, Guard, Soldiers, &~'c.

SCENE, — ATHENS- and in part of the
First Act, THEBES.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Athens. Before a temple.

Enter HYMEN, with a torch burning; a Boy, in a white
robe, before, singing and, strewing flo'uws ; after HYMKN,
a Nymph, encompassed in her tresses, bearing a wheats;
garland ; then THESEUS, between 'two other Nymphs with
wheaten chaplets on their heads; then HIPPOLYTA, the
bride, led by PIRITHOUS, and another holding a garland
over her head, her tresses likewise 'hanging; after her,
EMILIA, holding up her train; and ARTESIUS.

THE SONG.

Roses, their sharp spines being gone,
Not royal in their smells' alone,

But in their huej
Maiden pinks, of odour faint,
Daisies smell-less, yet most quaint,

And sweet thyme true : —

{Music.

4 THE TWO NOJU.E KINSMEN.

Primrose, first-born child of Ver,
Merry spring-time's harbinger,

With hairbclls dim ;

Oxlips in their cradles growing, 10

Marigolds on death-beds blowing,

Larks-heels trim : —

All, dear Nature's children sweet,
Lie 'fore bride and bridegroom's feet,

Blessing their sense ! \Strewingflowers. 15
Not an angel of the air,
Bird melodious, or bird fair,

Be absent hence !

The crow, the slanderous cuckoo, nor

The boding raven, nor chough hoar, 20

Nor chatt'ring pie,

May on our bridehouse perch or sing,
Or with them any discord bring,

But from it fly !

1'jiter Three Queens, in Mack, with veils stained, with
imperial crowns. The First Queen falls down at the
foot of THESEUS ; the Second falls down at the foot of
HIPPOLYTA ; the Third before EMILIA.

1 Queen. For pity's sake, and true gentility's, 25
Hear and respect me !

2 Queen. For your mother's sake,
And as you wish yourself may thrive with fair ones,
Hear and respect me !

3 Queen. Now for the love of him whom Jove hath

mark'd

The honour of your bed, and for the sake 30

Of clear virginity, be advocate
For us, and our distresses ! This good deed
Shall raze you out o' the book of trespasses
All you are set down there.
Theseus. Sad lady, rise !
Hippolyta. Stand up !

'u. No knees to me ! 35

ACT I. SCENE L 5

What woman I may stead that is distress'd
Does bind me to her.

Theseus, What's your request ? Deliver you for all.

i Queen. We are three queens, whose sovereigns fell

before

The wrath of cruel Creon ; who endure 40

The beaks of ravens, talents of the kites,
And pecks of crows, in the foul fields of Thebes.
He will not suffer us to burn their bones,
To urn their ashes, nor to take th' offence
Of mortal loathsomeness from the blest eye 45

Of holy Phoebus ; but infects the winds
With stench of bur slain lords. O, pity, duke !
Thou purger of the earth, draw thy fear'd sword,
That does good turns to th' world ; give us the bones
Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them ! 50

And, of thy boundless goodness, take some note
That for our crowned heads we have no roof
Save this, which is the lion's and the bear's,
And vault to everything !

Theseus. Pray you kneel not !

I was transported with your speech, and suffer'd 55

Your knees to wrong themselves. I have heard the fortunes
Of your dead lords, which gives me such lamenting
As wakes my vengeance and revenge for 'em.
King Capaneus was your lord : the day
That he should marry you,' at such a season 60

As now it is with me, I met your groom
By Mars's altar ; you were that time fair ;
Not Juno's mantle fairer than your tresses,
Nor in more bounty spread her ; your wheaten wreath
Was then nor thresh'd, nor blasted ; Fortune at you' 65
Dimpled her cheek with smiles ; Hercules our kinsman
(Then weaker than your eyes) laid by his club,
He tumbled down upon his Nemean hide,
And swore his sinews thaw'd : O grief and time,
Fearful consumers, you will all devour ! 70

i Queen. O, I hope some god,
Some god hath put his mercy in your manhood,
Whereto he '11 infuse power, and press you forth

6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSM1-.

Our undertaker !

Theseus. O, no knees, none, widow !

Unto the helmeted Bellona use them, 75

And pray for me, your soldier. —
Troubled I am. [Turns away.

2 Queen. Honour'd Hippolyta,
Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain

The scythe-tusk' d boar ; that, with thy arm as strong

As it is white, wast near to make the male So

To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord

(Born to uphold creation in that honour,

First nature sty I'd it in) shrunk thee into

The bound thou wast o'erflowing, at once subduing

Thy force, and thy affection : soldieress, 85

That equally canst poise sternness with pity,

Who now, I know, hast much more power on him

Than ever he had on thee : who ow'st his strength

And his love too, who is a servant for

The tenor of thy speech : dear glass of ladies, 90

Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch,

Under the shadow of his sword may cool us !

Require him he advance it o'er our heads ;

Speak 't in a woman's key, like such a woman

As any of us three ; weep ere you fail ; 95

Lend us a knee ;

But touch the ground for us no longer time

Than a dove's motion, when the head 's pluck'd off !

Tell him, if he i' the blood-siz'd field lay swoln,

Showing the sun his teeth, grinning at the moon, 100

What you would do !

Hippolyta. Poor lady, say no more !

I had as lief trace this good action with you
As that whereto I 'm going, and never yet
Went I so willing way. My lord is taken
Heart-deep with your distress : let him consider; 105

I '11 speak anon.

3 Queen. Oh, my petition was [Kneels to Emilia.
Set down in ice, which, by hot grief uncandied,

Melts into drops ; so sorrow, wanting form,
Is press'd with deeper matter.

ACT I. SCENE I. 7

Emilia. Pray stand up ;

Your grief is written in your cheek.

3 Queen. O, woe ! no

You cannot read it there ; there, through my tears,
Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,
You may behold 'em ! Lady, lady, alack,
He that will all the treasure know o' the earth,
Must know the centre too ; he that will fish 115

For my least minnow, let him lead his line
To catch one at my heart. O, pardon me !
Extremity, that sharpens sundry wits,
Makes me a fool.

Emilia. Pray you, say nothing ; pray you !

Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in 't, 120

Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were
The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you,
T' instruct me 'gainst a capital grief indeed,
(Such heart-pierc'd demonstration !) — but, alas,
Being a natural sister of our sex, 125

Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me,
That it shall make a counter-reflect 'gainst
My brother's heart, and warm it to some pity
Though it were made of stone : pray have good comfort !

Theseus. Forward to th' temple ! leave not out a jot 130
O' the sacred ceremony.

1 Queen. O, this celebration
Will longer last, and be more costly, than

Your suppliants' war ! Remember that your fame
Knolls in the ear o' the world. What you do quickly
Is not done rashly; your first thought is more 135

Than others' labour'd meditance ; your premeditating
More than their actions ; but, (O Jove !) your actions,
Soon as they move, as ospreys do the fish,
Subdue before they touch. Think, dear duke, think
What beds our slain kings have !

2 Queen. What griefs our beds, 1 40
That our dear lords have none !

3 Queen. None fit for th' dead :
Those that, with cords', knives', drams' precipitance,
Weary of this world's light, have to themselves

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Been death's most horrid agents, human grace
Affords them dust and shadow —

i Queen. But our lords 145

Lie blistering Tore the visitating sun,
And were good kings, when living.

Theseus. It is true :

And I will give you comfort, [and engage
Myself and powers] to give your dead lords graves :
The which to do must make some work with Creon. 150

1 Queen. And that work now presents itself to th' doing :
Now 't will take form ; the heats are gone to-morrow;
Then, bootless toil must recompense itself

With its own sweat ; now, he 's secure,

Not dreams we stand before your puissance, 155

Rinsing our holy begging in our eyes,

To make petition clear.

2 Queen. Now you may take him,
Drunk witli his victory —

3 Q. And his army full
Of bread and sloth.

Theseus. Artesius, that best knowest

How to draw out, fit to this enterprise, 160

The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number
To carry such a business, forth and levy
Our worthiest instruments ; whilst we despatch
This grand act of our life, this daring deed
Of fate in wedlock !

1 Queen. Dowagers, take hands ! 165
Let us be widows to our woes ! Delay

Commends us to a famishing hope.

All tlie Queens. Farewell !

2 Queen. We come unseasonably ; but when could grief
Cull forth, as unpang'd judgment can, fit'st time

For best solicitation ?

Theseus. Why, good ladies, 170

This is a service, whereto I am going,
Greater than any war ; it more imports me
Than all the actions that I have foregone,
Or futurely can cope.

i Queen. The more proclaiming

ACT L SCENE I. 9

Our suit shall be neglected. When her arms, 175

Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall

By warranting moonlight corslet thee, O, when

Her twinning cherries shall their sweetness fall

Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think

Of rotten kings, or blubber'd queens ? what care i So

For what thou feel'st not, what thou feel'st being able

To make Mars spurn his drum ? O, if thou couch

But one night with her, every hour in 't will

Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and

Thou shalt remember nothing more than what 185

That banquet bids thee to !

Hippolyta (kneeling to Theseus). Though much unlike
You should be so transported, as much sorry
I should be such a suitor ; yet I think,
Did I not, by th' abstaining of my joy,
Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit 190

That craves a present medicine, I should pluck
All ladies' scandal on me. Therefore, sir,
As I shall here make trial of my prayers,
Either presuming them to have some force,
Or sentencing for aye their vigour dumb, 1 95

Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang
Your shield afore your heart, about that neck
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend
To do these poor queens service !

All Queens. O, help now ! \To Emilia.

Our cause cries for your knee.

Emilia (kneeling to Theseus). If you grant not 200

My sister her petition, in that force,
With that celerity and nature, which
She makes it in, from henceforth I '11 not dare
To ask you anything, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.

Theseus. Pray stand up ! 205

\Hippolyta and Emilia rise.
I am entreating of myself to do
That which you kneel to have me. Pirithous,
Lead on the bride ! Get you and pray the gods
For success and return ; omit not anything

io THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

In the pretended celebration. — Queens, 210

Follow your soldier. — As before, hence you, \To Artesius.

And at the banks of Aulis meet us with

The forces you can raise, where we shall find

The moiety of a number, for a business

More bigger look'd. — (To Hippolyta.} Since that our theme

is haste, 215

I stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip ;
Sweet, keep it as my token ! — (To Artesius.} Set you

forward ;

For I will see you gone. [Exit Artesius.

Farewell, my beauteous sister ! Pirithous,
Keep the feast full ; bate not an hour on \ \

Pirithous. Sir, 220

I '11 follow you at heels : the feast's solemnity
Shall want till your return.

Theseus. Cousin, I charge you,

Budge not from Athens ; we shall be returning
Ere you can end this feast, of which, I pray you,
Make no abatement. Once more, farewell all ! 225

\Exeunt Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous, Hymen, Hoy, Nymphs,
and Attendants, towards the templeJ]

1 Queen. Thus dost thou still make good the tongue o'

the world —

2 Queen. And earn'st a deity equal with Mars — •

3 Queen. If not above him ; for,

Thou, being but mortal, mak'st affections bend

To godlike honours ; they themselves, some say, 230

Groan under such a mastery.

Theseus. As we are men,

Thus should we do ; being sensually subdued,
We lose our human title. Good cheer, ladies !
Now turn we towards your comforts. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE II. TJiebes. The court of the Palace.
Enter PALAMON and ARCITE.

Arcite. Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood,
And our prime cousin, yet unharden'd in

ACT I. SCENE IT. ir

The crimes of nature ; let us leave the city,

Thebes, and the temptings in 't, before we further

Sully our gloss of youth ! 5

And here to keep in abstinence we shame

As in incontinence : for not to swim

I' the aid o' the current, were almost to sink,

At least to frustrate striving ; and to follow

The common stream, 'twould bring us to an eddy 10

Where we should turn or drown ; if labour through,

Our gain but life and weakness.

Palamon. Your advice

Is cried up with example : what strange ruins,
Since first we went to school, may we perceive
Walking in Thebes ! scars, and bare weeds, 1 5

The gain o' the martialist, who did propound,
To his bold ends, honour and golden ingots,
Which, though he won, he had not ; and now flurted
By Peace, for whom he fought ! Who then shall offer
To Mars's so-scorn'd altar? I do bleed 20

When such I meet, and wish great Juno would
Resume her ancient fit of jealousy,
To get the soldier work, that Peace might purge
For her repletion, and retain anew

Her charitable heart, now hard, and harsher 25

Than Strife or War could be.

Ardte. Are you not out ?

Meet you no ruin but the soldier in
The cranks and turns of Thebes ? You did begin
As if you met decays of many kinds :

Perceive you none that do arouse your pity, 30

But th' unconsider'd soldier?

Palamon. Yes ; I pity

Decays where'er I find them ; but such most,
That, sweating in an honourable toil,
Are paid with ice to cool 'em.

Ardte. JT is not this

I did begin to speak of; this is virtue 35

Of no respect in Thebes : I spake of Thebes,
How dangerous, if we will keep our honours,
It is for our residing ; where every evil

12 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Hath a good colour; where every seeming good's

A certain evil; where not to be ev'n jump 40

As they are, here were to be strangers, and

Such things to be mere monsters.

Falamon. It is in our power

(Unless we fear that apes can tutor 's) to
Be masters of our manners : what need I
Affect another's gait, which is not catching 45

Where there is faith? or to be fond upon
Another's way of speech, when by mine own
I may be reasonably conceiv'd ; sav'd too,
Speaking it truly? Why am I bound

By any generous bond to follow him 50

Follows his tailor, haply so long, until
The follow'd make pursuit ? Or let me know,
Why mine own barber is unbless'd, with him
My poor chin too, for 't is not scissar'd just
To such a favourite's glass? What canon is there 55

That does command my rapier from my hip,
To dangle 't in my hand, or to go tip-toe
Before the street be foul ? Either I am
The fore-horse in the team, or I am none
That draw i' the sequent trace ! These poor slight sores 60
Need not a plantain ; that which rips my bosom,
Almost to th} heart, 's —

Arcite. Our uncle Creon.

Palamon. He,

A most unbounded tyrant ! whose successes
Make Heaven unfear'd, and villainy assur'd,
Beyond its power there 's nothing : almost puts 65

Faith in a fever, and deifies alone
Voluble chance : who only attributes
The faculties of other instruments
To his own nerves and act : commands men's service,
And what they win in 't, boot and glory too: 70

That fears not to do harm; good dares not ! Let
The blood of mine that 's sib to him be suck'd
From me with leeches : let them break and fall
Off me with that corruption !

Arctic. Clear-spirited cousin,

ACT L SCENE II. 13

Let 's leave his court, that we may nothing share 7 5

Of his loud infamy ! for our milk
Will relish of the pasture, and we must
Be vile, or disobedient ; not his kinsmen
In blood, unless in quality.

Palamon, Nothing truer !

I think the echoes of his shames have deaf'd So

The ears of heav'nly justice : widows' cries
Descend again into their throats, and have not
Due audience of the gods. — Valerius !

Enter VALERIUS.

Valerius. The king calls for you ; yet be leaden-footed
Till his great rage be off him ! Phoebus, when i 85
He broke his whipstock and exclaim'd against
The horses of the sun, but whisper" d, to
The ioudness of his fury.

Palamon. Small winds shake him :

But what 's the matter ?

Valerius. Theseus (who, where he threats, appals) hath
sent 90

Deadly defiance to him, and pronounces
Ruin to Thebes ; who is at hand to seal
The promise of his wrath.

Arctic. Let him approach !

But that we fear the gods in him, he brings not
A jot of terror to us : yet what man 95

Thirds his own worth (the case is each of ours)
When that his action 's dregg'd with mind assur'd
'T is bad he goes about ?

Palamon. Leave that unreason'd !

Our services stand now for Thebes, not Creon.
Yet to be neutral to him were dishonour, \ i co

Rebellious to oppose ; therefore we must
With him stand to the mercy of our fate,
Who hath bounded our last minute.

Arcite. So we must.

Is 't said this war 's afoot ? or it shall be,
On fail of some condition ?

Valerius. 5T is in motion; 105

14 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

The intelligence of state came in the instant
With the defier.

Palamon. Let 's to the king ! who, were he

A quarter carrier of that honour which
His enemy comes in, the blood we venture
Should be as for our health; which were not spent, no

Rather laid out for purchase : but, alas,
Our hands advanc'd before our hearts, what will
The fall o' the stroke do damage ?

Arcite. Let th' event,

That never-erring arbitrator, tell us

When we know all ourselves; and let us follow 115

The becking of our chance ! \Exeunt.

SCENE III. Before the gates of Athens.
Enter PIRITHOUS, HIPPOLYTA, and EMILIA.

Pirithous. No further !

Hippolyta. Sir, farewell ! Repeat my wishes

To our great lord, of whose success I dare not
Make any timorous question ; yet I wish him
Excess and overflow of power, an 't might be,
To dare ill-dealing fortune. Speed to him ! 5

Store never hurts good governors.

Pirithous. Though I know

His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they
Must yield their tribute there. (To Emilia?) My precious

maid,

Those best affections that the heav'ns infuse
In their best-temper'd pieces, keep enthron'd 10

In your dear heart !

Emilia. Thanks, sir ! Remember me

To our all-royal brother ! for whose speed
The great Bellona I 'il solicit : and
Since, in our terrene State, petitions are not
Without gifts understood, I '11 offer to her 15

What I shall be advis'd she likes. Our hearts
Are in his army, in his tent !

Hippolyta. In 's bosom !

We have been soldiers, and we cannot weep

ACT I. SCENE III. 15

When our friends don their helms or put to sea,

Or tell of babes broach'd on the lance, or women 20

That have sod their infants in (and after eat them)

The brine they wept at killing 'em ; then if

You stay to see of us such spinsters, we

Should hold you here for ever.

Pirithous. Peace be to you,

As I pursue this war; which shall be then 25

Beyond further requiring. [Exit,

Emilia. How his longing

Follows his friend ! Since his depart, his sports,
Though craving seriousness and skill, pass'd slightly
His careless execution, where nor gain
Made him regard, or loss consider: but 30

Playing one business in his hand, another
Directing in his head, his mind nurse equal
To these so diff'ring twins ! Have you obser/d him
Since our great lord departed ?

Hippolyta. With much labour,

And I did love him for 't. They two have cabin'd 3 5

In many as dangerous, as poor a corner,
Peril and want contending; they have skiff d
Torrents, whose roaring tyranny and power
I' the least of these was dreadful: and they have
Fought out together, where death's self was lodg'd, 40

Yet fate hath brought them off. Their knot of love
Tied, weav'd, entangled, with so true, so long,
And with a finger of so deep a cunning,
May be outworn, never undone. I think
Theseus cannot be umpire to himself, 45

Cleaving his conscience into twain, and doing
Each side like justice, which he loves best.

Emilia. Doubtless

There is a best, and Reason has no manners
To say it is not you. I was acquainted
Once with a time, when I enjoy'd a playfellow; 50

You were at wars when she the grave enrich'd,
Who made too proud the bed, took leave o' the moon
(Which then look'd pale at parting) when our count
Was each eleven.

1 6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Hippolyta. 'T was Flavina,
Emilia. Yes.

You talk of Pirithous* and Theseus' love: 55

Theirs has more ground, is more maturely season'd,

More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs

The one of th' other may be said to water

Their intertangled roots of love; but I

And she I sigh and spoke of, were things innocent, 60

Lov'd for we did, and like the elements

That know not what, nor why, yet do effect

Rare issues by their operance; our souls

Did so to one another. What she liked,

Was then of me approv'd; what not, condemn'd, 65

No more arraignment. The flower that I would pluck

And put between my breasts (oh, then but beginning

To swell about the blossom), she would long

Till she had such another, and commit it

To the like innocent cradle, where phoenix-like 70

They died in perfume. On my head no toy

But was her pattern ; her affections (pretty,

Though happily her careless wear) I follow'd

For my most serious decking. Had mine ear

Stol'n some new air, or at adventure humm'd one 75

From musical coinage, why, it was a note

Whereon her spirits would sojourn (rather dwell on),

And sing it in her slumbers. This rehearsal

[Comes in with this importment,] has this end,

That the true love 'tween maid and maid may be So

More than in sex dividual.
Hippolyta. You 're out of breath.

And this high-speeded pace is but to say,

That you shall never, like the maid Flavina,

Love any that 's call'd man.

Emilia. I am sure I shall not

Hippolyta. Now, alack, weak sister, 85

I must no more believe thee in this point

(Though in 't I know thou dost believe thyself)

Than I will trust a sickly appetite,

That loathes even as it longs. But sure, my sister,

If I were ripe for your persuasion, you 90

ACT I. SCENE IV. 17

Have said enough to shake me from the arm
Of the all-noble Theseus; for whose fortunes
I will now in and kneel, with great assurance,
That we, more than his Pirithous, possess
The high throne in his heart.

Emilia. I am not 95

Against your faith; yet I continue mine. \Exeu;t;,

SCENE IV. A field before Thebes.

Cornets. A Battle struck within ; then a Retreat; Flourish-
Then enter THESEUS, victor ; the three Queens meet him,
and fall on their faces before him.

1 Queen. To thee no star be dark !

2 Queen. Both heav'n and earth
Friend thee for ever !

3 Queen. All the good that may
Be wish'd upon thy head, I cry ' amen ' to 't !

Theseus. Th' impartial gods, who from the mounted

heav'ns

View us their mortal herd, behold who err, 5

And in their time chastise. Go and find out
The bones of your dead lords, and honour them
With treble ceremony ! Rather than a gap
Should be in their dear rites, we would supply 't.
But those we will depute which shall invest 10

You in your dignities, and even each thing
Our haste does leave imperfect : so adieu,
And Heav'n's good eyes look on you ! — What are those ?

[Exeunt Queens.

Herald. Men of great quality, as may be judg'd
By their appointment ; some of Thebes have told us 15
They are sisters' children, nephews to the king.

Theseus. By th' helm of Mars, I saw them in the war,
Like to a pair of lions smear'd with prey
Make lanes in troops agast : I fix'd my note
Constantly on them; for they were a mark 20

Worth a god's view ! What was 't that prisoner told me,
When I inquir'd their names ?

Herald. With leave, they're call'd

iS THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Arcite and Palamon.

Theseus. 'T is right ; those, those.

They are not dead ?

Herald. Nor in a state of life : had they been taken 25
When their last hurts were given, 't was possible
They might have been recoverd ; yet they breathe,
And have the name of men.

Theseus. Then like men use 'em !

The very lees of such, millions of rates
Exceed the wine of others; all our surgeons 50

Convent in their behoof; our richest balms,
Rather than niggard, waste ! their lives concern us
Much more than Thebes is worth. Rather than have 'em
Freed of this plight, and in their morning state,
Sound and at liberty, I would Jem dead ; 35

.But, forty thousand fold, we had rather have 'em
Prisoners to us than death. Bear 'em speedily
From our kind air (to them unkind), and minister
What man to man may do ! for our sake, more !
Since I have known fight's fury, friends' behests, 40

Love's provocations, zeal [in] a mistress' task,
1 )esire of liberty — a fever, madness —
Hath set a mark which nature could not reach to
Without some imposition, sickness in will,
Or wrestling strength in reason. For our love 45

And great Apollo's mercy, all our best
Their best skill tender ! — Lead into the city :
Where having bound things scatter'd, we will post
TO Athens Tore our army. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE V. A field before Thebes.

Music. Enter the Queens with the Hearses of their Knights,
in a funeral solemnity, o>r.

SONG.

Urns and odours bring away,
Vapours, sighs, darken the day !
Our dole more deadly looks than dying !
Balms, and gums, and heavy cheers,
Sacred vials, fill'd with tears, 5

And clamours, through the wild air flying :

ACT II. SCENE I. 19

Come, all sad and solemn shows,
That are quick-ey'd Pleasure's foes !
We convent nought else but woes.

We convent, &c. 10

3 Queen. This funeral path brings to your household's grave :
Joy seize on you again ! Peace sleep with him !

2 Queen. And this to yours !

i Quern. Yours this way ! Heavens lend

A thousand differing ways to one sure end !

3 Queen. This world's a city, full of straying streets; 15
And death's the market-place, where each one meets.

[Exeunt severally.

ACT II.

SCENE I. Athens. A garden, with a castle in the background,
Enter GAOLER and WOOER.

Gaoler. I may depart with little, while I live ; something
I may cast to you, not much. Alas, the prison I keep,
though it be for great ones, yet they seldom come : before
one salmon, you shall take a number of minnows. I am
given out to be better lined than it can appear to me
report is a true speaker ; I would I were really that I am
delivered to be ! Marry, what I have (be it what it will) I
will assure upon my daughter at the day of my death.

Wooer. Sir, I demand no more than your own offer; and
I will estate your daughter in what I have promised. TO

Gaoler. Well, we will talk more of this when the
solemnity is past. But have you a full promise of her ?
When that shall be seen, I tender my consent.

Wooer. I have, sir. Here she comes. 14

Enter DAUGHTER, •with rushes.

Gaoler. Your friend and I have chanced to name you
here, upon the old business : but no more of that now. So
soon as the court-hurry is over, we will have an end of it. I'
the mean time, look tenderly to the two prisoners. I can
tell you they are princes. 19

Daughter. These strewings are for their chamber. 'Tis
pity they are in prison, and 't were pity they should be out.
I do think they have patience to make any adversity

20 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

ashamed : the prison itself is proud of 'em : and they have
all the world in their chamber. .

Gaoler. They are famed to be a pair of absolute men. 25

Daughter. By my troth, I think fame but stammers 'em ;
they stand a greise above the reach of report.

Gaoler. I heard them reported, in the battle to be the
only doers.

Daughter. Nay, most likely; for they are noble sufferers.
I marvel how they would have looked, had they been
victors, that with such a constant nobility enforce a freedom
out of bondage, making misery their mirth, and affliction a
toy to jest at.

Gaoler. Do they so? 35

Daughter. It seems to me, they have no more sense of
their captivity, than I of ruling Athens : they eat well, look
merrily, discourse of many things, but nothing of their own
restraint and disasters. Yet, sometime, a divided sigh,
martyred as 't were i' the deliverance, will break from one
of them ; when the other presently gives it so sweet a rebuke,
that I could wish myself a sigh to be so chid, or at least a
sigher to be comforted. 43

Wooer. I never saw 'em.

Gaoler. The duke himself came privately in the night,
and so did they ; what the reason of it is, I know not.

Enter PALAMON and ARCITE, above.

Look, yonder they are ! that 's Arcite looks out.

Daughter. No, sir, no ; that 's Palamon : Arcite is the
lower of the twain : you may perceive a part of him. 49

Gaoler. Go to, leave your pointing ! They would not
make us their object: out of their sight !

Daughter. It is a holiday to look on them ! Lord, the
difference of men ! [Exit, with Gaoler and Wooer.

Palamon. How do you, noble cousin ?

Arcite. How do you, sir ?

Palamon. Why, strong enough to laugh at misery, 55
And bear the chance of war yet. We are prisoners,
I fear, for ever, cousin.

Arcite. I believe it ;

And to that destiny have patiently

ACT II. SCENE I. 21

Laid up my hour to come.

Palamon. Oh, cousin Arcite,

Where is Thebes now? where is our noble country ? 60
Where are our friends and kindreds ? Never more
Must we behold those comforts ; never see
The hardy youths strive for the games of honour,
Hung with the painted favours of their ladies,
Like tall ships under sail ; then start amongst 'em, 65

And, as an east wind, leave 'em all behind us
Like lazy clouds, whilst Palamon and Arcite,
Even in the wagging of a wanton leg,
Out-stripp'd the people's praises, won the garlands,
Ere they have time to wish 'em ours. Oh, never 70

Shall we two exercise, like twins of honour,
Our arms again, and feel our fiery horses
Like proud seas under us ! Our good swords now,
(Better the red-ey'd god of war ne'er wore)
Ravish'd our sides, like age, must run to rust, 7 5

And deck the temples of those gods that hate us ;
These hands shall never draw 'em out like lightning,
To blast whole armies, more !

Arcite. No, Palamon,

Those hopes are prisoners with us : here we are,
And here the graces of our youths must wither, So

Like a too-timely spring ; here age must find us,
And, which is heaviest, Palamon, unmarried ;
The sweet embraces of a loving wife,
Loaden with kisses, arm'd with thousand Cupids,
Shall never clasp our necks ! no issue know us ; 85

No figures of ourselves shall we e'er see,
To glad our age, and like young eagles teach 'em
Boldly to gaze against bright arms, and say,
' Remember what your fathers were, and conquer !'
The fair-ey'd maids shall weep our banishments, 90

And in their songs curse ever-blinded Fortune,
Till she for shame see what a wrong she has done
To youth and nature. This is all our world ;
We shall know nothing here, but one another ;
Hear nothing, but the clock that tells our woes ; 95

The vine shall grow, but we shall never" see it ;

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX.

Summer shall come, and with her all ddights,

But dead cold winter must inhabit here still !

Palamon. ;T is too true, Arcite! To our Theban hounds,

That shook the aged forest with their echoes, 100

No more now must we halloo ; no more shake

( )ur pointed javelins, whilst the angry swine

Flies like a Parthian quiver from our rages,

Stuck with our well-steel'd darts ! All valiant uses

(The food and nourishment of noble minds) 105

In us two here shall perish ; we shall die,

(Which is the curse of honour !) lastly,

Children of grief and ignorance.

Arcite. Yet, cousin,

Even from the bottom of these miseries,

From all that fortune can inflict upon us, no

I see two comforts rising, two mere blessings,

If the gods please to hold here,- — a brave patience,

And the enjoying of our griefs together.

Whilst Palamon is with me, let me perish

If I think this our prison !

Palamon. Certainly, 1 1 5

'T is a main goodness, cousin, that our fortunes
Were twin'd together : 't is most true, two souls
Put in two noble bodies, let 'em suffer
The gall of hazard, so they grow together,
Will never sink ; they must not ; say they could, 120

A willing man dies sleeping, and all 's done.

Arcite. Shall we make worthy uses of this place,
That all men hate so much ?

Palamon. How, gentle cousin ?

Arcite. Let 's think this prison holy sanctuary,
To keep us from corruption of worse men ! 125

We are young, and yet desire the ways of honour,
That liberty and common conversation,
The poison of pure spirits, might, like women,
Woo us to, wander from. What worthy blessing
Can be, but our imaginations 130

May make it ours? and here being thus together,
We are an endless mine to one another ;
We are one another's wife, ever begetting

ACT II. SCENE I. 23

New births of love ; we are father, friends, acquaintance ;

We are, in one another, families; 135

I am your heir, and you are mine ; this place

Is our inheritance ; no hard oppressor

Dare take this from us : here, with a little patience,

We shall live long, and loving ; no surfeits seek us ;

The hand of war hurts none here, nor the seas 140

Swallow their youth. Were we at liberty,

A wife might part us lawfully, or business ;

Quarrels consume us ; envy of ill men

Grave our acquaintance ; I might sicken, cousin,

Where you should never know it, and so perish 145

Without your noble hand to close mine eyes,

Or prayers to the gods : a thousand chances,

Were we from hence, would sever us.

Palamon. You have made me

(I thank you, cousin Arcite !) almost wanton
With my captivity : what a misery 150

It is to live abroad, and everywhere ! '
'T is like a beast, methinks ! I find the court here,
I am sure, a more content ; and all those pleasures,
That woo the wills of men to vanity,

I see through now ; and am sufficient 155

To tell the world, 'tis but a gaudy shadow,
That old Time, as he passes by, takes with him.
What had we been, old in the court of Creon,
Where sin is justice, lust and ignorance
The virtues of the great ones ! Cousin Arcite, 160

Had not the loving gods found this place for us,
We had died as they do, ill old men, unwept,
And had their epitaphs, the people's curses !
Shall I say more ?

Arcite. I would hear you still.

Palamon. Ye shall.

Is there record of any two that lov'd 165

Better than we do, Arcite ?

Arcite. Sure, there cannot.

Palamon. I do not think it possible our friendship
Should ever leave us.

Arcite. Till our deaths it cannot ;

24 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Enter EMILIA and her Servant, below.

And after death our spirits shall be led

To those that love eternally. Speak on, sir ! 170

Emilia. This garden has a world of pleasures in 't.
What flower is this ?

Servant. 'T is call'd Narcissus, madam.

Emilia. That was a fair boy, certain, but a fool
To love himself : were there not maids enough ?

Arcite. Pray, forward !

Palamon. Yes.

Emilia. Or were they all hard-hearted ? 1 7 5

Servant. They could not be to one so fair.

Emilia. Thou wouldst not ?

Servant. I think I should not, madam.

Emilia. That 's a good wench;

But take heed to your kindness though !

Servant. ^Thy, madam ?

Emilia. Men are mad things.

Arcite. Will ye go forward, cousin ?

Emilia. Canst not thou work such flowers in silk, wench?

Servant. Yes.

Emilia. I '11 have a gown full of 'em ; and of these ;
This is a pretty colour : will 't not do
Rarely upon a skirt, wench ?

Servant. Dainty, madam.

Arcite. Cousin! Cousin! How do you, sir? Why, Palamon !

Palamon. Never till now I was in prison, Arcite. 185

Arcite. Why, what 's the matter, man ?

Palamon. Behold, and wonder !

By heaven, she is a goddess !

Arcite. Ha !

Palamon. Do reverence !

She is a goddess, Arcite !

Emilia. Of all flowers,

Methinks a rose is best.

Servant. Why, gentle madam ?

Emilia. It is the very emblem of a maid : 190

For when the west wind courts her gently,
How modestly she blows, and paints the sun

ACT II. SCENE I. 25

With her chaste blushes ! when the north comes near her,
Rude and impatient, then, like chastity,
She locks her beauties in her bud again, 195

And leaves him to base briers.

Arcite. She is wondrous fair !

Palawan. She is all the beauty extant !

Emilia. The sun grows high ; let 's walk in. Keep these

flowers ;
We '11 see how near art can come near their colours.

[Exit with Servant.

Palamon. What think you of this beauty ?

Arcite. 'T is a rare one. 200

Palamon. Is 't but a rare one ?

Arcite. Yes, a matchless beauty.

Palamon. Might not a man well lose himself, and love her?

Arcite. I cannot tell what you have done ; I have,
Beshrew mine eyes for 't ! Now I feel my shackles.

Palamon. You love her then ?

Arcite. Who would not ?

Palamon. And desire her? 205

Arcite. Before my liberty.

Palamon. I saw her first.

Arcite. That 's nothing.

Palamon. But it shall be.

Arcite. I saw her too.

Palamon. Yes ; but you must not love her.

Arcite. I will not, as you do, to worship her,
As she is heav'nly, and a blessed goddess : 210

I love her as a woman, to possess her ;
So both may love.

Palamon. You shall not love at all.

Arcite. Not love at all ? who shall deny me ?

Palamon. I that first saw her ; I that took possession
First with mine eye of all those beauties in her 215

Reveal'd to mankind ! If thou lovest her,
Or entertain'st a hope to blast my wishes,
Thou art a traitor, Arcite, and a fellow
False as thy title to her : friendship, blood,
And all the ties between us I disclaim, 220

If thou once think upon her !

26 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

A rate. Yes, I love her;

And if the lives of all my name lay on it,
I must do so ; I love her with my soul.
If that will lose ye, farewell, Palamon !
I say again, I love ; and, in loving her, maintain 225

I am as worthy and as free a lover,
And have as just a title to her beauty,
As any Palamon, or any living,
That is a man's son.

Palamon. Have I call'd thee friend ?

Arctic. Yes, and have found me so. Why are you mov'd
thus? 230

Let me deal coldly with you ! am not I
Part of your blood, part of your soul ? you have told me
That / was Palamon, and you were Arcite !

Palamon. Yes.

Arcite. Am not I liable to those affections, 235

Those joys, griefs, angers, fears, my friend shall suffer?

Palamon. Ye may be.

Arcite. Why then would you deal so cunningly,

So strangely, so unlike a Noble Kinsman,
To love alone ? Speak truly ; do you think me
Unworthy of her sight ?

Palamon. No; but unjust 240

If thou pursue that sight.

Arcite. Because another

First sees the enemy, shall I stand still,
And let mine honour down, and never charge ?

Palamon. Yes, if he be but one.

Arcite. But say that one

Had rather combat me ?

Palamon. Let that one say so, 245

And use thy freedom ! else, if thou puisuest her,
Be as that cursed man that hates his country,
A branded villain !

Arcite. You are mad.

Palamon. I must be,

Till thou art worthy : Arcite, it concerns me ;
And, in this madness, if I hazard thee 250

And take thy life, I deal but truly.

ACT II. SCENE L 27

Arcite. Fie, sir !

You play the child extremely : I will love her,
I must, I ought to do so, and I dare ;
And all this justly.

Palamon. Oh, that now, that now,

Thy false self and thy friend had but this fortune, 255

To be one hour at liberty, and grasp
Our good swords in our hands, I would quickly teach thee
What \ were to filch affection from another !
Thou art baser in it than a cutpurse !

Put but thy head out of this window more, 260

And, as I have a soul, I '11 nail thy life to 't !

Arcite. Thou dar'st not, fool; thou canst not; thou art

feeble !

Put my head out ? I '11 throw my body out,
And leap the garden, when I see her next,
And pitch between her arms, to anger thee. 265

Enter Gaoler, above.

Palamon. No more ! the keeper 's coming : I shall live
To knock thy brains out with my shackles.

Arcite. Do !

Gaoler. By your leave, gentlemen.

Palamon. Now, honest keeper ?

Gaoler. Lord Arcite, you must presently to th' duke :
The cause I know not yet.

Arcite. I am ready, keeper. 270

Gaoler. Prince Palamon, I must awhile bereave you
Of your fair cousin's company. [Exit with Arcite.

Palamon. And me too,

Even when you please, of life ! — Why is he sent for ?
It may be, he shall marry her : he 's goodly;
And like enough the duke hath taken notice 275

Both of his blood and body. But his falsehood !
Why should a friend be treacherous ! If that
Get him a wife so noble, and so fair,
Let honest men ne'er love again ! Once more
I would but see this fair one. Blessed garden, 280

And fruit, and flowers more blessed, that still blossom
As her bright eyes shine on ye ! Would I were,

28 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSHEX.

For all the fortune of my life hereafter,

Yon little tree, yon blooming apricock !

How I would spread, and fling my wanton arms 285

In at her window ! I would bring her fruit

Fit for the gods to feed on ; youth and pleasure,

Still as she tasted, should be doubled on her;

And, if she be not heav'nly, I would make her

So near the gods in nature, they should fear her; 290

And then I am sure she would love me.

Enter GAOLER, above.

How now, keeper !
Where 's Arcite ?

Gaoler. Banish'd. Prince Pirithous

Obtained his liberty ; but never more,
Upon his oath and life, must he set foot
Upon this kingdom.

Palamon. He 's a blessed man ! 295

He shall see Thebes again, and call to arms
The bold young men, that, when he bids 'em charge,
Fall on like fire : Arcite shall have a fortune,
If he dare make himself a worthy lover,
Yet in the field to strike a battle for her ; 300

And if he lose her then, he 's a cold coward.
How bravely may he bear himself to win her,
If he be noble Arcite, thousand ways !
Were I at liberty, I would do things

Of such a virtuous greatness, that this lady, 305

This blushing virgin, should take manhood to her,
And seek to grasp at me !

Gaoler. My lord, for you

I have this charge too.

Palamon. To discharge my life ?

Gaoler. No ; but from this place to remove your lordship ;
The windows are too open.

Palamon. Devils take 'em, 310

That are so envious to me ! Prithee, kill me !

Gaoler. And hang for 't afterward ?

Palamon. By this good light,

Had I a sword, I would kill thee !

ACT II. SCENE II. 29

Gaoler. ^~hy, my lord ?

Palamon. Thou bring'st such pelting scurvy news con
tinually,
Thou art not worthy life ! I will not go. 315

Gaoler. Indeed you must, my lord.

Palamon. May I see the garden ?

Gaoler. No.

Palamon. Then I am resolved I will not go.

Gaoler. I must

Constrain you then ! and, for you are dangerous,
I '11 clap more irons on you.

Palamon. Do, good keeper !

I '11 shake 'em so, ye shall not sleep ; 320

I '11 make ye a new morris ! Must I go ?

Gaoler. There is no remedy.

Palamon. Farewell, kind window !

May rude wind never hurt thee ! O my lady,
If ever thou hast felt what sorrow was,
Dream how I surfer ! Come, now bury me. 325

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The country near Athetis.
Enter ARCITE.

Anite. Banish'd the kingdom ? 'T is a benefit,
A mercy I must thank 'em for; but, banish'd
The free enjoying of that face I die for,
Oh, 't was a studied punishment, a death
Beyond imagination ! such a vengeance, 5

That, were I old and wicked, all my sins
Could never pluck upon me. Palamon,
Thou hast the start now ; thou shalt stay and see
Her bright eyes break each morning 'gainst thy window,
And let in life into thee ; thou shalt feed 10

Upon the sweetness of a noble beauty,
That nature ne'er exceeded, nor ne'er shall :
Good gods, what happiness has Palamon !
Twenty to one, he '11 come to speak to her ;
And, if she be as gentle as she ;s fair, 1 5

I know she 's his ; he has a tongue will tame

30 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Tempests, and make the wild rocks wanton. Come what

can come,

The worst is death ; I will not leave the kingdom :
I know mine own is but a heap of ruins,
And no redress there ; if I go, he has her. 20

I am resolv'd : another shape shall make me,
Or end my fortunes ; either way, I am happy :
I '11 see her, and be near her, or no more.

Enter four Country People ; one with a Garland before them,

1 Countryman, My masters, I '11 be there, that 's certain.

2 Countryman. And I '11 be there.

3 Countryman. And I. 25

4 Countryman. Why then, have with ye, boys, 't is but a

chiding ;

Let the plough play to-day ! I '11 tickle 't out
Of the jades' tails to-morrow !

1 Countryman. I am sure
To have my wife as jealous as a turkey :

But that 's all one ; I '11 go through, let her mumble. 30

3 Countryman. Do we all hold against the Maying ?

4 Countryman. Hold ! what should ail Vis ?

3 Countryman. Areas will be there.

2 Countryman. And Sennois,

And Rycas ; and three better lads ne'er danc'd

Under green tree ; and ye know what wenches. Ha ! 35

But will the dainty domine, the schoolmaster,

Keep touch, do you think ? for he does all, ye kno\v.

3 Countryman. He '11 eat a hornbook, ere he fail : go to!
The matter 's too far driven between

Him and the tanner's daughter, to let slip now; 40

And she must see the duke, and she must dance too.

4 Countryman. Shall we be lusty ?

2 Countryman. [-^ve>] and here I '11 be,

And there I '11 be, for our town ; and here again,
And there again ! Ha, boys, heigh for the weaver's !

1 Countryman. This must be done i' the woods.

4 Countryman, Oh, pardon me ! 45

2 Countryman. By any means; our thing of learning

says so;

ACT II. SCENE IL 31

Where he himself will edify the duke

Most parlously in our behalfs ; he 's excellent i' the woods ;

Bring him to th' plains, his learning makes no cry.

3 Countryman. We '11 see the sports ; then every man to

's tackle ! 50

And, sweet companions, let 's rehearse by any means,
Before the ladies see us, and do sweetly,
And God knows what may come on 't !

4 Countryman. Content : the sports
Once ended, we '11 perform. Away, boys, and hold !

Arctic. By your leaves, honest friends ! Pray you,
whither go you ? 55

4 Countryman. Whither? why, what a question 's that!
Arcite. Yes, 't is a question

To me that know not.

3 Countryman. To the games, my friend.

2 Countryman. Where were you bred, you know it not ?
Arcite. Not far, sir.

Are there such games to-day ?

i Countryman. Yes, marry, are there ;

And such as you ne'er saw : the duke himself 60

Will be in person there.

Arcite. What pastimes are they?

z Countryman. Wrestling and running. — 'T is a pretty
fellow.

3 Countryman. Thou wilt not go along ?

Arcite. Not yet, sir.

4 Countryman. Well, sir,
Take your own time. Come, boys !

1 Countryman. My mind misgives me,
This fellow has a vengeance trick o' the hip ; 65
Mark, how his body 's made for 't !

2 Countryman. I '11 be hanged though
If he dare venture ; hang him, plum-porridge !

He wrestle ? He roast eggs ! Come, let 's be gone, lads !

\Exeunt Countrymen.
Arcite. This is an offer'd opportunity

I durst not wish for. Well I could have wrestled, 70

The best men calFd it excellent ; and run,
Swifter than wind upon a field of corn

32 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

(Curling the wealthy ears) e'er flew ! I '11 venture,

And in some poor disguise be there : who knows

Whether my brows may be not girt with garlands, 75

And happiness prefer me to a place

Where I may ever dwell in sight of her ? [Exit.

SCEXE III. Athens. A room in ike prison.

Enter Gaoler's DAUGHTER.

Daughter. Why should I love this gentleman ? 'T is odds
He never will affect me : I am base,
My father the mean keeper of his prison,
And he a prince : to marry him is hopeless,
To lore him else is witless. Out upon 't ! 5

What pushes are we wenches driven to,
When fifteen once has found us ! First, I saw him ;
I, seeing, thought he was a goodly man ;
He has as much to please a woman in him,
(If he please to bestow it so) as ever 10

These eyes yet look'd on : next, I pitied him ;
And so would any young wench, o' my conscience,
That ever dream'd, or vow'd her whole affection
To a young handsome man : [and] then, I lov'd him,
Extremely lov'd him, infinitely lov'd him ! T 5

And yet he had a cousin, fair as he too ;
But in my heart was Palamon, and there,
Lord, what a coil he keepsT To hear him
Sing in an evening, what a heaven it is !
And yet his songs are sad ones. Fairer spoken 20

Was never gentleman : when I come in
To bring him water in a morning, first
He bows his noble body, then salutes me thus :
' Fair gentle maid, good morrow ! may thy goodness
Get thee a happy husband !' Once he kiss'd me ; 25

I lov'd my lips the better ten days after :
Would he would do so ev'ry day ! He grieves much,
And me as much to see his misery :
What should I do, to make him know I love him ?
For I would fain possess him : say I ventur'd 30

To set him free ? what says the law then ?

ACT II. SCENE IV. 33

Thus much for law, or kindred ! I will do it,

And this night or to-morrow he shall love me ! [Exit.

SCENE IV. An open place in Athens. A short flourish of
cornets, and shouts within.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PIRITHOUS, EMILIA, and
ARCITE (disguised), with a garland, &c.

Theseus. You have done worthily ; I have not seen,
Since Hercules, a man of tougher sinews :
Whate'er you are, you run the best and wrestle,
That these times can allow.

Arcite. I am proud to please you.

Theseus. What country bred you ?

Arcite. This ; but far off, prince. 5

Theseus. Are you a gentleman ?

Arcite. My father said so ;

And to those gentle uses gave me life.

Theseus. Are you his heir ?

Arcite. His youngest, sir.

Theseus. Your father,

Sure, is a happy sire then. What proves you ?

Arcite. A little of all noble qualities : i o

I could have kept a hawk, and well have halloo'd
To a deep cry of dogs ; I dare not praise
My feat in horsemanship, yet they that knew me
Would say it was my best piece ; last, and greatest,
I would be thought a soldier.

Theseus. You are perfect. 15

Pirithous. Upon my soul, a proper man !

Emilia. He is so.

Pirithous. How do you like him, lady?

Hippolyta. I admire him :

I have not seen so young a man so noble
(If he say true) of his sort.

Emilia. Believe,

His mother was a wondrous handsome woman ! 20

His face methinks goes that way,

Hippolyta. But his body

And fiery mind illustrate a brave father.

s. 3

34 THE TWO NOBLE KL\SUEN.

Pirithous. Mark how his virtue, like a hidden sun,
Breaks through his baser garments.

Hippolyta. He 's well born, sure.

Theseus. What made you seek this place, sir ?

Arctic. Noble Theseus, 25

To purchase name, and do my ablest sen-ice
To such a well-found wonder as thy worth ;
For only in thy court, of all the world,
Dwells fair-ey'd Honour.

Pirithous. All his words are worthy.

Theseus. Sir, we are much indebted to your travail, 30
Nor shall you lose your wish. Pirithous,
Dispose of this fair gentleman.

Pirithous. Thanks, Theseus ! —

Whate'er you are, you 're mine ; and I shall give you
To a most noble service, to this lady,

This bright young virgin : pray observe her goodness. 35
You Ve honour'd her fair birthday with your virtues,
And, as your due, you 're hers ; kiss her fair hand, sir.

Arcite. Sir, you 're a noble giver. — Dearest beauty,
Thus let me seal my vow'd faith ! when your servant
(Your most unworthy creature) but offends you, 40

Command him die, he shall.

Emilia. That were too cruel.

If you deserve well, sir, I shall soon see 't :
You 're mine ; and somewhat better than your rank
I '11 use you.

Pirithous. I '11 see you furnish'd : and because you say 45
You are a horseman, I must needs entreat you
This afternoon to ride ; but 't is a rough one.

Arcite. I like him better, prince; I shall not then
Freeze in my saddle.

Theseus. Sweet, you must be ready —

And you, Emilia — and you, friend — and all — 50

To-morrow, by the sun, to do observance
To flow'ry May, in Dian's wood. Wait well, sir,
Upon your mistress ! Emily, I hope
He shall not go afoot.

Emilia. That were a shame, sir,

While I have horses. Take your choice; and what 55

ACT II. SCENE V. 35

You want at any time, let me but know it :
If you serve faithfully, I dare assure you
You '11 find a loving mistress.

Arcite. If I do not,

Let me find that my father ever hated,
Disgrace and blows !

Theseus. Go, lead the way; you have won it; 60

It shall be so : you shall receive all dues
Fit for the honour you have won ; 't were wrong else.
Sister, beshrew my heart, you have a servant,
That, if I were a woman, would be master ;
But you are wise.

Emilia. I hope too wise for that, sir. \Flourish.

Exeunt.

SCENE V. Before the prison.
Enter Gaoler's DAUGHTER.

Daughter. Let all the dukes and all the devils roar,
He is at liberty ! I 've ventur'd for him ;
And out I have brought him to a little wood
A mile hence. I have sent him, where a cedar,
Higher than all the rest, spreads like a plane 5

Fast by a brook ; and there he shall keep close,
Till I provide him files and food ; for yet
His iron bracelets are not off. O Love,
What a stout-hearted child thou art ! My father
Durst better have endur'd cold iron than done it. ro

I love him beyond love, and beyond reason,
Or wit, or safety ! I have made him know it :
I care not ; I am desperate ! If the law
Find me, and then condemn me for 't, some wencr. es,
Some honest-hearted maids, will sing my dirge, 15

And tell to memory my death was noble,
Dying almost a martyr. That way he takes,
I purpose, is my way too : sure he cannot
Be so unmanly as to leave me here !

If he do, maids will not so easily 20

Trust men again : and yet he has not thank' d me
For what I have done ; no, not so much as kiss'd me ;

3—2

36 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

And that, methinks, is not so well ; nor scarcely

Could I persuade him to become a freeman,

He made such scruples of the wrong he did 25

To me and to my father. Yet, I hope,

When he considers more, this love of mine

Will take more root within him : let him do

What he will with me, so he use me kindly !

For use me so he shall, or I '11 proclaim him, 30

And to his face, no man. I '11 presently

Provide him necessaries, and pack my clothes up,

And where there is a path of ground I '11 venture,

So he be with me ! by him, like a shadow,

I '11 ever dwell. Within this hour the whoobub 35

Will be all o'er the prison : I am then

Kissing the man they look for. — Farewell, father !

( iet many more such prisoners, and such daughters,

And shortly you may keep yourself. Now to him ! \E.\~it.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A forest. Cornets in sundry places. Nsise
and hallooing, as of People a-Maying.

Enter ARCITE.

Artitc. The duke has lost Hippolyta ; each took
A several laund. This is a solemn rite
They owe bloom'd May, and the Athenians pay it
To the heart of ceremony. O queen Emilia,
Fresher than May, sweeter 5

Than her gold buttons on the boughs, or all
Tli' enamell'd knacks o' the mead or garden ! yea,
We challenge too the bank of any nymph,
That makes the stream seem flowers; thou, O jewel
()' the wood, o' the world, hast likewise bless'd a place 10
With thy sole presence ! In thy rumination
That I, poor man, might eftsoons come between,
And chop on some cold thought ! — -Thrice blessed chance,
To drop on such a mistress — expectation
Most guiltless on 't ! Tell me, O lady Fortune, 1 5

(Next after Emily my sovereign,) how far
I may be proud ? She takes strong note of me,

ACT III. SCENE I. 37

Hath made me near her, and this beauteous morn

(The prim'st of all the year) presents me with

A brace of horses ; two such steeds might well 20

Be by a pair of kings back'd, in a field

That their crowns' titles tried. Alas, alas,

Poor cousin Palamon, poor prisoner ! thou

So little dream'st upon my fortune, that

Thou think'st thyself the happier thing, to be 25

So near Emilia! Me thou deem'st at Thebes,

And therein wretched, although free : but if

Thou knew'st my mistress breath'd on me, and that

I ear'd her language, liv'd in her eye, O coz,

What passion would enclose thee !

Enter PALAMON as out of a bush, with his shackles ;
he bends his Jist at ARCITE.

Palamon. Traitor kinsman ! 30

Thou shouldst perceive my passion, if these signs
Of prisonment were off me, and this hand
But owner of a sword ! By all oaths in one,
I, and the justice of my love, would make thee
A confess' d traitor ! O thou most perfidious 35

That ever gently look'd ! the void'st of honour
That e'er bore gentle token ! falsest cousin
That ever blood made kin ! call'st thou her thine ?
I '11 prove it in my shackles, with these hands
Void of appointment, that thou liest, and art 40

A very thief in love, a chaffy lord,
Nor worth the name of villain ! Had 1 a sword,
And these house-clogs away —

Arcite. Dear cousin Palamon —

Palamon. Cozener Arcite, give me language such
As thou hast show'd me feat !

Arcite. Not finding, in 45

The circuit of my breast, any gross stuff
To form me like your blazon, holds me to
This gentleness of answer : 't is your passion
That thus mistakes ; the which, to you being enemy,
Cannot to me be kind. Honour and honesty 50

I cherish, and depend on, howsoe'er

3S THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

You skip them in me, and with them, fair coz,

I '11 maintain my proceedings. Pray be pleas'd

To show in generous terms your griefs, since that

Your question 's with your equal, who professes 55

To clear his own way with the mind and sword

Of a true gentleman.

Palamon. That thou durst, Arcite !

Arcite. My coz, my coz, you have been well advertis'd
How much I dare : you Ve seen me use my sword
Against th' advice of fear. Sure, of another 60

You would not hear me doubted, but your silence
Should break out, though i' the sanctuary.

Palamon. Sir,

I Ve seen you move in such a place, which well
Might justify your manhood ; you were call'd
A good knight and a bold : but the whole week 's not
fair, 65

If any day it rain ! Their valiant temper
Men lose, when they incline to treachery ;
And then they fight like compell'd bears, would fly
Were they not tied.

Arcite. Kinsman, you might as well

Speak this, and act it in your glass, as to 70

His ear, which now disdains you !

Palamon. Come up to me !

Quit me of these cold gyves, give me a sword
(Though it be rusty), and the charity
Of one meal lend me ; come before me then,
A good sword in thy hand, and do but say 75

That Emily is thine, I will forgive
The trespass thou hast done me, yea, my life,
If then thou carry 't ; and brave souls in shades,
That have died manly, which will seek of me
Some news from earth, they shall get none but this, 80

That thou art brave and noble.

Arcite. Be content ;

Again betake you to your hawthorn-house.
With counsel of the night, I will be here
With wholesome viands ; these impediments
Will I file off; you shall have garments, and 85

ACT III. SCENE L 39

Perfumes to kill the smell o' the prison • after,
When you shall stretch yourself, and say but, ' Arcite,
I am in plight !' there shall be at your choice
Both sword and armour.

Palamon. Oh, you heav'ns, dare any

So nobly bear a guilty business ? None 90

But only Arcite ; therefore none but Arcite
In this kind is so bold.

Arcite. Sweet Palamon —

Palamon. I do embrace you, and your offer : for
Your offer do 't I only, sir; your person,
Without hypocrisy, I may not wish 95

More than my sword's edge on 't. [Horns winded within.

Arcite. You hear the horns :

Enter your musit, lest this match between 's
Be cross'd ere met. Give me your hand ; farewell !
I '11 bring you every needful thing : I pray you
Take comfort, and be strong !

Palamon. Pray hold your promise, 100

And do the deed with a bent brow ! most certain
You love me not : be rough with me, and pour
This oil out of your language : by this air,
I could for each word give a cuff ! my stomach
Not reconcil'd by reason.

Arcite. Plainly spoken ! 105

Yet pardon me hard language : when I spur
My horse, I chide him not ; content and anger

[Horns winded again.

In me have but one face. Hark, sir ! they call
The scatter'd to the banquet : you must guess
I have an office there.

Palamon. Sir, your attendance no

Cannot please Heaven ; and I know your office
Unjustly is achiev'd.

Arcite. I Ve a good title,

I am persuaded : this question, sick between 's,
By bleeding must be cur'd. I am a suitor
That to your sword you will bequeath this plea, 115

And talk of it no more.

Palamon. But this one word :

40 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMEN.

You are going now to gaze upon my mistress ;
For, note you, mine she is —

Arcitc. Nay, then —

Palawan. Xay, pray you ! —

You talk of feeding me to breed me strength :
You are going now to look upon a sun 120

That strengthens what it looks on ; there you have
A vantage o'er me ; but enjoy it till
I may enforce my remedy. Farewell ! \Excunt.

SCENE II. Another part of the forest.
Enter Gaoler's DAUGHTER.

Daughter. He has mistook the brake I meant, is gone
After his fancy. 'T is now well-nigh morning ;
No matter ! would it were perpetual night,
And darkness lord o' the world ! — Hark ! 't is a wolf:
In me hath grief slain fear, and, but for one thing, 5

I care for nothing, and that 's Palamon :
I reck not if the wolves would jaw me, so
He had this file. What if I halloo'd for him ?
I cannot halloo : if I whoop'd, what then ?
If he not answer'd, I should call a wolf, i o

And do him but that service. I have heard
Strange howls this live-long night ; why may 't not be
They have made prey of him ? He has no weapons ;
He cannot run ; the jingling of his gyves
Might call fell things to listen, who have in them 15

A sense to know a man unarm'd, and can
Smell where resistance is. I '11 set it down
He 's torn to pieces ; they howl'd many together,
And then they fed on him : so much for that !
Be bold to ring the bell ; how stand I then? 20

All 's char'd when he is gone. No, no, I lie,
My father 's to be hang'd for his escape ;
Myself to beg, if I priz'd life so much
As to deny my act ; but that I would not,
Should I try death by dozens ! — I am mop'd : 25

Food took I none these two days ; [once, indeed,
I] sipp'd some water. I have not clos'd mine eyes,

ACT III. SCENE III. 41

Save when my lids scour'd off their brine. Alas,

Dissolve, my life ! let not my sense unsettle,

Lest I should drown, or stab, or hang myself! 30

0 state of nature, fail together in me,

Since thy best props are warp'd ! — So ! which way now ?

The best way is the next way to a grave :

Each errant step beside is torment. Lo,

The moon is down, the crickets chirp, the screech-owl 35

Calls in the dawn ! all offices are done,

Save what I fail in : but the point is this,

An end, and that is all ! [Exit.

SCENE III. The same as Seme I.
, Enter ARCITE, with meat, wine, and files.
Arcite. I should be near the place. Ho, cousin Palamon !

Enter PALAMON.
Palamon. Arcite ?
Arcite. The same : I have brought you food

and files.

Come forth, and fear not ; here 's no Theseus.
Palamon. Nor none so honest, Arcite !
Arcite. That 's no matter ;

We '11 argue that hereafter. Come, take courage ; 5

You shall not die thus. beastly ; here, sir, drink !

1 know you 're faint ; then I '11 talk further with you.
Palamon. Arcite, thou mightst now poison me.
Arcite. I might •

But I must fear you first. Sit down ; and, good now,

No more of these vain parleys ! Let us not, 10

Having our ancient reputation with us,

Make talk for fools and cowards. To your health ! [Drinks.

Palamon. Do.

Arcite. Pray, sit down then ; and let me entreat you,
By all the honesty and honour in you,

No mention of this woman ! 't will disturb us; 15

We shall have time enough.

Palamon. Well, sir, I '11 pledge you. \_Drinks.

Arcite. Drink a good hearty draught ! it breeds good
blood, man.

42 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Do not you feel it thaw you ?

Palamon. Stay ; I '11 tell you

After a draught or two more.

Arcite. Spare it not.

The duke has more, coz. Eat now !

Palawan. Yes.

Arrite. I am glad 20

You have so good a stomach.

Palamon. I am gladder

I have so good meat to 't.

Arcite. Is 't not mad lodging

Here in the wild woods, cousin ?

Palamon. Yes, for them

That have wild consciences.

Arcite. How tastes your victuals ?

Your hunger needs no sauce, I see.

Palamon. Not much : 2 5

But if it did, yours is too tart, sweet cousin.
What is this ?

Arcite. Venison.

Palamon. 'T is a lusty meat.

Give me more wine : here, Arcite, to the wenches
We have known in our days ! The lord-steward's daughter ;
Do you remember her?

Arcite. After you, coz. 30

Palamon. She lov'd a black-hair' d man.

Ardte. She did so : well, sir ?

Palamon. And I have heard some call him Arcite ; and —

Arcite. Out with it, faith !

Palamon. She met him in an arbour :

What did she there, coz ?

Arcite. Well, the marshal's sister

Had her share too, as I remember, cousin, 35

Else there be tales abroad : you '11 pledge her ?

Palamon. Yes.

Arcite. A pretty brown wench 't is ! There was a time
When young men went a-hunting, and a wood,
And a broad beech ; and thereby hangs a tale. —
Heigh-ho !

Palamon. For Emily, upon my life ! Fool, 40

ACT IIL SCENE IV. 43

Away with this strain'd mirth ! I say again,
That sigh was breath'd for Emily ! Base cousin,
Dar'st thou break first ?

Arctic. You are wide.

Palamon. By heaven and earth,

There 's nothing in thee honest !

Arcite. Then I '11 leave you :

You are a beast now.

Palamon. As thou mak'st me, traitor. 45

Arcite. There 's all things needful ; files, and shirts, and

perfumes :

I '11 come again some two hours hence, and bring
That that shall quiet all.

Palamon. A sword and armour ?

Arcite. Fear me not You are now too foul : farewell !
Get off your trinkets ; you shall want nought.

Palamon. Sirrah — 50

Arcite. I '11 hear no more ! \Exit.

Palamon. If he keep touch, he dies for 't ! [Exit.

SCENE IV. Another part of the forest.

Enter Gaoler's DAUGHTER.

Daughter. I 'm very cold ; and all the stars are out too,
The little stars, and all that look like aglets :
The sun has seen my folly. Palamon !
Alas, no ; he 's in heaven ! — Where am I now? —
Yonder 's the sea, and there 's a ship ; how 't tumbles ! 5
And there 's a rock, lies watching under water,
Now, now, it beats upon it ! now, now, now !
There 's a leak sprung, a sound one ; how they cry !
Run her before the wind, you '11 lose all else !
Up with a course or two, and tack about, boys ! 10

Good night, good night ; y' are gone ! — I 'm very hungry :
Would I could find a fine frog ! he would tell me
News from all parts o' the world ; then would I make
A carrack of a cockle-shell, and sail

By east and north-east to the king of pigmies, 15

For he tells fortunes rarely. Now my father,
Twenty to one, is truss'd up in a trice
To-morrow morning ; I '11 say never a word.

44 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

SONG.

For I '// cut my green coat a foot above my knee;
And I '// clip my yellow locks an inch below mine e'c. 20

Hey, nonny, nonny, nonny.
He 's buy me a white cut, forth for to ride,
And I 'II go seek him through the world that is so wide.

Hey, nonny, nonny, nonny.

Oh, for a prick now, like a nightingale, 25

To put my breast against ! I shall sleep like a top else.

\Exit.

SCENE V. Another part of the forest.

Enter GERROLD, four Countrymen as morris-dancers,
another as the Bavian, Jive Wenches, and a Taborer.

G err old. Fie, fie !
What tediosity and disensanity
Is here among ye ! Have my rudiments
Been labour'd so long with ye, milk'd unto ye,
And, by a figure, ev'n the very plum-broth 5

And marrow of my understanding laid upon ye,
And do you still cry ' where,' and ' how,' and ' wherefore ? '
You most coarse frieze capacities, ye jane judgments,
Have I said ' thus let be,' and ' there let be,'
And ' then let be,' and no man understand me ? i c

Proh Dcum, mcdius fidius ; ye are all dunces !
For why, here stand I; here the duke comes; there

are you,

Close in the thicket ; the duke appears, I meet him,
And unto him I utter learned things,

And many figures ; he hears, and nods, and hums, 1 5

And then cries ' rare !' and I go forward; at length
I fling my cap up ; mark there ! then do you,
As once did Meleager and the boar,
Break comely out before him ; like true lovers,
Cast yourselves in a body decently, 20

And sweetly, by a figure, trace and turn, boys !

1 Countryman. And sweetly we will do it, master Gerrold.

2 Countryman. Draw up the company. Where 's the

laborer?

ACT HI. SCENE V. 45

3 Countryman. Why, Timothy !

Taborer. Here, my mad boys ; have at ye !

Gerrold. But I say, where 's their women ?

4 Countryman. Here 's Friz and Maudlin. 25

2 Countryman. And little Luce, with the white legs, and

bouncing Barbary.

1 Countryman. And freckled Nell, that never fail'd her

master.
Gerrold. Where be your ribands, maids ? Swim with

your bodies,

And carry it sweetly, and deliverly ;

And now and then a favour and a frisk ! 30

Nell. Let us alone, sir.
Gerrold. Where 's the rest o' the music ?

3 Countryman. Dispers'd as you commanded.

Gerrold. Couple, then,

And see what 's wanting. Where 's the Bavian ?
My friend, carry your tail without offence
Or scandal to the ladies ; and be sure 35

You tumble with audacity and manhood !
And when you bark, do it with judgment.

Bai'ian. Yes, sir.

Gerrold. Quousque tandem ? Here is a woman wanting !

4 Countr\man. We may go whistle; all the fat 's i' the

fire!

Gerrold. We have, 40

As learned authors utter, wash'd a tile ;
We have been fatuus, and labour'd vainly.

2 Countryman. This is that scornful piece, that scurvy

hilding,

That gave her promise faithfully she would be here,
Cicely, the sempster's daughter ! 45

The next gloves that I give her shall be dog-skin !
Nay, an she fail me once — You can tell, Areas,
She swore, by wine and bread, she would not break.

Gerrold. An eel and woman,

A learned poet says, unless by th' tail 50

And with thy teeth thou hold, will either fail.
In manners, this was false position,
i Countryman. A wild-fire take her ! does she flinch now ?

46 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

3 Countryman. What
Shall we determine, sir ?

Gcrrold. Nothing ;

Our business is become a nullity. 55

Yea, and a woful and a piteous nullity !

4 Countryman. Now, when the credit of our town lay

on it,

Now to be frampal !
Go thy ways : I '11 remember thee, I '11 fit thee !

Enter Gaoler's DAUGHTER.

Daughter. The George aloiv came from the south, 60

From the coast of Barbary-a.
And there he met with brave gallants of war,
By one, by two, by three-a.

Well haiVd, well hail'd, you jolly gallants !

And whither now are you bound-a ? 65

Oh, let me have your company

Till I come to the Sound-a /

There was three fools, fell out about an howlet :

The one said it was an owl,

The other he said nay, 70

The third he said it was a hawk,

And Jicr bells were cut away.

3 Countryman. There 's a dainty mad woman, master,
Comes i' the nick ; as mad as a March hare !
If we can get her dance, we are made again : 75

I warrant her, she '11 do the rarest gambols !

i Countryman. A mad woman ? We are made, boys !

Gcrrold. And are you mad, good woman ?

Daughter. I would be sorry else ;

Give me your hand.

Gcrrold. Why?

Daughter. I can tell your fortune :

You are a fool. Tell ten : I have poz'd him. Buz! 80
Friend, you must eat no white bread ; if you do,
Your teeth will bleed extremely. Shall we dance, ho ?
I know you ; you 're a tinker : sirrah tinker —

ACT III. SCENE V. 47

Gerrold. Dii boni !
A tinker, damsel ?

Daughter. Or a conjurer : 85

Raise me a devil now, and let him play
Qui passa, o' the bells and bones !

Gerrold. Go, take her,

And fluently persuade her to a peace.
En, opus exegi, quod nee lovis ira, nee ignis —
Strike up, and lead her in !

2 Countryman. Come, lass, let 's trip it ! 90
Daughter. I '11 lead.

3 Countryman. Do, do. [ Wind horns.
Gerrold. Persuasively and cunningly ; away, boys !

I hear the horns : give me some meditation,

And mark your cue. \Exeunt all hit Gerrold.

Pallas inspire me !

Enter THESEUS, PIRITHOUS, HIPPOLYTA, EMILIA, ARCITE,
and Train.

Theseus. This way the stag took.

Gerrold. Stay, and edify ! 95

Theseus. What have we here ?

Pirithous. Some country-sport, upon my life, sir.

Theseus. Well, sir, go forward : we will edify.
Ladies, sit down ! we '11 stay it.

Gerrold. Thou doughty duke, all hail ! all hail, sweet
ladies ! 100

Theseus. This is a cold beginning.

Gerrold. If you but favour, our country-pastime made is.
We are a few of those collected here,
That ruder tongues distinguish villager ;
And to say verity, and not to fable, 105

We are a merry rout, or else a rabble,
Or company, or, by a figure, chorus,
That 'fore thy dignity will dance a morris.
And I, that am the rectifier of all,

By title Pedagogus, that let fall no

The birch upon the breeches of the small ones,
And humble with a ferula the tall ones,
Do here present this machine, or this frame :

48 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

And, dainty duke, whose doughty dismal fame

From Dis to Daedalus, from post to pillar, 1 15

Is blown abroad, help me, thy poor well-wilier;

And with thy twinkling eyes look right and straight

Upon this mighty morr — of mickle weight —

— is now comes in, which being glew'd together

Makes morris, and the cause that we came hither, 1 20

The body of our sport, of no small study.

I first appear, though rude, and raw, and muddy,

To speak, before thy noble grace, this tenor :

At whose great feet I offer up my penner.

The next — the Lord of May, and Lady bright, i 25

The Chambermaid, and Servingman by night,

That seek out silent hanging : then mine Host,

And his fat Spouse, that welcomes to their cost

The galled traveller, and with a beck'ning

Informs the tapster to inflame the reck'ning : 130

Cum multis atiis, that make a dance ;

Say 'ay,' and all shall presently advance.

Theseus. Ay, ay, by any means, dear domine !

Pirithous. Produce, [Music.

Gerrold. If it rate, filii ! Come forth, ajid foot it. 135

Enter the four Countrymen, the Bavian, the Taborer, the five
Wenches and the Gaoler's Daughter, with others of
both sexes. They dance a morris. After which Gerrold
speaks the Epilogue.

Ladies, if we have been merry,

And have pleas'd ye with a derry,

And a derry, and a down,

Say the schoolmaster 's no clown.

Duke, if we have pleas'd thee too, 140

And have done as good boys should do,

Give us but a tree or twain

For a Maypole, and again,

Ere another year run out,

We 11 make thee laugh, and all this rout. 145
TJicseus. Take twenty, domine. — How does my sweet
heart ?
Hippolyta. Never so pleas'd, sir.

ACT III. SCENE VI. 49

Emilia. 'T was an excellent dance ; and, for a preface,
I never heard a better.

Theseus. Schoolmaster, I thank you.

One see 'em all rewarded !

Pirithous. And here 's something 150

To paint your pole withal. [Gives ;.-/

Theseus. Now to our sports again !

Gerrold, May the stag thou hunt'st stand long,

And thy dogs be swift and strong !
Come, we are all made ! — Dii Dacque omnes ! [ Wind A-
Ye have danc'd rarely, wenches ! [£.\

SCENE VI. The same as Scene III.
Enter PALAMON y/w/z the bush.

Palamon. About this hour my cousin gave his faith
To visit me again, and with him bring
Two swords and two good armours ; if he fail,
He 's neither man nor soldier. When he left me,
I did not think a week could have restor'd 5

My lost strength to me, I was grown so low
And crest-falFn with my wants : I thank thee, Arcite,
Thou art yet a fair foe ; and I feel myself,
With this refreshing, able once again

To out-dure danger. To delay it longer ro

Would make the world think, when it comes to hearing,
That I lay fatting, like a swine, to fight,
And not a soldier : therefore this blest morning
Shall be the last ; and that sword he refuses,
If it but hold, I kill him with : 't is justice : 15

So, Love and Fortune for me ! — Oh, good morrow !

Enter ARCITE, with armours and swords.

Arcite. Good morrow, noble kinsman !

Palamon. I have put you

To too much pains, sir.

Arcite. That too much, fair cousin,

Is but a debt to honour, and my duty.

Palamon. Would you were so in all, sir ! I could wish
ye 20

S. A

50 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMF.X.

As kind a kinsman as you force me find
A beneficial foe, that my embraces
Might thank ye, not my blows.

Ardte. I shall think either,

Well done, a noble recompense.

Palawan. Then I shall quit you.

Ardte. Defy me in these fair terms, and you shew 25
More than a mistress to me : no more anger,
As you love anything that 's honourable !
We were not bred to talk, man ; when we are arm'd,
And both upon our guards, then let our fury,
Like meeting of two tides, fly strongly from us ! 30

And then to whom the birthright of this beauty
Truly pertains (without upbraidings, scorns,
Despisings of our persons, and such poutings,
Fitter for girls and schoolboys) will be seen,
And quickly, yours, or mine. Will 't please you arm, sir ? 35
Or if you feel yourself not fitting yet,
And furnish'd with your old strength, I '11 stay, cousin,
And ev'ry day' discourse you into health,
As I am spar'd : your person I am friends with,
And I could wish I had not said I lov'd her, 40

Though I had died ; but, loving such a lady,
And justifying my love, I must not fly from 't.

Palawan. Arcite, thou art so brave an enemy,
That no man but thy cousin 's fit to kill thee :
I 'm well, and lusty ; choose your arms !

Ardte. Choose you, sir ! 45

Palawan. Wilt thou exceed in all, or dost thou do it
To make me spare thee ?

Ardte. If you think so, cousin,

You are deceived ; for, as I am a soldier,
I will not spare you !

Palawan. That 's well said !

Ardte. You '11 find it.

Palawan. Then, as I am an honest man, and love 50
With all the justice of affection,
I '11 pay thee soundly ! This I '11 take.

Ardte. That 's mine then ;

I '11 arm you first \Proceeds to arm PAI.AMON.

ACT IIT. SCENE VI. 5r

Palamon. Do. Pray thee, tell me, cousin,
Where gott 'st thou this good armour ?

Arcite. 'T is the duke's ;

And, to say true, I stole it. — Do I pinch you? 55

Palamon. No.

Arcite. Is 't not too heavy?

Palamon. I have worn a lighter ;

But I shall make it serve.

Arcite. I '11 buckle 't close.

Palamon. By any means.

Arcite. You care not for a grand-guard ?

Palamon. No, no ; we '11 use no horses : I perceive 60
You would fain be at that fight.

Arcite. I am indifferent.

Palamon. Faith, so am I. Good cousin, thrust the buckle
Through far enough !

Arcite. I warrant you.

Palamon. My casque now !

Arcite. Will you fight bare-arm'd ?

Palamon. We shall be the nimbler.

Arcite. But use your gauntlets though : those are o' the
least; 65

Prithee take mine, good cousin !

Palamon. Thank you, Arcite !

How do I look ? am I fall'n much away ?

Arcite. Faith, very little ; Love has us'd you kindly.

Palamon. I '11 warrant thee I '11 strike home.

Arcite. Do, and spare not !

I '11 give you cause, sweet cousin.

Palamon (arming ARCITE). Now to you, sir ! 70

Methinks this armour 's very like that, Arcite,
Thou wor'st that day the three kings fell, but lighter.

Arcite. That was a very good one ; and that day,
I well remember, you outdid me, cousin ;
I never saw such valour : when you charg'd 75

Upon the left wing of the enemy,
I spurr'd hard to come up, and under me
I had a right good horse.

Palamon. You had indeed ;

A bright bay, I remember.

4—2

52 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Arcite. Yes. But all

Was vainly labour'ti in me ; you outwent me, So

Nor could my wishes reach you : yet a little
I did by imitation.

Palainon. More by virtue ;

You are modest, cousin.

Arctic. When I saw you charge first,

Methought I heard a dreadful clap of thunder
Break from the troop.

Palainon. But still before that flew 85

The lightning of your valour. Stay a little !
Is not this piece too strait ?

Arcite. No, no ; 't is well.

Palamon. I would have nothing hurt thee but my sword ;
A bruise would be dishonour.

Arcite. Now I am perfect.

Palamon. Stand off then !

Arcite. Take my sword ; I hold it better.

Palamon. I thank ye, no ; keep it ; your life lies on it: 91
Here 's one, if it but hold, I ask no more
For all my hopes. My cause and honour guard me !

Arcite. And me, my love ! Is there aught else to say?

\They bow several ways ; then advance and stand.

Palamon. This only, and no more : thou art mine aunt's
son, 95

And that blood we desire to shed is mutual ;
In me, thine, and in thee, mine : my sword
Is in my hand, and, if thou killest me.
The gods and I forgive thee ! If there be
A place prepar'd for those that sleep in honour, 100

I wish his weary soul that falls may win it !
Fight bravely, cousin ; give me thy noble hand !

Arcite. Here, Palamon ! This hand shall never more
Come near thee with such friendship.

Palamon. I commend thee.

Arcite. If I fall, curse me, and say I was a coward ; 105
For none but such dare die in these just trials.
Once more farewell, my cousin !

Palainon. Farewell, Arcite !

\Theyfght. Horns within ; they stand.

ACT II L SCENE VT. 53

Arcite. Lo, cousin, lo ! our folly has undone us ! <

Palawan. Why ?

Arcite. This is the duke, a-hunting as I told you ; no
If we be found, we are wretched ! Oh, retire,
For honour's sake and safety, presently
Into your bush again, sir ! We shall find
Too many hours to die in. Gentle cousin,
If you be seen, you perish instantly, 115

For breaking prison ; and I, if you reveal me,
For my contempt : then all the world will scorn us,
And say we had a noble difference,
But base disposers of it.

Palamon. No, no, cousin ;

I will no more be hidden, nor put off 120

This great adventure to a second trial !
I know your cunning, and I know your cause.
He that faints now, shame take him ! Put thyself
Upon thy present guard —

Arcitc. You are not mad ?

Palamon. Or I will make th' advantage of this hour 125
Mine own ; and what to come shall threaten me,
I fear less than my fortune. Know, weak cousin,
I love Emilia ! and in that I '11 bury
Thee, and all crosses else !

Arcite. Then come what can come,

Thou shalt know, Palamon, I dare as well 130

Die, as discourse or sleep : only this fears me,
The law will have the honour of our ends.
Have at thy life !

Palamon. Look to thine own well, Arcite !

\Theyfight again. Horns.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EMILIA, PIRITHOUS,
and Train.

Theseus. What ignorant and mad malicious traitors
Are you, that, 'gainst the tenor of my laws, 135

Are making battle, thus like knights appointed,
Without my leave, and officers of arms ?
By Castor, both shall die !

Palamon. Hold thy word, Theseus !

54 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMRX.

We are certainly both traitors, both despisers

Of thee, and of thy goodness : I am Palamon, 140

That cannot love thee, he that broke thy prison ;

Think well what that deserves ! and this is Arcite ;

.A bolder traitor never trod thy ground,

A falser ne'er seem'd friend : this is the man

Was begg'd and banish'd ; this is he contemns thee, 145

And what thou dar'st do ; and in this disguise,

Against thine own edict, follows thy sister,

That fortunate bright star, the fair Emilia,

(Whose servant, if there be a right in seeing,

And first bequeathing of the soul to, justly 150

I am ;) and, which is more, dares think her his !

This treachery, likea most trusty_lover,

I calTdTKtrh nowlcTanswer : If thou beest,

As thou art spoken, great and virtuous,

The true decider of all injuries, 155

Say, ' Fight again !' and thou shalt see me, Theseus,

Do such a justice, thou thyself wilt envy :

Then take my life ! I '11 woo thee to 't.

Pirithous. O heaven,

What more than man is this !

Theseus. I have sworn. «

Arcite. We seek not

Thy breath of mercy, Theseus ! 'T is to me 160

A thing as soon to die, as thee to say it,
And no more mov'd. Where this man calls me traitor,
Let me say thus much : if in love be treason,
In service of so excellent a beauty —

As I love most, and in that faith will perish, 165

As I have brought my life here to confirm it,
As I have serv'd her truest, worthiest,
As I dare kill this cousin that denies it —
So let me be most traitor, and ye please me.
For scorning thy edict, duke, ask that lady 170

Why she is fair, and why her eyes command me
Stay here to love her? and if she say traitor,
I am a villain fit to lie unburied.

Palamon. Thou shalt have pity of us both, O Theseus,
If unto neither thou show mercy; stop, 175

ACT III. SCENE VI. 55

As thou art just, thy noble ear against us ;

As thou art valiant, for thy cousin's soul,

Whose twelve strong labours crown his memory,

Let 's die together, at one instant, duke !

Only a little let him fall before me, 180

That I may tell my soul he shall not have her.

Theseus. I grant your wish ; for, to say true, your

cousin

Has ten times more offended, for I gave him
More mercy than you found, sir, your offences
Being no more than his. None here speak for 'em ! 185
For, ere the sun set, both shall sleep for ever.

Hippolyta. Alas, the pity ! now or never, sister,
Speak, not to be denied : that face of yours
Will bear the curses else of after ages
For these lost cousins !

Emilia. In my face, dear sister, 190

I find no anger to 'em, nor no ruin ;
The misadventure of their own eyes kill 'em :
Yet that I will be woman, and have pity,
My knees shall grow to th' ground but I '11 get mercy.
Help me, dear sister ! in a deed so virtuous, 195

The powers of all women will be with us.
Most royal brother —

Hippolyta. Sir, by our tie of marriage —

Emilia. By your own spotless honour —

Hippolyta. ' By that faith,

That fair hand, and that honest heart you gave me —

Emilia. By that you would have pity in another, 200
By your own virtues infinite —

Hippolyta. By valour,

By all the moments I have ever pleas'd you —

Theseus. These are strange conjurings !

Pirithous. Nay, then, I '11 in too !

By all our friendship, sir, by all our dangers,
By all you love most, wars, and this sweet lady — 205

Emilia. By that you would have trembled to deny,
A blushing maul —

Hippolyta. By your own eyes, by strength,

In which you swore I went beyond all women,

5'' 7777* TU'O NOBLE KINSMEN.

Almost all men, and yet I yielded, Theseus —

Pirithous. To crown all this, by your most noble soul,
Which cannot want due mercy, I beg first ! 211

1 lippolyta. Next hear my prayers !

Emilia. Last, let me entreat, sir !

ririthous. For mercy !

Hippolyta. Mercy !

Emilia. Mercy on these princes !

Theseus. Ye make my faith reel : say I felt
Compassion to 'em both, how would you place it? 215

Emilia. Upon their lives ; but with their banishments.

Theseus. You are a right woman, sister ! you have pity,
P-ut want the understanding where to use it.
I f you desire their lives, invent a way

Safer than banishment : can these two live, 220

And have the agony of love about 'em,
And not kill one another? Every day
They 'd fight about you ; hourly bring your honour
In public question with their swords : be wise then,
And here forget 'em ! it concerns your credit, 225

And my oath equally : I have said, they die !
Hotter they fall by th' law than one another.
How not my honour.

Emilia. O my noble brother,

That oath was rashly made, and in your anger ;
Your reason will not hold it : if such vows 230

Stand for express will, all the world must perish.
!!cside, I have another oath 'gainst yours,
( )f more authority, I am sure more love ;
Xot made in passion neither, but good heed.

Theseus. What is it, sister ?

Pirithous. Urge it home, brave lady ! 235

Emilia. That you would ne'er deny me anything
Fit for my modest suit, and your free granting :
I tie you to your word now ; if ye fail in 't,
Think how you maim your honour ! —
( For now I am set a-begging, sir, I am deaf 240

To all but your compassion) how their lives
Nfight breed the ruin of my name's opinion !
Shall any thing that loves me perish for me ?

ACT III. SCENE VI. 57

That were a cruel wisdom ! do men proin
The straight young boughs that blush with thousand blos
soms, 245
Because they may be rotten ? O duke Theseus,
The goodly mothers that have nurtured these,
And all the longing maids that ever lov'd,
If your vow stand, shall curse me and my beauty,
And, in their funeral songs for these two cousins, 250
Despise my cruelty, and cry woe worth me,
Till I am nothing but the scorn of women :
For heaven's sake save their lives, and banish 'em !

Theseus. On what conditions ?

Emilia. Swear 'em never more

To make me their contention, or to know me, 255

To tread upon thy dukedom, and to be,
Wherever they shall travel, ever strangers
To one another.

Palamon. I '11 be cut a-pieces
Before I take this oath ! Forget I love her ?

0 all ye gods, despise me then ! Thy banishment 260

1 not mislike, so we may fairly carry

Our swords and cause along ; else never trifle,
But take our lives, duke ! I must love, and will ;
And, for that love, must and dare kill this cousin,
On any piece the earth has !

Theseus. Will you, Arcite, 265

Take these conditions ?

Palamon. He 's a villain then !

Pirithous. These are men !

Arcite. No, never, duke ; 't is worse to me than begging,
To take my life so basely. Though I think
I never shall possess her, yet I '11 preserve 270

The honour of affection, and die for her,
Make death a devil !

Theseus. What may be done? for now I feel compassion.

Pirithous. Let it not fall again, sir !

Theseus. Say, Emilia,

If one of them were dead, as one must, are you 275

Content to take the other to your husband ?
They cannot both possess you ; they are princes

58 THE TWO NOBLE AY.Y.S'J/A.A:

As goodly as your own eyes, and as noble

As ever Fame yet spoke of; look upon 'em,

And if you can love, end this difference ! 280

I give consent: are you content, too, princes?

Both. With all our souls.

Theseus. He that she refuses

Must die then.

Both, Any death thou canst invent, duke.

Palamon. If I fall from that mouth, I fall with favour,
And lovers yet unborn shall bless my ashes. 285

Arcite. If she refuse me, yet my grave will wed me,
And soldiers sing my epitaph.

Theseus, Make choice then !

Emilia, I cannot, sir ; they are both too excellent :
For me, a hair shall never fall of these men.

Hipfolyta. What will become of 'em ?

Theseus. Thus I ordain it :

And, by mine honour, once again it stands, 291

Or both shall die ! — You shall both to your country :
And each, within this month, accompanied
With three fair knights, appear again in this place,
In which I '11 plant a pyramid : and whether, 295

Before us that are here, can force his cousin
By fair and knightly strength to touch the pillar,
He shall possess her ; the other lose his head.
And all his friends : nor shall he grudge to fall,
Nor think he dies with interest in this lady : 300

Will this content ye ?

Palamon. Yes. Here, cousin Arcite,

I am friends again till that hour.

Arcite. I embrace ye.

Theseus. Are you content, sister ?

Emilia. Yes : I must, sir ;

Else both miscarry.

Theseus. Come, shake hands again then ;

And take heed, as you are gentlemen, this quarrel 305

Sleep till the hour prefix'd, and hold your course.

Palamon. We dare not fail thee, Theseus.

Theseus. Come, I '11 give ye

Now usage like to princes and to friends.

ACT IV. SCENE I. 59

When ye return, who wins, I '11 settle here ;

Who loses, yet I '11 weep upon his bier. \Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Athens. A room in the prison.

Enter GAOLER and First Friend.
Gaoler. Hear you no more ? Was nothing said of me
Concerning the escape of Palamon ?
Good sir, remember !

1 Friend. Nothing that I heard ;
For I came home before the business

Was fully ended : yet I might perceive, 5

Ere I departed, a great likelihood

Of both their pardons ; for Hippolyta,

And fair-ey'd Emily, upon their knees f

Begg'd with such handsome pity, that the duke

Methought stood staggering whether he should follow i o

His rash oath, or the sweet compassion

Of those two ladies ; and to second them,

That truly noble prince Pirithous,

Half his own heart, set in too, that I hope

All shall be well : neither heard I one question 1 5

Of your name, or his scape.

Enter Second Friend.

Gaoler. Pray heav'n, it hold so !

2 Friend. Be of good comfort, man ! I bring you news,
Good news.

Gaoler. They are welcome.

2 Friend. Palamon has clear'd you,

And got your pardon, and discover'd how
And by whose means he scap'd, which was your daugh
ter's, 20
Whose pardon is procur'd too ; and the prisoner
(Not to be held ungrateful to her goodness)
Has given a sum of money to her marriage,
A large one, I '11 assure you.

Gaoler. Ye are a good man,

And ever bring good news.

60 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

1 Friend. How was it ended ? 25

2 Friend. Why, as it should be ; they that never begg'd
But they prevail'd, had their suits fairly granted.

The prisoners have their lives.

1 Friend. I knew 't would be so.

2 Friend. But there be new conditions, which you '11

hear of
At better time.

Gaoler. I hope they are good.

2 Friend. They are honourable ; 30

How good they '11 prove, I know not.

1 Friend. 'T will be known.

Enter WOOER.

Wooer. Alas, sir, where 's your daughter ?

Gader. Why do you ask ?

Wooer. Oh, sir, when did you see her ?

2 Friend. How he looks !
Gaoler. This morning.

// 'ooer. Was she well ? was she in health, sir ?

When did she sleep ?

i Friend. These are strange questions. 35

Gaoler. I do not think she was very well ; for, now
You make me mind her, but this very day
I ask'd her questions, and she answer'd me
So far from what she was, so childishly,
So sillily, as if she were a fool, 40

An innocent ; and I was very angry.
But what of her, sir ?

Wooer. Nothing but my pity ;

But you must know it, and as good by me
As by another that less loves her.

Gaoler. Well, sir ?

1 Friend. Not right ?

2 Friend. Not well ?

Wooer. No, sir ; not well : 45

'T is too true, she is mad.

i Friend. It cannot be.

Wooer. Believe, you '11 find it so.

Gaoler. I half suspected

ACT IV. SCENE I. 61

What you [have] told me ; the gods comfort her !
Either this was her love to Palamon,

Or fear of my miscarrying on his scape, 50

Or both.

Wooer. T'is likely.

Gaoler. But why all this haste, sir ?

Wooer. I '11 tell you quickly. As I late was angling
In the great lake that lies behind the palace,
From the far shore, thick-set with reeds and sedges,
As patiently I was attending sport, 55

I heard a voice, a shrill one ; and attentive
I gave my ear ; when I might well perceive
'T was one that sung, and, by the smallness of it,
A boy or woman. I then left my angle
To his own skill, came near, but yet perceiv'd not 60

Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds
Had so encompass'd it : I laid me down,
And listen'd to the words she sung ; for then,
Through a small glade cut by the fishermen,
I saw it was your daughter.

Gaoler. Pray go on, sir ! 65

Wooer. She sung much, but no sense ; only I heard her
Repeat this often : ' Palamon is gone,
Is gone to th' wood to gather mulberries ;
I '11 find him out to-morrow.'

i friend. Pretty soul !

Wooer. ' His shackles will betray him, he '11 be taken ; 70
And what shall I do then ? I '11 bring a bevy,
A hundred black-e/d maids that love as I do,
With chaplets on their heads, of daffadillies,
With cherry lips, and cheeks of damask roses,
And all we '11 dance an antic 'fore the duke, 75

And beg his pardon.' Then she talk'd of you, sir ;
That you must lose your head to-morrow morning,
And she must gather flowers to bury you,
And see the house made handsome : then she sung
Nothing but 'Willow, willow, willow;' and between 80
Ever was, 'Palamon, fair Palamon !'
And ' Palamon was a tall young man !' The place
Was knee-deep where she sat ; her careless tresses

62 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSUEX.

A wreath of bulrush rounded ; about her stuck

Thousand fresh water- flowers of several colours ; 85

That methought she appear'd like the fair nymph

That feeds the lake with waters, or as Iris

Newly dropt down from heaven ! Rings she made

Of rushes that grew by, and to 'em spoke

The prettiest posies ; ' Thus our true love's tied ;' 90

' This you may loose, not me ;' and many a one :

And then she wept, and sung again, and sigh'd,

And with the same breath smil'd, and kiss'd her hand.

2 Friend. Alas, what pity it is !

Wooer. I made in to her ;

She saw me, and straight sought the flood ; I sav'd her, 95
And set her safe to land ; when presently
She slipt away, and to the city made
With such a cry and swiftness, that, believe me,
She left me far behind her : three or four
I saw from far off cross her, one of 'em TOO

I knew to be your brother ; where she stay'd,
And fell, scarce to be got away ; I left them with her,
And hither came to tell you. Here they are !

Enter BROTHER, DAUGHTER, and others.

Daughter. May you tiez<er more enjoy the light, &c.
Is not this a fine song ?

Brother. Oh, a very fine one ! 105

Daughter. I can sing twenty more.

Brother. I think you can.

Daughter. Yes, truly can I ; I can sing The Broom,
And Bonny Robin. Are not you a tailor ?

Brother. Yes.

Daughter. Where 's my wedding-gown ?

Brother. I '11 bring it to-morrow.

Daughter. Do, very rarely; I must be abroad else, no
To call the maids, and pay the minstrels. \Sings.

Oh, fair, oh, sweet, &c.

Brother. You must ev'n take it patiently.

Gaoler. 'T is true.

Daughter. Good ev'n, good men! Pray did you ever henr
Of one young Palamon ?

ACT IV. SCENE L 63

Gaoler. Yes, wench, we know him. 115

Daughter. Is 't not a fine young gentleman ?

Gaoler. 'T is love !

Brother, By no means cross her ; she is then distemper'd
Far worse than now she shews.

i Friend. Yes, he 's a fine man.

Daughter. Oh, is he so ? You have a sister ?

i Friend. Yes.

Daughter. But she shall never have him, tell her so, 120
For a trick that I know : y' had best look to her,
For if she see him once, she 's gone, she 's done,
And undone in an hour. All the young maids
Of our town are in love with him ; but I laugh at 'em,
And let 'em all alone ; is 't not a wise course ? 125

i Friend. Yes.

Daughter. They come from all parts of the dukedom

to him :
I '11 warrant ye —

Gaoler. She's lost,

Past all cure !

Brother. Heaven forbid, man !

Daughter (to Gaoler], Come hither ; you are a wise man.

1 Friend. Does she know him? 130

2 Friend. No ; would she did !

Daughter. You are master of a ship ?

Gaoler. Yes.

Daughter, Where 's your compass ?

Gaoler. Here.

Daughter. Set it to th' north ;

And now direct your course to th' wood, where Palamon
Lies longing for me ; for the tackling
Let me alone : come, weigh, my hearts, cheerly ! 135

All. Owgh, owgh, owgh ! 't is up, the wind is fair,
Top the bowling ; out with the mainsail !
Where 's your whistle, master ?

Brother. Let 's get her in.

Gaoler, Up to the top, boy.

Brother. Where 's the pilot ?

i Friend. Here.

Daughter. What kenn'st thou ?

64 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMXX.

2 Friend, A fair wood. 140

Daughter, Bear for it, master ; tack about ! \Sings.

When Cynthia with her borrowed light) &c. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. Within the palace.
Enter EMILIA, with two pictures.

Emilia. Yet I may bind those wounds up, that must open
And bleed to death for my sake else : I '11 choose,
And end their strife ; two such young handsome men
Shall never fall for me : their weeping mothers,
Following the dead-cold ashes of their sons, 5

Shall never curse my cruelty. Good heaven,
AVhat a sweet face has Arcite ! If wise Nature,
With all her best endowments, all those beauties
She sows into the births of noble bodies,
Were here a mortal woman, and had in her 10

The coy denials of young maids, yet doubtless
She would run mad for this man : what an eye,
Of what a fiery sparkle and quick sweetness,
Has this young prince ! here Love himself sits smiling ;
Just such another wanton Ganymede 15

Set Jove afire with, and enforc'd the god
Snatch up the goodly boy, and set him by him,
A shining constellation ! What a brow,
Of what a spacious majesty, he carries,
Arch'd like the great-ey'd Juno's, but far sweeter, 20

Smoother than Pelops' shoulder ! Fame and Honour,
Methinks, from hence, as from a promontory
Pointed in heaven, should clap their wings, and sing,
To all the under-world, the loves and fights
Of gods and such men near 'em. Palamon 25

Is but his foil ; to him, a mere dull shadow ;
He 's swarth and meagre, of an eye as heavy
As if he had lost his mother; a still temper,
No stirring in him, no alacrity;

Of all this sprightly sharpness, not a smile. 30

Yet these that we count errors, may become him :
Narcissus was a sad boy, but a heavenly. —
Oh, who can find the bent of woman's fancy ?

ACT IV. SCENE II. 65

I am a fool, my reason is lost in me !

I have no choice, and I have lied so lewdly 35

That women ought to beat me. On my knees

I ask thy pardon, Palamon ! Thou art alone,

And only beautiful ; and these the eyes,

These the bright lamps of beauty, that command

And threaten Love, and what young maid dare cross 'em? 40

What a bold gravity, and yet inviting,

Has this brown manly face ! O Love, this only

From this hour is complexion. Lie there, Arcite !

Thou art a changeling to him, a mere gipsy,

And this the noble body. — I am sotted, 45

Utterly lost ! my virgin's faith has fled me !

For if my brother but e'en now had ask'd me

Whether I lov'd, I had run mad for Arcite ;

Now if my sister,xmore for Palamon.

Stand both together ! Now come, ask me, brother, — 50

Alas, I know not ! — Ask me now, sweet sister ; —

I may go look ! What a mere child is fancy,

That, having two fair gawds of equal sweetness,

Cannot distinguish, but must cry for both !

Enter a Gentleman.
How now, sir ?

Gentle/nan. From the noble duke your brother, 55

Madam, I bring you news : the knights are come !

Emilia. To end the quarrel ?

Gentleman. Yes.

Emilia. Would I might end first !

What sins have I committed, chaste Diana,
That my unspotted youth must now be soil'd
With blood of princes? and my chastity 60

Be made the altar, where the lives of lovers
(Two greater and two better never yet
Made mothers joy) must be the sacrifice
To my unhappy beauty?

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PIRITHOUS, and

Attendants.

Theseus. Bring 'em in,

Quickly, by any means ! I long to see 'em. 65

66 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Your two contending lovers are return'd,

And with them their fair knights : now, my fair sister,

You must love one of them.

Emilia. I had rather both,

So neither for my sake should fall untimely.

Theseus. Who saw 'em ?

Pirithous. I a while.

Gentleman. And I. 70

Enter Messenger.

Theseus. From whence come you, sir ?

Messenger. From the knights.

Theseus. Pray speak,

You that have seen them, what they are.

j\[essenger. I will, sir,

And truly what I think. Six braver spirits
Than these they have brought (if we judge by the outside)
I never saw, nor read of. He that stands 75

In the first place with Arcite, by his seeming
Should be a stout man, by his face a prince,
(His very looks so say him) ; his complexion
X carer a brown than black ; stern, and yet noble,
Which shows him hardy, fearless, proud of dangers ; So
The circles of his eyes show fire within him,
And as a heated lion, so he looks ;
His hair hangs long behind him, black and shining
Like ravens' wings; his shoulders broad and strong;
Arm'd long and round : and on his thigh a sword 85

Hung by a curious baldrick, when he frowns
To seal his will with ; better, o' my conscience,
never soldier's friend.

Theseus. Thou hast well describ'd him.

]rtritJwus. Yet a great deal short,

Methinks, of him that 's first with Palamon. 90

Theseus. Pray speak him, friend.

Pirithous. I guess he is a prince too,

And, if it may be, greater ; for his show
Has all the ornament of honour in 't.
He 's somewhat bigger than the knight he spoke of,
But of a face far sweeter; his complexion 95

ACT IV. SCENE II. 67

Is (as a ripe grape) ruddy ; he has felt,
Without doubt, what he fights for, and so apter
To make this cause his own ; in 's face appears
All the fair hopes of what he undertakes ;
And when he 's angry, then a settled valour ico

(Not tainted with extremes) runs through his body,
And guides his arm to brave things ; fear he cannot,
He shows no such soft temper. His head 's yellow,
Hard-hair'd, and curl'd, thick twin'd, like ivy-tops,
Not to undo with thunder; in his face 105

The livery of the warlike maid appears,
Pure red and white, for yet no beard has blest him ;
And in his rolling eyes sits Victory,
As if she ever meant to crown his valour;
His nose stands high, a character of honour; no

His red lips, after fights,. are fit for ladies.
Emilia. Must these men die too ?

Pirithons. When he speaks, his tongue

Sounds like a trumpet ; all his lineaments
Are as a man would wish Jem, strong and clean ;
He wears a well-steel' d axe, the staff of gold ; 115

His age some five-and-twenty.

Messenger. There 's another,

A little man, but of a tough soul, seeming
As great as any ; fairer promises
In such a body yet I never look'd on.
Pirithous. Oh, he that 's freckled-fac'd ?
Messenger. The same, my lord : 120

Are they not sweet ones ?

Pirithous. Yes, they are well.

Messenger. Methinks,

Being so few, and well dispos'd, they shew
Great and fine art in Nature. He 's white-hair'd,
Not wanton-white, but such a manly colour
Next to an auburn; tough, and nimble- set, 125

Which shews an active soul ; his arms are brawny,
Which speaks him prone to labour, never fainting
Under the weight of arms ; stout-hearted, still,
But, when he stirs, a tiger ; he 's gray-ey'd,
Which yields compassion where he conquers ; sharp 130

68 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

To spy advantages, and, where he finds 'em,

He 's swift to make 'em his ; he does no wrongs,

Xor takes none ; he 's round-fac'd, and when lie smiles

He shews a lover, when he frowns, a soldier.

About his head he wears the winner's oak, 135

And in it stuck the favour of his lady;

His age, some six-and-thirty. In his hand

He bears a charging-staff, emboss'd with silver.

Theseus. Are they all thus ?

Pirithous. They are all the sons of honour.

Theseus. Now, as I have a soul, I long to see 'em ! 140
Lady, you shall see men fight now.

Hippolyla, I wish it,

But not the cause, my lord : they would shew
Bravely about the titles of two kingdoms ;
T is pity love should be so tyrannous.
Oh, my soft-hearted sister, what think you? 145

Weep not, till they weep blood, wench ! it must be.

Theseus. You have steel'd 'em with your beauty. —

Honour'd friend,

To you I give the field ; pray order it
Fitting the persons that must use it !

Pirithous. Yes, sir.

Theseus. Come, I '11 go visit 'em : I cannot stay 150
(Their fame has fir'd me so) till they appear ;
Good friend, be royal !

Pirithous. There shall want no bravery.

Emilia. Poor wench, go weep ; for whosoever wins
Loses a noble cousin for thy sins. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. A room in the prison.
Enter GAOLER, WOOER, and DOCTOR.

Doctor. Her distraction is more at some time of the
moon than at other some, is it not ?

Gaoler. She is continually in a harmless distemper;
sleeps little, altogether without appetite, save often drinking ;
dreaming of another world, and a better ; and what broken
piece of matter soe'er she 's about, the name Palamon lards
it; that she farces every business withal, fits it to every
question. — 8

ACT IV. SCENE III. 69

Enter DAUGHTER.
Look, where she comes ! you shall perceive her behaviour.

Daughter. I have' forgot it quite ; the burden on 't was
' down-a down-a ;' and penn'd by no worse man than Gi-
raldo, Emilia's schoolmaster : he 's as fantastical, too, as
ever he may go upon 's legs ; for in the next world will Dido
see Palamon, and then will she be out of love with yEneas.

Doctor. What stuff 's here ! poor soul ! 15

Gaoler. Even thus all day long.

Daughter. Now for this charm, that I told you of; you
must bring a piece of silver on the tip of your tongue, or no
ferry : then if it be your chance to come where the blessed
spirits are — there 's a sight now ! — we maids that have our
livers perished, cracked to pieces with love, we shall come
there, and do nothing all day long but pick flowers with
Proserpine; then will I make Palamon a nosegay; then
let him — mark me — then — 24

Doctor. How prettily she 's amiss ! note her a little
further !

Daughter. Faith, I '11 tell you ; sometime we go to bar
ley-break, we of the blessed : alas, 't is a sore life they have
i' th' other place, such burning, hissing, howling, chattering,
cursing ! oh, they have shrewd measure ! Take heed : if one
be mad, or hang or drown themselves, thither they go ; Ju
piter bless us ! 32

Doctor. How she continues this fancy ! 'T is not an
engraffed madness, but a most thick and profound melan
choly.

Daughter. To hear there a proud lady and a proud city-
wife howl together ! I were a beast, an I 'd call it good
sport ! [Sings.

I will be true, my stars, my fate, &c. [Exit Daughter.

Gaoler. What think you of her, sir ? 40

Doctor. I think she has a perturbed mind, which I can
not minister to.

Gaoler. Alas, what then ?

Doctor. Understand you she ever affected any man ere
she beheld Palamon ? 45

Gaoler. I was once, sir, in great hope she had fixed her
liking on this gentleman, my friend.

70 THE TWO NOB LI'. KiXSMEN.

Wooer. I did think so too; and would account I had a
great pen'worth on 't, to give half my state, that both she
and I at this present stood unfeignedly on the same terms. 50

Doctor. That intemperate surfeit of her eye hath dis
tempered the other senses ; they may return, and settle
again to execute their preordained faculties ; but they are
now in a most extravagant vagary. This you must do : con
fine her to a place where the light may rather seem to steal
in than be permitted. Take upon you (young sir, her friend)
the name of Palamon ; say you come to eat with her, and
to commune of love ; this will catch her attention, for this
her mind beats upon ; other objects, that are inserted
'tween her mind and eye, become the pranks and friskings
of her madness. Sing to her such green songs of love, as
she says Palamon hath sung in prison ; come to her, stuck
in as sweet flowers as the season is mistress of, and thereto
make an addition of some other compounded odours which
are grateful to the sense : all this shall become Palamon, for
Palamon can sing, and Palamon is sweet, and every good
thing. Desire to eat with her, carve her, drink to her, and
still among intermingle your petition of grace and accept
ance into her favour ; learn what maids have been her com
panions and play-pheers ; and let them repair to her with
Palamon in their mouths, and appear with tokens, as if
they suggested for him : it is a falsehood she is in, which is
with falsehoods to be combated. This may bring her to
eat, to sleep, and reduce what 's now out of square in her,
into their former law and regiment : I have seen it approved,
how many times I know not; but to make the number
more, I have great hope in this. I will, between the pas
sages of this project, come in with my appliance. Let us
put it in execution, and hasten the success, which, doubt
not, will bring forth comfort. \Exeuni.

ACT V.

SCENE I. An open space, before the temples of Mars,

Venus, and Diana.
Enter THESEUS, PIRITHOUS, HIPPOLYTA, and Attendants.

Theseus. Now let 'em enter, and before the gods
Tender their holy prayers ! Let the temples

ACT V. SCENE L 71

Burn bright with sacred fires, and the altars
In hallow'd clouds, commend their swelling incense
To those above us ! Let no due be wanting ! 5

\Flonrish of cornets.

They have a noble work in hand, will honour
The very powers that love 'em.

Enter PALAMON, ARCITE, and their Knights.

Pirithous. Sir, they enter.

Thiseus. You valiant and strong-hearted enemies,
You Toyal germane foes, that this day come
To b'.ow that nearness out that flames between ye, 10

Lay by your anger for an hour, and dove-like
Before the holy altars of your helpers,
The all-fear' d gods, bow down your stubborn bodies !
Your ire is more than mortal ; so your help be !
And as the gods regard ye, fight with justice ! 15

I '11 ]eave you to your prayers, and betwixt ye
I pa't my wishes.

Pirithous. Honour crown the worthiest !

[Exeunt Theseus and Train.

Palamon. The glass is running now that cannot finish
Till one of us expire : think you but thus ;
That, were there aught in me which strove to shew 20

Mine enemy in this business, were 't one eye
Against another, arm oppress'd by arm,
I would destroy th' offender; coz, I would,
Though parcel of myself ! then from this gather
How I should tender you !

Arcite. I am in labour 25

To push your name, your ancient love, our kindred,
Out of my memory ; and i' the self-same place
To seat something I would confound : so hoist we
The sails that must these vessels port even where
The heavenly Limiter pleases !

Palamon. You speak well : 30

Before I turn, let me embrace thee, cousin ! [They embrace.
This I shall never do again.

Arcite. One farewell !

Palamon. Why, let it be so : farewell, coz !

Arcite. Farewell, sir ! —

[Exeunt Palamon and his Knights.

7-' THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX.

Knights, kinsmen, lovers, yea, my sacrifices,

True worshippers of Mars, whose spirit in you 35

Expels the seeds of fear, and th' apprehension

Which still is father of it, go with me

Before the god of our profession ! There

Require of him the hearts of lions, and

The breath of tigers, yea, the fierceness too ; 40

Yea, the speed also ; to go on, I mean,

Else wish we to be snails. You know my prize

Must be dragg'd out of blood ! force and great feat

Must put my garland on, where she will stick

The queen of flowers ; our intercession, then, 45

Must be to him that makes the camp a cestron

Brimm'd with the blood of men ; give me your aid,

And bend your spirits towards him ! —

\They advance to the altar of Mars, and fall on their
faces ; then kneel.

Thou mighty one, that with thy power hast turn'd

Green Neptune into purple ; [whose approach] 50

Comets prewarn ; whose havoc in vast field

Unearthed skulls proclaim ; whose breath blows down

The teeming Ceres' foison ; who dost pluck

With hand armipotent from forth blue clouds

The mason'd turrets ; that both mak'st and break'st 5 <

The stony girths of cities ; me, thy pupil,

Young'st follower of thy drum, instruct this day

With military skill, that to thy laud

I may advance my streamer, and by thee

Be styl'd the lord o' the day ! Give me, great Mars, 60

Some token of thy pleasure !

\Here they fall on their faces as formerly, and there is
heard clanging of armour, with a short thunder, as the
burst of a battle, whereupon they all rise, and bow to
the altar.

O great corrector of enormous times,

Shaker of o'er-rank states, thou grand decider

Of dusty and old titles, that heal'st with blood

The earth when it is sick, and cur'st the world 65

O' the plurisy of people ; I do take

ACT V. SCENE I. 73

Thy signs auspiciously, and in thy name

To my design march boldly ! — Let us go ! [Exeunt.

Enter PALAMON and his Knights, with the former observance.

Palamon. Our stars must glister with new fire, or be
To-day extinct : our argument is love, 70

Which if the goddess of it grant, she gives
Victory too : then blend your spirits with mine,
You, whose free nobleness do make my cause
Your personal hazard ! To the goddess Venus^
Commend we our proceeding, and implore 75

Her power unto our party !

[Here they advance to the altar of Venus, and fall on their

faces ; then kneel,

Hail, sovereign queen of secrets ! who hast power
To call the fiercest tyrant from his rage,
To weep unto a girl ; that hast the might
Even with an eye-glance to choke Mars's drum, 80

And turn th' alarm to whispers ; that canst make
A cripple flourish with his crutch, and cure him
Before Apollo ; that mayst force the king
To be his subjects' vassal, and induce

Stale gravity to dance ; the polled bachelor, 85

Whose youth, like wanton boys through bonfires,
Have skipt thy flame, at seventy thou canst catch,
And make him, to the scorn of his hoarse throat,
Abuse young lays of love. What godlike power
Hast thou not power upon ? To Phoebus thou 90

Add'st flames, hotter than his ; the heavenly fires
Did scorch his mortal son, thine him; the huntress,
All moist and cold, some say, began to throw
Her bow away, and sigh. Take to thy grace
Me thy vow'd soldier ! who do bear thy yoke 95

As 't were a wreath of roses, yet is heavier
Than lead itself, stings more than nettles :
I have never been foul-mouth'd against thy law ;
Ne'er reveal'd secret, for I knew none; would not,
Had I kenn'd all that were ; I never practis'd 100

Upon man's wife, nor would the libels read
Of liberal wits ; I never at great feasts

74 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Sought to betray a beauty, but have blush'd

At simpering sirs that did ; I have been harsh

To large confessors, and have hotly ask'd them 105

If they had mothers ? I had one, a woman,

And women 't were they wrong'd. — [In] brief, I am

To those that prate, and have done, no companion ;

To those that boast, and have not, a defier;

To those that would, and cannot, a rejoicer : no

Yea, him I do not love that tells close offices

The foulest way, nor names concealments in

The boldest language : such a one I am,

And vow that lover never yet made sigh

Truer than I. Oh, then, most soft sweet goddess, 115

Give me the victory of this question, which

Is true love's merit, and bless me with a sign

Of thy great pleasure !

\Here anisic is heard, doves are seen to flutter ; they fall

again upon their faces, then, on their knees.
Oh, thou that from eleven to ninety reign'st
In mortal bosoms, whose chase is this world, 120

And we in herds thy game, I give thee thanks
For this fair token ! which, being laid unto
Mine innocent true heart, arms in assurance
My body to this business. — Let us rise
And bow before the goddess ! Time comes on. 125

[ They bow ; then exeunt.

Still music of records. Enter EMILIA /// white, her hair about
her shoulders, and wearing a wheatcn wreath ; one in
white holding up her train, her hair stuck with flowers ;
one before her carrying a silver hind, in which is con
veyed incense and sweet odours, which being set upon the
altar of Diana, her Maids standing aloof, she sets fire to
it ; then they curtsy and kneel.

Emilia. O sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen,
Abandoner of revels, mute, contemplative,
Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and pure
As wind-fann'd snow, who to thy female knights
Allow' st no more blood than will make a blush, 130

Which is their order's robe ; I here, thy priest,

ACT V. SCENE L 75

Am humbled 'fore thine altar. Oh, vouchsafe,

With that thy rare green eye, which never yet

Beheld thing maculate, look on thy virgin !

And, sacred silver mistress, lend thine ear 135

(Which ne'er heard scurril term, into whose port

Ne'er enter'd wanton sound) to my petition,

Season'd with holy fear ! This is my last

Of vestal office ; I am bride- habited,

But maiden-hearted ; a husband I have 'pointed, 140

But do not know him ; out of two I should

Choose one, and pray for his success, but I

Am guiltless of election of mine eyes ;

Were I to lose one, they are equal precious,

I could doom neither; that which perish'd should 145

Go to 't unsentenc'd : therefore, most modest queen,

He, of the two pretenders, that best loves me,

And has the truest title in 't, let him

Take off my wheat en garland, or else grant

The file and quality I hold I may 150

Continue in thy band !

\Here the hind vanishes under the altar, and in the place

ascends a rose-tree, having one rose upon it.
See what our general of ebbs and flows
Out from the bowels of her holy altar
With sacred act advances ! But one rose !
If well inspir'd, this battle shall confound 155

Both these brave knights, and I, a virgin flower,
Must grow alone, unpluck'd.

\Here is heard a sudden twang of instruments, and the

rose falls from the tree, which descends.
The flower is fall'n, the tree descends ! O mistress,
Thou here discharges! me ; I shall be gather'd,
I think so ; but I know not thine own will : 160

Unclasp thy mystery ! — I hope she 's pleas'd ;
Her signs were gracious. \They curtsy, and exeunt.

SCENE II. A room in the prison.
Enter DOCTOR, GAOLER, and WOOER (in habit ^PALAMON).

Doctor. Has this advice I told you done any good upon
her?

76 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSM1

Wooer. Oh, very much : the maids that kept her com
pany

Have half persuaded her that I am Palamon ;
Within this half-hour she came smiling to me,
And ask'd me what I 'd eat, and when I 'd kiss her : 5

I told her presently, and kiss'd her twice.

Doctor. 'T was well done ! twenty times had been far

better •
For there the cure lies mainly.

Wooer. Then she told me

She would watch with me to-night, for well she knew
What hour my fit would take me.

Doctor. Let her do so. 10

Wooer. She would have me sing.

Doctor. You did so ?

Wooer. No.

Doctor. 'T was very ill done, then : —
You should observe her ev'ry way.

Wooer. Alas !

I have no voice, sir, to confirm her that way.

Doctor. That 's all one, if ye make a noise : — 1 5

If she entreat again, do any thing.
Pray bring her in,
And let 's see how she is.

Gaoler. I will, and tell her

Her Palamon stays for her. \Exit.

Doctor. How old is she?

\\\wr. She 's eighteen.

Doctor. She may be ; 20

But that 's all one, 't is nothing to our purpose.
Enter GAOLER, DAUGHTER, and Maid.

Gaoler. Come ; your love Palamon stays for you, child ;
And has done this long hour, to visit you.

Daughter. I thank him for his gentle patience ;
He 's a kind gentleman, and I am much bound to him. 25
Did you ne'er see the horse he gave me ?

Gaoler. Yes.

Daughter. How do you like him ?

Gaoler. He 's a very fair one.

Daughter. You never saw him dance ?

ACT V. SCENE II. 77

Gaoler. No.

Daughter. I have often :

He dances very finely, very comely ;

And, for a jig, come cut and long tail to him ! 30

He turns ye like a top.

Gaoler. That 's fine indeed.

Daughter. He '11 dance the morris twenty mile an hour,
And that will founder the best hobby-horse
(If I have any skill) in all the parish :
And gallops to the tune of ' Light o' love :' 35

What think you of this horse ?

Gaoler. Having these virtues,

I think he might be brought to play at tennis.

Daughter. Alas, that 's nothing.

Gaoler. Can he write and read too ?

Daughter. A very fair hand; and casts himself th' ac
counts

Of all his hay and provender : that hostler 40

Must rise betime that cozens him. You know
The chestnut mare the duke has ?

Gaoler. Very well.

Daughter. She is horribly in love with him, poor beast ;
But he is like his master, coy and scornful.

Gaoler. What dowry has she ?

Daughter. Some two hundred bottles, 45

And twenty strike of oats : but he '11 ne'er have her ;
He lisps in 's neighing, able to entice
A miller's mare ; he '11 be the death of her.

Doctor. What stuff she utters !

Gaoler. Make curtsy ; here your love comes !

Wooer. Pretty soul, 50

How do ye ? That 's a fine maid ! there 's a curtsy !

Daughter. Yours to command, i' the way of honesty.
How far is 't now to. th' end o' the world, my masters?

Doctor. Why, a day's journey, wench.

Daughter. Will you go with me ?

Wooer. What shall we do there, wench ?

Daughter. Why, play at stool-ball. 55

What is there else to do ?

Wooer. I am content,

78 THE TWO NOBLE

If we shall keep our wedding there.

Daughter. 'T is true;

For there, I will assure you, we shall find
Some blind priest for the purpose, that will venture
To marry us, for here they are nice and foolish ; 60

Besides, my father must be hang'd to-morrow,
And that would be a blot i' the business.
Are not you Palamon ?

Wooer. Do not you know me ?

Daughter. Yes ; but you care not for me : I have nothing
But this poor petticoat, and two coarse smocks. 65

Wooer. That 's all one; I will have you.

Daughter. Will you surely ?

Wooer. Yes, by this fair hand, will I. \Kisscs her.

Why do you rub my kiss off?

Daughter. 'T is a sweet one,

And will perfume me finely against the wedding.
Is not this your cousin Arcite?

Doctor. Yes, sweetheart ; 70

And I am glad my cousin Palamon
Has made so fair a choice.

Daughter. Do you think he '11 have me ?

Doctor. Yes, without doubt.

Daughter. Do you think so too ?

Gaoler. Yes.

Daughter. We shall have many children. — Lord, how

y' are grown !

My Palamon I hope will grow too, finely, 75

Now he 's at liberty ; alas, poor chicken.
He was kept down with hard meat and ill lodging,
But I will kiss him up again.

Enter a Messenger.

Mcss:ngs ••. What do you here? you '11 lose the nobleht

Yght

That e'er was seen.

Gaoler. Are they i' the field ?

Messenger They are : 80

You bear a charge there too.

Gaoler. I '11 away straight. —

j must ev'n leave you here.

ACT V. SCENE III. 79

Doctor. Nay, we '11 go with you ;

I will not lose the fight.

Gaoler (to Doctor}. How did you like her ?

Doctor. I '11 warrant you, within these three or four days
I '11 make her right again. — You must not from her, 85
But still preserve her in this way.

Wooer. I will.

Doctor. Let 's get her in.

Wooer. Come, sweet, we '11 go to dinner ;

And then we '11 play at cards. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. A part of the forest, near the place of combat.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EMILIA, PIRITHOUS, and
Attendants.

Emilia. I '11 no step further.

Pirithous. Will you lose this sight ?

Emilia. I had rather see a wren hawk at a fly
Than this decision : every blow that falls
Threats a brave life ; each stroke laments
The place whereon it falls, and sounds more like 5

A bell than blade : I will stay here :
It is enough my hearing shall be punish'd
With what shall happen, 'gainst the which there is
No deafing, but to hear, — not taint mine eye
With dread sights it may shun.

Pirithous. Sir, my good lord, i o

Your sister will no further.

Theseus. Oh, she must :

She shall see deeds of honour in their kind,
Which sometime shew well, pencill'd : Nature now
Shall make and act the story, the belief
Both seal'd with eye and ear. You must be present; 15
You are the victor's meed, the price and garland
To crown the question's title.

Emilia. Pardon me ;

If I were there, I 'd wink.

Theseus. You must be there ;

This trial is as 't were i' the night, and you
The only star to shine.

Emilia. I am extinct; 20

8o THE TJJ'O NOBLE KIXSUEX.

There is but envy in that light, which shews

The one the other. Darkness, which ever was

The dam of Horror, who does stand accurs'd

Of many mortal millions, may even now,

By casting her black mantle over both, 25

That neither could find other, get herself

Some part of a good name, and many a murder

Set off whereto she 's guilty.

Hippolyta. You must go.

Emilia. In faith, I will not.

Theseus. Why, the knights must kindle

Their valour at your eye : know, of this war 30

You are the treasure, and must needs be by
To give the service pay.

Emilia. Sir, pardon me ;

The title of a kingdom may be tried
Out of itself.

Theseus. Well, well, then, at your pleasure !
Those that remain with you could wish their office 35

To any of their enemies.

Hippolyta. Farewell, sister !

I am like to know your husband 'fore yourself,
By some small start of time : he whom the gods
Do of the two know best, I pray them he
Be made your lot ! 40

[Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Pirithous, and sonic of the
Attendants.

Emilia. Arcite is gently visag'd : yet his eye
Is like an engine bent, or a sharp weapon
In a soft sheath ; mercy and manly courage
Are bedfellows in his visage. Palamon
Has a most menacing aspect ; his brow 45

Is grav'd, and seems to bury what it frowns on ;
Yet sometimes 't is not so, but alters to
The quality of his thoughts ; long time his eye
Will dwell upon his object. Melancholy
Becomes him nobly; so does Arcite's mirth; 50

But Palamon's sadness is a kind of mirth,
So mingled as if mirth did make him sad,
And sadness, merry ; those darker humours that

ACT V. SCENE III. Si

Stick misbecomingly on others, on him
Live in fair dwelling. 55

\Cornets. Trumpets sound as to a charge .
Hark, how yon spurs to spirit do incite
The princes to their proof! Arcite may win me ;
And yet may Palamon wound Arcite, to
The spoiling of his figure. Oh, what pity
Enough for such a chance ! If I were by, 60

I might do hurt ; for they would glance their eyes
Toward my seat, and in that motion might
Omit a ward, or forfeit an offence,
Which crav'd that very time ; it is much better

[Cornets. Cry within, A Palamon !

I am not there ; oh, better never born 65

Than minister to such harm ! — What is the chance ?

Servant. The cry 's 'A Palamon.'

Emilia, Then he has won. 'T was ever likely :
He look'd all grace and success, and he is
Doubtless the prim'st of men. I prithee run, 70

And tell me how it goes.

[Shout, and cornets ; cry, A Palamon !

Servant. Still ' Palamon.'

Emilia. Run and enquire. \Exit Servant^ Poor ser
vant, thou hast lost !

Upon my right side still I wore thy picture,
Palamon's on the left : why so, I know not ;
I had no end in 't else ; chance would have it so. 75

\Anothcr cry and shout within ^ and Cornets.
On the sinister side the heart lies : Palamon*"
Had the best-boding chance. This burst of clamour
Is, sure, the end o' the combat.

Re-enter Servant.

Servant. They said that Palamon had Arcite's body
Within an inch o' the pyramid, that the cry So

Was general ' A Palamon ;' but anon,
Th' assistants made a brave redemption, and
The two bold tilters at this instant are
Hand to hand at it.

Emilia. Were they metamorphos'J

s. 6

82 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Koth into one — Oh, why? there were no woman 85

Worth so compos'd a man ! Their single share,
Their nobleness peculiar to them, gives
The prejudice of disparity, value's shortness,

\Cornets. Cry within, Arcite, Arcite !
To any lady breathing. — More exulting !
' Palamon ' still ?

Servant. Nay, now the sound is ' Arcite.' 90

Emilia. I prithee lay attention to the cry ;

\Cornets. A great shout and cry, Arcite, victory !
Set both thine ears to th' business.

Servant. The cry is

' Arcite, and victory !' Hark ! ' Arcite, victory !'
The combat's consummation is proclaim'd
By the wind-instruments.

Emilia. Half-sights saw 95

That Arcite was no babe : God's lid, his richness
And costliness of spirit look'd through him ! it could
No more be hid in him than fire in flax,
Than humble banks can go to law with waters
That drift-winds force to raging. I did think i oo

Good Palamon would miscarry ; yet I knew not
Why I did think so : our reasons are not prophets,
When oft our fancies are. They are coming off :
Alas, poor Palamon ! \Cornets.

Enter THESKC.S, HIPPOLVTA, PIRITHOUS, ARCITE as victor,
Attendants, &c.

Theseus. Lo, where our sister is in expectation, 105

Yet quaking and unsettled. Fairest Emily,
The gods, by their divine arbitrament,
Have given you this knight : he is a good one
As ever struck at head. Give me your hands !
Receive you her, you him ; be plighted with no

A love that grows as you decay !

Arcite. Emily,

To buy you I have lost what 's dearest to me,
Save what is bought ; and yet I purchase cheaply,
As I do rate your value.

Theseus. Oh, lov'd sister,

ACT V. SCENE III. 83

He speaks now of as brave a knight as e'er 115

Did spur a noble steed ; surely the gods
Would have him die a bachelor, lest his race
Should show i' the world too godlike ! His behaviour
So charm'd me, that me thought Alcides was
To him a sow of lead : if I could praise 120

Each part of him to th' all I have spoke, your Arcite
Did not lose by 't ; for he that was thus good
Encounter'd yet his better. I have heard
Two emulous Philomels beat the ear o' the night
With their contentious throats, now one the higher, 125
Anon the other, then again the first,
And by and by out-breasted, that the sense
Could not be judge between 'em : so it far'd
Good space between these kinsmen; till heavens did
Make hardly one the winner. — Wear the garland 130

With joy that you have won ! — For the subdued,
Give them our present justice, since I know
Their lives but pinch 'em ; let it here be done.
The scene 's not for our seeing : go we hence,
Right joyful, with some sorrow ! — Arm your prize : 135

I know you will not lose her. — Hippojyta,
I see one eye of yours conceives a tear,
The which it will deliver. \Flourish.

Emilia. Is this winning?

0 all you heavenly powers, where is your mercy ?

But that your wills have said it must be so, 140

And charge me live to comfort this unfriended,

This miserable prince, that cuts away

A life more worthy from him than all women,

1 should and would die too.
Hippolyta. Infinite pity,

That four such eyes should be so fix'd on one, 145

That two must needs be blind for 't !

Theseus. So it is. [Exeunt.

6-2

84 THE TWO XOBLE KINSMEX.

. i-: IV. 77/6- same part of the forest as in Act nr. Sc. 6.

Jr. ntcr PALAMON and his Three Knights pinioned, GAOLER,
Executioner, tSa\, <?//</ (uiard.

Palawan. There 's many a man alive that hath outliv'd
The love o' the people ; yea, i' the self-same state
Stands many a father with his child : some comfort
We have by so considering; we expire,
And not without men's pity ; to live still 5

Have their good wishes; [herein] we prevent
The loathsome misery of age, beguile
The gout and rheum, that in lag hours attend
For grey approachers ; we come towards the gods
Young and unwapper'd, not halting under crimes 10

Many and stale ; that, sure, shall please the gods
Sooner than such, to give us nectar with 'em,
For we are more clear spirits. My dear kinsmen,
Whose lives (for this poor comfort) are laid down,
You Ye sold Jem too too cheap.

1 Knight. What ending could be 15
Of more content? O'er us the victors have

Fortune, whose title is as momentary

As to us death is certain ; a grain of honour

They not o'erweigh us.

2 Knight. Let us bid farewell ;

And with our patience anger tott'ring fortune, 20

Who, at her certain'st, reeL !

3 Knight. Come; who begins?
Palamon. Ev'n he that led you to this banquet shall

Taste to you all. — \To the Gaoler :] Ah ha, my friend, my

friend.

Your gentle (laughter gave me freedom once ;
You '11 see 't done now for ever. Pray, how does she ? 25
I heard she was not well ; her kind of ill
(lave me some sorrow.

(iitolcr. Sir, she 's well restor'd,

And to be married shortly.

Palamon. By my short life,

I am most glad on 't ! 'T is the latest thing
I shall be glad of; prithee, tell her so; 30

ACT V. SCENE IV. 85

Commend me to her, and, to piece her portion,

Tender her this. \Gives a purse.

1 Knight. Nay, let 's be offerers all !

2 Knight. Is it a maid ?

Pala mon. Verily, I think so ;

A right good creature, more to me deserving
Than I can quite or speak of! 35

All Knights. Commend us to her. [Give their purses.

Gaoler. The gods requite you all,

And make her thankful !

Palamon. Adieu ! and let my life be now as short
As my leave-taking. [Lays his head on the block.

1 Knight. Lead, courageous cousin !

2 Knight. We '11 follow cheerfully.

\A great noise within, crying, Run, save, hold !

Enter in haste a Messenger.
Messenger. Hold, hold ! oh, hold, hold, hold ! 40

Enter I^IRITHOUS in haste.

Pirithous. Hold, hoa ! it is a cursed haste you made,
If you have done so quickly.— Noble Palamon,
The gods will shew their glory in a life
That thou art yet to lead.

Palamon. Can that be, when

Venus, I have said, is false ? How do things fare ? 45

Pirithous. Arise, great sir, and give the tidings ear
That are most dearly sweet and bitter !

Palamon. What

Hath wak'd us from our dream ? [Palamon rises.

Pirithous. List then ! Your cousin,

Mounted upon a steed that Emily

Did first bestow on him, a black one, owing 50

Not a hair-worth of white, which some will say
Weakens his price, and many will not buy
His goodness with this note ; which superstition
Here finds allowance : on this horse is Arcite,
Trotting the stones of Athens, which the calkins 55

Did rather tell than trample ; for the horse
Would make his length a mile, if 't pleas'd his rider

86 THE TJJ'O NOBLE KINSMEN,

To put pride in him : as he thus went counting

The Hinty pavement, dancing as 't were to the music

His own hoofs made (for, as they say, from iron 60

Came music's origin), what envious Hint,

Cold as old Saturn, and like him ;

With fire malevolent, darted a spark,

Or what fierce sulphur else, to this end made,

I comment not ; the hot. horse, hot as fire, 65

Took toy at this, and fell to what disorder

His power could give his will, bounds, comes on end,

Forgets school-doing, being therein trained,

And of kind manage; pig-like he whines

At the sharp rowel, which he frets at rather 70

Than any jot obeys ; seeks all foul means

Of boisterous and rough jadery, to dis-seat

His lord that kept it bravely. When nought serv'd,

When neither curb would crack, girth break, nor diff'ring

plunges

Dis-root his rider whence he grew, but that 75

He kept him 'tween his legs, on his hind hoofs
On end he stands,

That Arcite's legs, being higher than his head,
Seem'd with strange art to hang : his victor's wreath
Even then fell off his head; and presently 80

Backward the jade comes o'er, and his full poise
Becomes the riders load. Yet is he living ;
But such a vessel 't is, that floats but for
The surge that next approaches : he much desires
To have some speech with you. Lo, he appears ! 85

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EMILIA, ARCITE in a Chair.

Palawan. O miserable end of our alliance !
The gods are mighty ! — Arcite, if thy heart,
Thy worthy manly heart, be yet unbroken,
(live me thy last words ! I am Palamon,
One that yet loves thee dying.

Arcite. Take Emilia, 90

And with her all the world's joy. Reach thy hand ;
Earewell ! I Ve told my last hour. I was false,
Yet never treacherous : forgive me, cousin !

ACT V. SCENE IV. 87

One kiss from fair Emilia ! \Kisses her^\ 'T is done :
Take her. I die ! \_Dies.

Palamon. Thy brave soul seek Elysium ! 95

Emilia. I '11 close thine eyes, prince ; blessed souls be

with thee !

Thou art a right good man ; and, while I live.
This day I give to tears.

Palamon. And I to honour.

Theseus. In this place first you fought ; ev'n very here
I sunder'd you : acknowledge to the gods 100

Your thanks that you are living.
His part is play'd, and, though it were too short,
He did it well : your day is lengthen'd, and
The blissful dew of heaven does arrose you ;
The powerful Venus well hath grac'd her altar, 105

And given you your love. Our master Mars
Has vouch'd his oracle, and to Arcite gave
The grace of the contention : so the deities
Have shew'd due justice. — Bear this hence.

Palamon. O cousin,

That we should things desire, which do cost us no

The loss of our desire ! that nought could buy
Dear love, but loss of dear love !

Theseus. Never fortune

Did play a subtler game : the conquer'd triumphs,
The victor has the loss ; yet in the passage
The gods have been most equal. Palamon, 1 1 5

Your kinsman hath confess'd the right o' the lady
Did lie in you ; for you first saw her, and
Even then proclaim'd your fancy; he restor'd her,
As your stol'n jewel, and desir'd your spirit
To send him hence forgiven. The gods my justice 120
Take from my hand, and they themselves become
The executioners. Lead your lady off;
And call your lovers from the stage of death,
Whom I adopt my friends. A day or two
Let us look sadly, and give grace unto 125

The funeral of Arcite ; in whose end
The visages of bridegrooms we '11 put on,
And smile with Palamon ; for whom an hour,

83 THE TirO NOBLE KINSMEN.

I!ut one hour since, I was as clearly sorry,

As glad of Arcite ; and am now as glad, 130

As for him sorry. O you heavenly charmers,

What things you make of us ! For what we lack

We laugh, for what we have are sorry ; still

Are children in some kind. Let us be thankful

For that which is, and with you leave dispute, 135

That are above our question ! — Let 's go off,

And bear us like the time. \Flourish. Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

I would now ask ye how ye like the play ;

Hut, as it is with school-boys, cannot say,

I am cruel fearful. Pray, yet stay a while,

And let me look upon ye. No man smile?

Then it goes hard, I see. — He that has 5

1 ,ov'd a young handsome wench, then, shew his face !

'T is strange if none be here ; and, if he will

Against his conscience, let him hiss, and kill

( )ur market ! "f is in vain, I see, to stay ye :

Have at the worst can come, then ! Now, what say ye? 10

And yet mistake me not ; I am not bold ;

We 'Ye no such cause. — If the tale we have told

( For 't is no other) any way content ye,

( For to that honest purpose it was meant ye),

We have our end ; and ye shall have, ere long, 1 5

1 dare say, many a better, to prolong

Your old loves to us. We, and all our might,

Rest at your service : gentlemen, good night ! {Flourish.

CRITICAL NOTES.

IN the following Notes are recorded all the various readings that
deserve mention. Every variation from the original quarto edition is
given, excepting such as are merely due to modernisation of spelling.
The following abbreviations are used :

qu. — original quarto edition, 1634.

fol. = folio edition, 1679.

Tons. = edition published by Tonson, 7 vols. Svo. 1711.

Sew. = edition by Theobald, Seward, and Sympson, 10 vols. Svo.

1750-

Col. = edition in 10 vols. Svo. 1778; said to have been edited by
George Colman. (Reprinted in 4 vols. royal Svo. 1811.)

\Yeb. = Weber's edition, 14 vols. Svo. 1812.

Kn. = Knight's Pictorial edition, 1838.

D.=Dyce's edition, n vols. Svo. 1843.

Sk. = present edition. (This abbreviation also marks a few altera
tions, for which I am responsible.)

old edd. =the three first editions, collectively; the same as 'qu.
fol. Tons.'

the rest = all editions subsequent to that mentioned.

altered = an alteration made in the present edition, noted for the
critical reader.

PROLOGUE. The first twelve lines are omitted.

14. take, qu. ; tack, fol.; so also in III. 4. 10, and IV. i, last line.

17. travail. Old edd. travell, or travel, which has the same meaning.

ACT I. Sc. i.

(Stage direction) Hippolyta, led by Theseus, qu. fol.; Hippolyta,
led by J'iri/ftoi/Sy Sew. and the rest.

9. her Ms, qu. fol. ; her bills, Tons, and the rest ; hairbelh, Sk.

18. Is, old edd. ; Be, Sew. and the rest.

•20. Clough hee, fol. ; dough he, fol. Tons. ; chough hoar, Sew. and
the rest.

27. yourself, Sk. ; altered.

40. endured, qu. ; endur'd, fol. and the rest (except Dyce) ; endure,
D. Sk. The correction was suggested by Mason.

42. flilds, qu. ; field, fol. Tons. Sew. ; fields, Col. and the rest.

68. Nennan, old edd ; Nemean, Sew. and the rest.

87. Whom, old edd.; Who, Sew. and the rest.

90 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Sg. Si'i-'ant for, all edd. but Sew. Col. Web., who read servant to.

yo. the speech, old edd. ; /,'. • . ~ -ew. and the rest.

in. there; there, all edd. but Sew. Col. Kn., who read there ;
hire.

1 12. glasse, qu. ; glass, fol. Tons. ; glassy, Sew. and the rest.

132. long last, old edd. ; longer last, Sew. and the rest.

138. mooves, qu. Asprayes, qu.

142. Cordes, Knives, drams precipitance, old edd. ; Sew. Col.
Web. D. insert a comma after drams ; Kn. Sk. retain the old reading,
and insert apostrophes after cords'1, k>iives\ drains' '.

148. Seward proposed to insert the words within square brackets.

151. old edd. omit now after work; Se\v. and the rest insert it.

156. Wrinching, old edd. ; Rinsing, Sew. and the rest.

172. any was, old edd. ; a/. •'. and the rest. The emenda

tion was made by Theobald ; cf. 1. 133 above.

178. twyning, qu. ; twining, fol. Tons. ; twinning, Sew. and the
rest. Correction due to Theobald.

211. soldier (as before] hence, old edd. Sew. Col. ; soldier, as before ;
hence, Kn. ; soldier. As before, hence, Web. D. Sk.

2r2. Anly, old edd.; Aulis, Sew. and the rest. Proposed by
Theobald.

ACT T. Sc. 2.

63. successes, all edd. but Kn. ; success, Kn.

64. Makes, old edd. Kn. ; Mak-, all the i

65. Colon or semicolon inserted after power in old edd. Seward
removed it.

69. men, qu. fol. Tons.; mat's, Sew. and the rest.

70. glory on, old edd. ; glory too, Sew. and the rest.

109. come, qu. ; came, fol. Tons. Sew.; comes, Col. and the rest.

ACT I. Sc. 3.

5. dure, old edd. Web. Kn. ; cure, Sew. Col.; dare, Sympson's
conjecture, adopted by Dyce.

31. Playing ore, qu. ; Playing o'er, fol. Tons. Sew. Col.; Playing
or; Web. and the rest. Corrected by Mason ; it was a mere misprint
of ore for one.

54. Fitiiiia, qu. ; Flavia, fol. Tons. ; Flavina, Sew. and the rest.
Correctel by help of 1. 83, where the quarto has Flavina.

73. happily, her careles, were, qu. ; happily, her careles, were, fol. ;
happily her careles were, Tons.; happily her careless wear, Col. and the
rest (except Seward, who proposed to read her affection; her Pretty,
tho' haply careless wear}.

75. on, old edd. Web. ; one, Sew. and the rest.

79. The svords within brackets I am responsible for ; I have con
densed two unintelligible lines into one that is, at any rate, clearer.

8 1. individuall, qu. ; individual, fol. Tons.; dividual, Sew. and
the rest.

CRITICAL NOTES. 91

ACT I. Sc. 4.

18. smeard, qu. ; smear'd, fol. and the rest (except ColmarO ; suc-
cour'd, Col. (surely a misprint). Mr Dyce is wrong in stating that the
quarto reads sitccard.

21. prisoner was't that, all edd. but D. ; ivas't that prisoner, D.
Sk. A happy emendation.

22. We leave, old edd. ; WV leave, D. ; With leave, the rest.
40. Since I have knowne frights, fury, friends, beheastcs,

Loves, provocations, zeale, a mistris Taske,
Desire of liberty, a flavour, -tnadnes,
Hath set a marke, &c. ; old edd.
Sevvard transposed the order of the lines by inserting the line

Sickness in will, or wrestling strength in reason,

after the word madness ; wrote friends' behests for friends, beheastcs,
I .ove'1 s provocations for Loves, provocations; and also suggested to read
"f hath (i. e. it hath] instead of Hath. Mr Dyce says — "the editors
of 1778 adopted Seward's transposition, and his reading 'T hath set
a mark, &c. : in other respects they followed the old editions. Weber
gave the passage as Seward had done, bating the transposition. Mr
Knight follows Seward in the first two lines, the old editions in the
remainder. Heath (MS. notes) would read in the first line, 'fights,
fury, friends' behests', and in the fourth, ' Have set a mark'. Mr Dyce
himself prints as follows :

.Since I have kncnvn fighfs fury, friends' behests,
Love's provocations, zeal in a mistress' task,
Desire of liberty, a fever, madness,
' T hath set, &c.
49. for our, old edd. ; 'fore our, Sew. and the rest.

ACT I. Sc. 5.

ir. households grave, qu. ; honshold graver (sic), fol.; household
graves, Tons, and the rest. Mr Dyce wrongly ascribes the last reading
to Seward instead of Tonson.

ACT II. Sc. i.

27. greise, qu. Sew. D. ; grief, fol. and the rest (except Seward and
Dyce).

74. were, old edd.; -wore, Sew. and the rest (except D.) ; -ware, D.
But see ivor'st, in. 6. 72.

75. BravisKd, old edd. ; Ravisttd, Sew. and the rest

104. Strucke, qu. ; Struck, fol. and the rest (except D.) ; Stitck, D.
The correction was suggested by Heath.

117. tuyrid, qu. ; t-wiiid, fol. Tons. Web. D. ; twimtd, Sew.
Col. Kn.

144. Crave, old edd., Col. Web. Kn. ; Reave, Sew.; Grave, D.
Also Craze, suggested by Theobald; Carve, Sympson ; Cleave, Mason;
Raze, Heath.

171. Seward first assigned this line to Emily ; so all the rest. In
old edd. it is assigned to Arcite.

92 THE Tll'O NOBLE KINSMEN.

196. After tliis line1, four lines are omitted.
199. A ft or this line, three lines are omitted.

211. . .

•284. Apr ici vXy, qu. ; Apricock, fol. Tons. Sew. ; apricot, Col. and
the rest (except D.).

307. grasp at, Sk. ; altered.

ACT II. Sc. i.
30. After this line, four lines are omitted.

35. yet know, old odd.; ye know, Sew..

41. A line omitted ; the word /4y* supplied.
46. j(Vj- so, old edd. ; j<7j'j so, Sew., &c.

72. ///(•// wind, qu. fol.; //w« wind, Tons. Kn. D. ; //^ wind,
Sew. Col. Web.

73. never, old edd.; w^Vr, Sew. Col. Web.; e'er, Kn. ; <T'<V, I'.
The correction of ever or e'er for wrrr was suggested by Mason. J'ei-
haps ne'er is right ; see 1. 12 above.

ACT II. Sc. 3.

5. love him else, Sk.; altered.
13. whole affection, Sk. ; altered.
30. possess, Sk. ; altered.

32. 7 '///«• w«c/i is at the end of 1. 31 in old edd. The correction
is Seward's.

ACT II. Sc. 4.

9. fnio-'t's, qu. ; proves, fol. Tons. Web. D. ; prove, Sew. Col. Kn.
24. ^r//, Sk. ; altered.

ACT III. Sc. i.

•2. /<?;;</, all edd. ; lannd, Sk. Suggested by Dyce.

10. /<w, old edd. ; place, Sew., &c.

36. voydes, qu. fol. ; voyds, Tons. ; voidest, Sew., &c. Correction
made by Sympson.

89. dare, so the edd. ; the quarto has dares.

90. nobly, Sk. ; noble, all other odd.

97. u; Mn <ick, fol. Tons.; ;«/«<? ^///VX-, Sew. Col.;

muse, Wei). ; vitisit, Kn. 1 .). Sk.

112. //, old edd.; /'zv, Sew., &c.

ACT III. Sc. 2.

r. /nvrXv, qu. ; y?,-,?/-, fol. Tons.; Iwk, Sew. Col.; brake, Web.
Kn. 1 ). Correction suggested by Theobald.

7. reck ; the quarlo lias wmzXr.
19. yiv/y the quarto lias

26, 27. The words within square brackets were suggested by
Dyce.

ACT III. Sc. 3.

34. Two lines omitted ; the word Well supplied.
50. Sir ha, old edd. Sew. ; Sirrah, Col. , <S:c,

CRITICAL NOTES. 93

ACT III. Sc. 4.

9. Upon her, old edd. Kn. ; Up frith her, Sew. Col. ; Spoom her,
Web. D. ; Run her, Sk.

ACT III. Sc. 5.

8. jave, old edd. Web.; shave, Sew. Col.; jape, Kn. ; jane,
D. Sk.

53. fire ill take her, old edd. Col. Web. Kn. ; feril take her, Sew. ;
wild-fire take her, Sk. The correction was proposed by Dyce.

58. The latter part of the line omitted.

67. I come. The word /is omitted in qu. and fol. , but supplied in
Tonson and the rest ; except Weber, who has IVe come.

83. Sir ha, qu. ; Sir, ha, fol. Tons. Sew. ; Sirrah, Col., &c.
After 1. 83, a line is omitted.

89. .El op:ts, old edd. D. ; Atque opus, Sew. and the rest (except
D.) ; En opus, Sk.

106. rable, qu. fol. ; rabble, Tons., &c.

123. tenner, old edd. Sew.; tenor, Col., &c. Even the old edd.
have tenor in in. 6. 135 ; tenner being merely used to preserve the
rhyme to the eye.

128. "welcomes, old edd. Sew. Sk. ; "welcome, Col., &c.

130. Informes, qu. fol. ; Informs, all the rest but D. ; Inform, D.
After this line, two lines are omitted.

132. 133- F°r <y> tne quarto has 7.

135. This line was first assigned to Gerrold in the edition of 1/78 ;
the old edd. give it to Pirithous, but add a side-note — •' Knocke for
Schoole. • Enter the Dance ', quarto ; ' Knock for Schoolm. Enter the
Dance', folio.

137. theewith, old edd. ; ye with, Sew., &c. In 1. 140, the quarto
has three for thee.

153. After this line, two lines are omitted.

ACT III. Sc. 6.

87. strait. Spelt streight, qu.

112. safely, old edd. Col. ; safety, Sew., &c. (except Col.).

147. this owne, qu. ; this own, fol. ; this known, Tons. Sew. Col.
Web. Kn. (known being perhaps a mere misprint in Tonson) ; thy own,
D. ; thine cnvn, Sk. See thy edict in 1. 170.

192. kill, old edd. D. ; kills, Sew. &c., all but D.

-202. moments, Sk. ; altered.

223. ThJvld (sic), qu.; Thcv'ld, fol.; They'll, Tons. Sew. Col.
Kn. ; They would, Web. ; They'd, D.

•238. fall, qu. fol. ; fail, Tons., &c.

242. name; Opinion, old edd. Sew. Col. Web.; name's opinion,
Kn. D. Correction due to Theobald and Mason.

244. proyne, qu. ; proyn, fol. Tons. ; prune, Sew. Col. Web. Kn. ;
proin, D.

•247. nurtured, Sk. ; altered.

270, 277, 298. possess, Sk. ; altered.

94 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX.

ACT IV. Sc. i.

20. sfrtfid ; the quarto has escapt, and divides the lines badly.
4S. The quarto omits have.

84. wreake, qu.; wreak, fol. Tons. ; wreath, Sew., &c.

no. rarely, old edd. ; rearly, Web. Kn. D. ; rtzr/y, Sew. Col.
in. A line and a half omitted here.
126. Seven lines omitted here.
128. About two lines omitted here.

ACT IV. Sc. i.

id. Love, old edd. ; Jove, Sew., &c.

38. the eyes, qu. Sk. ; altered to thy eyes in all other edd.

74. these, qu. and all edd. but fol. Tons. Sew. D., which have those.

8 1. faire, qu. ; fair, fol. Tons. Kn. ; far, Sew. Col. Web. ; fire,
D. Sk.

109. cored, qu. ; correct, fol. Tons. ; crown, Sew., &c. C'f. v.
3- '7-

125. auburn ; spelt aborne, qu.

126. Two lines omitted here.

ACT IV. Sc. -3.

20. as tKers, qu. ; as there's, fol. Tons. Sew. Col. Kn. ; are, there's,
Web. D. Sk. Correction made by Mason.

A few passages are omitted m this Scene, at 11. 29, 32, and 38.

67. crave her, qu. ; carve her, fol. and most edd. ; carve for her,
Sew. Kn.

74. what's, old edd. Web. D. ; what are, Sew. Col. Kn.

ACT V. Sc. i.

37. farther off, qu. fol. Sew. ; farther of, Tons. ; further off, Col.
Kn. ; father of, Web. D. Sk. The correction father of is due to
Theobald, and was approved by Heath.

44. stickes, qu. ; sticks, fol. Tons. D. ; tvill stick, Sew. Col. Web.
Kn. The reading will slick is a mere Suggestion of Seward's, but
seems a slight improvement.

50. The words whose approach were added by Seward. The old
copies have a lacuna here.

54. armenypotent, qu. : armenipotent, Fol. Tons. ; corrected to ar mi-
potent by Seward, &c.

79. And ' weepe, qu. ; And weep, fol. Tons.; To weep, Sew., &c.

80. Afars's ; spelt Marsis, qu. So also in I. i. 62.

85. poitld, old edd. ; polled, Sew., &c.

107. Eleven lines omitted. The word In supplied.
126. In the stage direction Seward printed Maid for Maids (quarto,
; so also Co!man and Weber.

ACT V. Sc. 2.

5. rd ; printed I would, qu.; twice.
10. One line omitted here.

CRITICAL NOTES. 95

1 6. Six lines omitted here.

19. Four lines omitted here.

1 1. Eight lines omitted here.

35. turne, qu. ; turn, fol. Tons.; tune, Sew., £c.

67. Two lines omitted here.

88. Five lines omitted here.

ACT V. Sc. 3.

13. No comma after -veil in old edd. ; it was supplied by Weber
and Dyce, and suggested by Mason and Heath. Col. Kn. have -wdl-
ptmcilled.

54. on them, old edd. ; on him, Sew., &c.

75. Sew. Col. omit else.

87. This line was omitted by accident in the folio, coming at the
beginning of a page ; Tons. Sew. also omit it. The quarto has it
thus — Tkcir noblenes peculier to (hern, gives.

ACT V. Sc. 4.

6. herein. Inserted to complete the line. Not in former editions.

10. unwapper" d, old edd. "Web. D. Sk. ; univappen'd, Kn. ; itit-
ivarp^d, Sew. Col.

35. quight, qu. fol. ; quite, Web. Kn. D. ; quit, Tons. Sew. Col.

44, 45. In old edd. and Kn., the word "when is at the beginning
of 1. 45.

47. early, old edd.; dearly, Sew., &c. See dearly sorry, \. 129
below.

10 1. Your, Dyce's suggestion ; all other edd. have Our.

104. arcnize, old edd. Sew. ; arrose, Col., &c.

X 0 T E S.

X.B. For remarks upon the various readings, see particularly the
Critical Notes. The places where the scenes are laid are insufficiently
indicated in all the editions except Mr Dyce's. I follow him in assign
ing to each scene its proper locality.

PROLOGUE. 14. Quarto, take; but it certainly means tack, ns
printed in later editions. So also in Act in. Sc. 4, 1. 10, and Act iv.
Sc. r, 1. 141 .

i 7. travail. The quarto has travel, a spelling which is retained in
some copies of the Bible (A.V. Oxford, 1870). See Numb. xx. 14;
.Lament, iii. 5.

ACT I. Sc. i.

Stage direction. The same as in the old copies, except that, by an
obvious mistake, the old editions read 'the bride, led by Theseus'.
The correction to 'led by Piritkffus' was made by Theobald.

.;. Evidently intended to be sung by the Boy, who also strews
flowers, as indicated in the stage direction, and at I. 15.

2. royal. Two syllables, as in Shakespeare.

4. maiden pinks, i.e. fresh pinks; also used for strewing upon the
grave of a maiden or a faithful wife. Compare the words of Queeu
Katharine, in Hen. VIII. iv. 2. 168 (a passage probably written by
Fletcher) —

strew me over

With maiden flowers, that all the world may know
I was a chaste wife to my grave.

This common custom is still better commemorated in Cymbdinc, IV.
, which may be compared with the present Song.

With fairest flowers

Whilst summer lasts and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shall not lack,
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
The azured harebell, like thy veins, &c.

There is a flower expressly named the maiden-pink (Dianthus vir-
giiic'its) ; but I suspect its name is comparatively modern.

5. quaint, trim, neat. See the note to Wright's edition of the

6. thyme; spelt time in the quarto. The spellings of words have
been gradually modernized in the editions; and, as it is usual to print
Shakespeare with modernized spelling, the same course has bo-r,
adopted here, and I shall not, in general, remark upon the spelling of

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 97

the old editions. It is as well, however, to bear in mind that consider
able change in this respect has taken place since 1634.

7. Ver, the spring; Lat. ner. See Love's La. Lo. v. i. 901. There
is an allusion here to the etymology of primrose, which is contracted
from prime rose (Lat. prima rosa), alluding to its early appearance in
springtime.

8. harbinger, a corruption of the Middle Eng. hcrbergcour, one
who went before a royal host to provide lodgings ; as in Chaucer, Cant.
Ta. 5417—

By Jurbergeours that wenten him beforn.

The insertion of n before g is not uncommon in French words; thus
Fr. langouste is from Lat. locusta, and Eng. messenger was formerly
spelt messager, just as scavenger was once scavager. Besides which, the
second r in kerbergeotir was neglected when the n was inserted. The
lierbergeour was one whose duty it was to find a harbour or lodging.
Harbour is from the Ang.-Sax. kere-beorga, an army-shelter; from here
(Ger. /ieer) an army, and beorgan (Ger. bergen) to protect. The same
word in French, spelt auberge, signifies an inn. The secondary meaning
of harbinger is simply a precursor, as it is used here.

9. hairbells ; in all former editions her bels or her bells. Though
very averse to proposing emendations, I have no hesitation in this case,
and it is astonishing to me that no one has thought of it before. The
rhythm of the line positively requires the accent on the second syllable
of it, whilst I may also urge (i) that her bells makes no sense at all;
(2) that Shakespeare couples the "azured harebell" with the "pale-
primrose" (see quotation in note to 1. 4 above) ; and (3) that there is no
objection to the epithet dim as applied to such a flower. See Shak.
Winter'1 s Tale, iv. 4. 118 —

daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes
Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, &c.

The true hairbell (so called in modern works, with reference to the
slenderness of its stalk) is the Campanula rotundifolia, but the name
was frequently applied to the Agraphis nutans, the wild hyacinth or
blue-bell ; and the latter is probably here intended, both because it is
an earlier flower and because the epithet dim suits it better. The
common spelling is harebell, but the real origin of the name remains
uncertain. See N. and Q. 4 S. IV. 42.

1 1 . Compare —

The purple violets and marigolds

Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave. — Pericles, IV. j. 16.

12. larks-heel is not the same as larkspur, as one might suppose,
but a kind of nasturtium, viz. the Troptzoliim minus, otherwise called
the small Indian cress, or nasturtium. It is a native of Peru, but
brought to Europe at rather an early period, and cultivated by Gerarde,
who died in 1607. See Larkshed and Indian cress in Ogilvie's Impe
rial Dictionary, and Tropceolum in the Engl. Cyclopedia. Of course it

98 THE TIVO NOBLE KIXSMEN. [A>

is possible that larks-heel may be loosely used here as equivalent to
larkspur. Cotgrave, s. v. Alouette, gives — " Pied d'alouette, the herb
Lark-spur, Larks-claw, Larks-heele, Larkes-toes, Mcmkshood".

13. 'Let all the sweet children of dear Nature', &c. Compare —
'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white

Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.

. .A7. I. 5. •257.

14. lie, i.e. let them lie; used in the imperative mood. This verb
is the first that has yet occurred, and agrees with all the preceding
nominatives.

15. Blessing their sense, pleasing their sense of smell.

16. angel, lit. a messenger (Gk. ayyeXos), but here prettily u
signify a bird. The same use of the word occurs in Massinger s Virgin
.Martyr, Act II. Sc. 2, where the Roman eagle is >poken of as "the Ro
man angel". The idea is as old as Homer, who uses the expression
oluvbv, Ta.\vv dyye\ov (Iliad, XXIV. 292). Observe, too, that HI.

plies a bird of good omen, to the exclusion of such ill-omened birds as
the crow, the cuckoo, and the raven.

1 8. Be; the old editions have Is. The change is demanded by the
grammar, and was made in 1 750.

19. slanderous ; because the cuckoo was supposed to tell tales con
cerning the ill-behaviour of wives. See the Song at the end of Love's
Labour's Lost, and compare Chaucer's Manciples Tale.

20. chough hoar; old edd. dough lie. The correction was made by
Seward, who remarks that "dough he is neither sense nor rhime...
Chough is Shakespeare [?] and Fletcher's name of a jack-daw, of which
Ray says — Poslica pars capitis cinerascit... There can be no reason to
doubt of our having got the right substantive ; [and] for he we must
have an adjective that suits the chough, and also rhimes to nor ; hoar
will do both''.

We find in Richardson's Diet. , that the chough (A. S. ceo) is " the
name by which the jackdaw (Cot-'iis monediila} is sometimes called in
Lngland". Mandeville mentions "the ravenes and the crowes and the
choughes" together; ed. Halliwell, p. 59.

We find the expression " russet-pated choughs" in Shakespeare;
Mid. Nt. Dr. in. 2. 21. See also K. Lear, iv. 6. 13; Macb. in. 4.
125. &c.

The following remarks were kindly sent me by Professor Newton,
to whom I applied for information as to the meaning of chough: —
" The word has been, and is, applied to two very distinct birds. Pro
perly it belongs to the ' Cornish' chough ; but since that bird lias been
expelled from many of its old haunts by its intrusive cousin the daw
(-'ulgariter Jack-daw), the latter seems to have usurped its name as well
a_s its abode. The chough of Shakespeare I take to be the Cornish
chough, from the epithet he gives it; which epithet, I believe, is not
russet-pated (as ordinarily printed), but russet-patted; cf. Fr. 'a pattes
. This I noticed some years since in ' ATatnre' when reviewing
Harting's Birds of Shakespeare. I doubt not that in Shakespeare's
time this was the chough which haunted the Dover cliffs, where indeed it

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 99

was found until 35 or 40 years ago (cf. Knox's Ornith. Rambles in Sussex],
but is now driven out by the other and conquering chough — to wit, the
daw. The daw may be well designated hoar, for that epithet precisely
suits the colour of its hind head. To me, the fact that Fletcher called
his chough 'hoar' is very suggestive. It shews that the aggression of
the daw had in his days made that the prevalent species. I look upon
the chough proper (i. e. the red-footed Cornish bird) as doomed to
extinction. I do not think it now breeds to the eastward of St Alban's
Head in Dorset, and is there scarce. The vulgar jackdaw has carried
all before him. Further to the westward the true chough still exists,
but only for a time. The word chough, if pronounced chuff, is a good
imitation of the note of either species ".

21. pie; the magpie; Lat. pic a.

12. May is very awkwardly placed, and the first negative is omitted.
The sense is, of course, ' May neither the crow perch ', &c.

bride-house, a nuptial hall. A rare word, but fully explained in the
edition of Nares by Wright and Halliwell. "A bride-house, as when a
hall or other large place is provided to keepe the bridall in, when the
dwelling-house is not of sufficient roome to serve the t..rne"; Ncmci!-
dator, 1585. It is said to have been meant for a translation of
nympheEiiin ; the sense of which was affected by a confusion between
i>vfj.<pf"iov, a bridal chamber, and vv/jupaiov, a temple of the nymphs.

25. This scene was suggested by Chaucer's account of the com
pany of ladies, clad in black, and kneeling two and two together, who
accosted Theseus on his return to Athens; see the Knightes Tale,
11. 35 — 116. The first queen addresses Theseus; the second Hippolyta;
the third Emilia.

gentility does not mean politeness, but quality of birth, the rank of
one of gentle birth. See As You Like It, I. i. 22.

33. Shall raze you, shall erase, on your behalf, or, for your advan
tage. See Abbott's Shakesp. Grain. 3rd edit. sect. 220. In the next
line All you means 'all the trespasses for which you'.

36. }Vkat, whatsoever, stead, assist; compare — "May you stead
me?" Alereh. of Ven. I. 3. 7. It means — ' Whatsoever woman there may
be, who is in distress, and whom I may assist, she binds me to herself
(by the sympathy I feel for her)'.

39. The first queen, according to Chaucer, was 'the eldest lady of
them all', Chaucer gives her speech at length; Kn. 7'a. 11. 57 — 89.

40. Crcon, king of Thebes ; see Chaucer. See also ^isch. Seven
against Thebes; Soph. QLdipus, Antigone; &c. endure ; Mason's cor
rection, the old editions having eudiir'd. The use of the present tense
is necessary to the sense ; and the reading endur'd was no doubt occa
sioned by the use of the past tense fell in the previous line.

41. talents (quarto Tallents), the old spelling of talons. So in
Fletcher's Night-walker, Act II. Sc. 2, we have — " I feel his talents
through me"; and hence the pun in Love's Labour's Lost, IV. 2. 64. — "A
rare talent ! If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him with a talent /"

42. fields. Mr Dyce remarks that "Seward silently printed field —
rightly perhaps". It escaped his notice that Seward merely reprinted
the reading of the edition of 1711, which \\?ts. field ; and that the varia-

7—2

TOO THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [Acr I.

- a mere printer's error, since the quarto \izsJielJs. Cf. Soph.

'/!*, 26 3O.

44. urn, to put into an urn. Cf. ' inurned', Hamlet, I. 4. 49.

45. eye of Phcebus, full glare of the sun; a phrase occurring in
Henry /'. iv. i. 290. Shak. also has holy Plialnis ; see Ant. and CLvp.
iv. S. 29.

48. purser, purifier. Brutus tells the conspirators against '
that they 'shall be called pursers, not murderers'; Jul. Ca-s. II. i. 180.

49. The quarto constantly has '///, not iff ', as an abbreviation for
I print th\ as being more intelligible.

50. chapel^ here used as a verb; that we may place them in a
chapel, i.e. entomb them. "Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb, can
be used as an active verb [in Elizabethan English]. You can 'happy'
your friend, 'malice' or 'foot' your enemy, or 'fall' an axe on his
neck"; Abbott's Shak. Gram. Introd. p. 5 (,^rd edit.). There are
many such examples in this play. See corslet, 1. 177, and fall, 1. 17^,
below; deafd, I. 2. 80; threats, I. 2. 90; cabin\i, I. 3. 35; skiff 'J,

!• 3- 37 5 "i.Wrd) J- 4- 32 '> &c.

51. of, i.e. out of, as a result of; see Abbott, S/i. Gram. sect. 168.
53. this, i.e. this roof; in other words, the sky above us. Cf.

K. Ltar, n. 4. 211 — 213; v. 3. 259.

5,-. transported, carried away by my thoughts. Cf. "transported
And rapt in secret studies"; The Tempest, I. 2. 76. Theseus means
that he would have bidden her rise sooner, only that he was so car
ried away by her story as to make him unobservant of her attitude.

= 6. The nominative to 'gives' is the word 'hearing' or 'story' un
derstood.

nice and revenge; this tautological phrase is used to give
emphasis; it is employed by Shak. Rich. If. iv. i. 67. The abbre
viation 'em stands for hem, the common Middle-English equivalent of
them in the Midland dialect.

59. Capanens, four syllables, accented on the first and third sylla
bles. Chaucer also has it as four syllables, but accents it on the
second and fourth syllables. Properly, it has but three syllables,
being the Gk. Kcnravfiis. Capaneus was one of the seven heroes \\ ho
marched from Argos against Thebes. The story is that he was struck
by lightning as he was scaling the walls, because he had dared to defy
Zeus; and, whilst his body was burning, his wife Evadne leaped into
the flames and destroyed herself. Cf. Euripides. J'':a->iisst,-, 11/2;
Soph. Antigone, 126 — 136; /Esch. Seven against Thehes, 425; Statius.
Thel>. x. S:6: Dnnte, /;//. XIV. 63. The story in Chaucer and in this
play is somewhat different, as Evadne answers to the First Queen.

60. should, was to. This is just the usage of the word in our
oldest English. In Csedmon (ed. Thorpe, p. 31), the curse is de
nounced upon Adam to the effect that he ' sceolde on wite a mid swate
and mid sorgum si<5$an libban ' ; i. e. that he was to live ever afterwards
in pain, with sweat and with sorrows. Cf. shall =K to ; I. 2. 104.

61. groom, bridegroom. In Shakespeare groom commonly means
a servant, especially a very menial one; we find, however, " bride and
groom"' in Oth. n. 3. 180. Two parallel forms, groom and goom,

Sc. i.] AZOTES. ioi

seem to have been confused. The former, groom, appears in the Old
Dutch groin, a youth, and the Middle Eng. grome, a groom, a servitor;
the latter is the Middle Eng. gome, a. man, A. S. gu»ia, Mceso-Goth.
guma, cognate with the Latin homo. It was the latter for.n that was
originally compounded with bride, as shewn by the A.S. brydguma,
and the form bridgiime in the Ormnliim, \. 10422. Cf. the Dutch
brnidegom, Ger. brdittigarn. But, as the form goom fell into disuse as a
separate word, whilst groom remained in common use, the change of
bridegoom into bridegroom was easily made, and is now fixed in the
language.

62. Jlfars's. The quarto has Marsis ; so also in Sc. 2, 1. 20.

63. Juno's mantle ; described in Homer, //. Xiv. 178 —
Around her next a heavenly mantle flow'd

That rich with Pallas' labour" d colours glow'd. (Pope.)

64. spread her may mean (i) overspread her ; or (2) extended
itself, her being put for it, with reference to the mantle ; cf. her for // ,
in Milton, P. L. I. 592. Either construction is intelligible. Se\\anl
proposed to suppress the word her, but this does not improve either the
sense or the metre. The introduction of an extra syllable at a pause in
the verse is no blemish, but a beauty; see Abbott, S/i. Gram, (jrd ed.),
art. 454. ii<h eaten wreath. Here Theseus may be supposed to point to
one of the 'wheaten chaplets' mentioned in the introductory stage-
direction. See note to Act v. Sc. i, 1. 149.

66. kinsman. We find in the life of Theseus, in North's Plutarch,
the following account: — "they were neere kinsmen, being cosins re
in oued by the mothers side. For ^Ethra [Theseus' mother] was the
daughter of Pitheus, and Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, was the
daughter of Lysidices, the which was halfe sister to Pitheus, both
[being] children of Pelops and of his wife Hippodamia"; p. 4, ed.
1612. And see Mid. A't. Dr. v. i. 47.

IlercuL-s is, apparently, a disyllabic here. It reminds us of the
'Ercles vein' in Mid. Art. Dr. I. 2. 42.

68. Nemean; misprinted Nemian in the old copies. It alludes to
the Nemean lion {Hamlet, I. 4. 83) slain by Hercules, whose skin the
hero used to wear.

73. Whereto, in addition to which mercy, press, urge; I do not
think it means more in this passage. Cf. 'whom love doth press to go' ;
Mid. Nt. Dr. in. 2. 184. forth, forward.

74. Our -undertaker, the man who will undertake an enterprise on
our behalf. So in Fletcher's play of The Lover's Progress, Act I. Sc. i,
we have —

" First, for the undertaker, I am he."

This word is a noticeable one in Elizabethan English, and even later.
See the notice of the undertakers in Ireland, Introd. to Globe ed. of
Spenser, p. xxxix. "Neville, and others who, like him, professed to
understand the temper of the commons, and to facilitate the king's dealings
with them, were called undertakers " ; Hallam, Const. Hist, of England,
chap. vi. "I find you are a general undertaker, and have, by your cor
respondents or self, an insight into most things"; Spectator, No. 432.

102 THE TII'O NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT I.

75. Macbeth is called "Bellona's bridegroom"; Macb. I. 2. 54.
Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, was the companion of Mars, and
i.-. described as armed with a bloody scourge; Virgil, Acn. vrn. 70;,.

76. your soldier; used just like the expression "your hermits";
Macb. I. 6. 10.

79. scythe-tusk" d, armed with tusks curved like a scythe. The old
copies have sith-tusk'd, which is a better spelling ; the A. S. form of the
word being sfae. In the seventeenth century there arose an affectation of
writing sc for s in many words where it was not required; thus sithe,

situation, sent were spelt scythe, scite, scitiiation, scent; and the first
and last of these have been accepted as standard forms.

80. The sense is — "didst nearly make the male sex captive to thine
own sex, had it not been that this lord of thine, Theseus — who was born
to keep created things in the same relative position of honour in which
nature first appointed them — caused thee to shrink back within the
bound which thou wast overflowing", creation properly means all
created things, but is here used with particular reference to human
beiiv "ii. iii. 16 — 'he shall rule over thee'. Z<A;J/ near; we
should now say 'went near'.

83. styl'd it, fixed the style or title of, fixed the rank of; with
reference to the precedence of the male over the female. We find style
for title in i Hen. /-'/. iv. 7. 72 — 74.

85. The termination -ess for the feminine (Lat. -issa, Gk. -io<ra,
Fr. -esse) was used much more freely in Elizabethan English than now.
Spenser has championesse, F. Q. III. 12. 41; ii'arriouresse, F. Q.
v. 7. 27; 7'assalesse, Daphnaida, \

86. poise, weigh ; formerly spelt peise ; from Old Fr. f riser, Lat.
pemare, to weigh out; which from pcndere, to weigh. The Old French
sb. pois, a weight, is derived from the \ja\.. pensum ; but a d was ig-
norantly inserted into it, from a notion that it was derived from pondus,
thus giving the modern French spelling poids. Poise ( — weight) occurs in
Act v. Sc. 4, 1. Si.

on, upon, over; see Dan. iii. 27.

88. ever is pronounced e'er in almost every instance throughout the
play; and similarly never is pronounced ne'er. In these words, I
follow the spelling of the quarto edition.

<nust, ownest, possesses!. A common meaning of m>e ; see Tempest,
I. 2. 407, 454 ; in. i. 45 ; Macbeth, III. 4. 113; as well as Act V. Sc. 4,
1. 50 of the present play.

89. servant is used not quite in the modern sense, but in the old
sense of an obedient and devoted lover; see Act III. 6. 149. It is the
proper antithesis of mistress. Thus, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Phi-
laster, Act III. Sc. 2, Philaster addresses Arethusa as "my dearest
mistress", whereupon Arethusa replies with "my dearest servant",
The best comment upon this is furnished by the words of Theseus in
Chaucer's A'/i. Tu. 956 — -

For in my tyme a sernaunt was I oon.
And therfor, sin I knowe of loues peyne, &c.

for means 'as regards', a sense common in Shakespeare; see Abbott,

Sc. i.] NOTES. 105

Sh. Gram. art. 149. The sense is — 'who is a devoted lover as regards
the intention of thy speech'; i. e. who is ready to devote himself to fulfil
every wish that you express. Seward altered for to to; unnecessarily.
90. glass, mirror; as in Scene 2, 1. 55. For the idea, compare —

he was indeed the glass

Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves; 2 H. IV. n. 3. 2 r.
The glass of fashion, &c.; Hamlet, III. i. 161.

93. Require him he advance it, desire of him that he will advance it
or stretch it out.

94. key, tone. So we have — "a bondman's key" ; Merck, of Ven.
I. 3. 124. The expression is borrowed from the science of music.

96. Lend us a knee, vouchsafe to kneel with us.

99. blood-siz'd, rendered sticky with gore. We may compare this
with Hamlet, II. 2. 484 —

And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore.
Size is a kind of weak glue. The quarto has cizd.

100. grinning, shewing his bare teeth. "See, how the pangs of
death do make him grin " ; 2 Hen. VI. ill. 3. 24. Falstaff says, with
reference to the death of Sir Walter Blunt — "I like not such grinning
honour as Sir Walter hath"; i Hen. IV. V. 3. 62.

102. I had as lief, I would as gladly; cf. Rich. II. V. 2. 49. Simi
larly we say, I had better, I had rather. Matzner remarks in his English
Grammar (Grace's translation, HI. 8) that the expressions licit haben,
lieber haben are familiar to Middle High German, and the phrase avoir
cher to Old French. Hippolyta means — I would as soon follow with
you on the track of the good deed you desire as go to my marriage-
ceremony; though I never yet went on my way so willingly, trace,
follow up ; not quite the same use of the word as in Act III. 5. 21. See
note to that line.

107. uncandied, dissolved, thawed. To ice a cake means to sugar
it over ; conversely, a ' candied brook ' is one that is covered with ice ;
Timon of Athens, IV. 3. 225. Shakespeare uses discandy for dissolve,
Ant. and Cleop. iv. 12. 22. See Wright's note to the Tempest, II. i. 272.

108. It means — so sorrow, lacking shape (i.e. power of expression),
is oppressed with still greater occasion for it.

1 10. Compare —

Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf,
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume.

2 Hen. IV. i. i. Co.

in. For the second there, Seward proposed to read here, supposing
that the 3rd Queen might lay her hand on her heart, thus making here
to mean — in my heart. The change is unnecessary, and will not help
us in explaining the simile. Mason says, with reference to Seward's
note — "But though she speaks of her heart afterwards (1. 117), she
alludes in this place to her eyes, which she compares to pebbles viewed
through a glassy stream ; a description which would not apply to her
heart." The sense clearly is — there (i.e. in my cheeks and eyes) you
can behold my griefs only in an uncertain manner, as when you look at

io4 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [Acr I.

pebbles which appear wrinkled through the transparent stream above
them. Mr Dycc well remarks that " the plural 'em applied to the pre
ceding singular ^n^" may be defended by various passages in Beaumont
and Kletclu; }.v;-:=his ; III. 5. 128.

113. qlack; i-aid to be a corruption of alas. It occurs in Shak.
Sonnets, 33, 65, 10;, ; Pass. Pilgrim, x. 3; xvn. i, 13; £c.

1 14. The sense is— he wh <iiscover all the world's wealth
must dig deeply towards its centre; he who would win the least good
will from me must let his search descend to my heart, like one who,
fishing for minnov. - his line with lead as to make it sink
deeply. The simile is intentionally strained and farfetched, to denote
the queen's distress ; as explained in the next sentence.

115. centre, the remotest part from the surface. See Milton,
Hymn . 162; Counts, 382; al>o Jlamlct, II. 2. 159; Trail,
and 0-c.r.r. in. 2. ;

1 20. Kniilia means that the queen's grief is so evident that not to
perceive it would shew as great an insensibility to outward things as
when a man is out in the rain, and is unaware of it. This was nearly
the case of Lear; see K. Lear, in. 4. i — 14.

122. ground-piece, (perhaps) a study for a picture; a sketch. The
force of g>\>nnJ is not clear, but •s. piece often means a picture; Timon of

. I. i. 2S, 155. Cf. ->(•; also ground- f>L>t (Sidney's

Arcadia]. See Sc. 3, 1. 10. This simile may be compared with Act II.

if Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's. Tragedy. The passage is too
long for quotation.

123. instruct, tutor, prepare. Against, against the coming of.
capital, supreme, exceedingly great.

i : .:. natural, by nature; not made so by art, but truly so; real, not
feigned.

134. Knolls, tolls continually, like a bell that rings for church;
keeps up a continuous sound. The word is not always used with refer
ence to tolling for the dead ; since we find in As You Like It, II. 7. 114—
"If ever been where bells have knolfd\D church".

Possibly suggested by a passage in North's Plutarch, imme
diately preceding that quoted in the note to 1. 66 above. "For then he
did manifestly open himselfe, and he felt the like passion in his heart
which Themistocles long time afterwards endured when he said, that the
victorie and triumph of Miltiades would not let him sleepe. For euen
so. the wonderful admiration which Theseus had of Hercules courage
made him in the night that he neuer dreamed but of his noble
acts and doings, and in the daytime, pricked forward with emulation
and enuie of his glory, he determined with himselfe one day to
do the like, and the rather because they were neerc kinsmen",
&c. ; see note referred to. Again, in the same Life of Theseus, ed. 1612,
p. 15, we read — "Others say. ..that he was at the journey of Cholchide
[Colchis] with lason, and that he did helpe Meleagertokil the wild bore
of Calydonia : from whence, as they say, this prouerbe cam<
without Theseus ; meaning that such a thing was not done without great
helpe of another. Ilowbeit it is certaine that Theseus selfe did many
famous acts without aide of any man, and that for his valiantnesse this

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 105

prouerbe came in vse, which is spoken : This is another Theseus. Also
he did helpe Adrastus, king of the Argives, to recouer the bodies of
those that were slaine in the battell before the city of Thebes."
138. Aufidius compares Coriolanus to an osprey — •

I think he'll be to Rome

As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it

By sovereignty of nature. Cor. IV. 7.33.

Osprey is a corruption of the old name ossifrage, from the Lat. ossifragus,
bone-breaking, a name given to the bird for its strength. It is the
Pandion haliccefiis, also called the fish-hawk, or fishing-eagle; and sub
sists on fish. The first edition has the spelling asptaycs.

142. There are two readings and explanations of this line. The
old editions have —

Those that with cords, knives, drams precipitance-
there being no comma after drams. Mr Knight, whom I follow, adopts
this reading, taking cords, knives, drams to be genitive cases plural,
which used not to be marked, as now, with an apostrophe. In this
view, precipitance means headlong haste, desperate rashness. It is a
very rare word, but occurs in Milton with the sense of great haste,
P. L. VII. 291. And the line means — Those who, by the headlong haste
afforded them by cords, knives, or poisons, &c. The other explanation
is that of Seward, who places a comma after drams, and makes pre
cipitance mean the act of self-precipitation or leaping down precipices.
Authority for this use of the word is wanting; otherwise the explanation
would serve. It does not greatly matter, as it is clear that the poet
merely meant to enumerate various modes of suicide. The whole
speech expresses that human favour allows a decent burial even to
suicides. Compare Cymbdine, v. 5. 213 — " O, give me cord, or knife,
or poison" ; and Othello, in. 3. 388. So, in the Sanskrit tale of Nala,
IV. 4, the heroine says to Nala — "visham, agni;«, jalaw, rajjum
asthasye tava karawat ", i. e. poison, fire, water, the noose I will endure
for thy sake.

143. "Proxima deinde tenent moesti loca, qui sibi letum

Insontes peperere manu, luceinque perosi
Proiecere animas"; Virg. Aen. VI. 434.

146. visitating, surveying. " Visiter, to visit, or go to see; to
view, survey, overlook, oversee"; Cotgrave. Cf. "visitation of the
winds"; 2 Hen. IV. in. i. 21.

148, 149. The words within brackets were added by Seward; and
something is so evidently required to fill up the gap that they may be
accepted, as explaining the connection in the sense.

152. The sense intended is — if done at once, it can be accomplished ;
but tomorrow, the opportunity will be past ; you must strike while the
iron is hot and can be shaped, not wait till the heat is gone.

153. 'Tomorrow, vain labour can earn no recompense but its own
sweat.' An allusion to the proverb, ' To have nothing but one's labour
for one's pains '. bootless is profitless, from the A. S. b&t, profit, ad
vantage, from the same root as better. Shakespeare puns upon the
word in i //. IV. in. i. 67, 68.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN [ACT I.

54. " Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole " ;

i. 5. 61.

156. Rinsing; in the old edition- , which is the old spell

ing of the word. " So in Shakespeare's Henry I'll I., Act I. Sc. i, all
the folios have — 'and like a glas.*>e Did breake ith' wrenching, — i.e.
rinsing"; note by :

158. "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride,
fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daugh-

: Ezek. xvi. 49.

159. . i ust be supposed to be an Athenian captain, present
on the stage, though no speech is assigned to him, and his entrance and
exit are alike unnoticed in the old copies. Theseus addresses him
again in 1. 211 ; and the proper time for his exit is at 1. 2iX.

165. . let us join hands, and depart together; intended

as an expiv ;>air.

1 66. i.e. mourners over our woes ; or, mourners

left to our woes. Per haps this obscure expression .intimates that they
would not have even the opportunity of mourning at their husbands'
tombs. It aving no memorials of their husbands to point to, they had
but their woes to shew that they were widows.

172. - • ,•;•; a happy emendation, suggested by Theobald. The old
text h; j the expression — 'Your suppliants' war' in 1. 133
above.

173. . gone through formerly, undergone hitherto. We
have in i > distinct verbs, to forgo (always misspelt_/JvY£») mean
ing to relinquish, and to forego, to go before. See the prefixes for- and
fore- distinguished in Morris. Hist. Outlines of Eng. Accidence, pp. 225,
226. The word here used is spelt correctly; as also in the well-known
phrase " conclusion "; Othello, III. 3. 428.

174. The sense is — then it tells us yet more plainly that our suit
will be neglected.

176. lock, detain by embraces, synod; the "shining synod" or as
sembly of the gods, presided over by Jupiter, is mentioned in Cymb.
v. 4.

Compare —

'• Let me suffer death

If in my apprehension two twinned cherries
Be more akin, than her lips to Maria's."

The Xight-U'Mer, in. 6.

And again, with reference to Megra's lips, Pharamond says — "Oh!
they are two tannrCd c.. • , Act 11. Sc. 2.

'foli, i.e. let fall; used transitively. So in As You Like It, 111.5. =,
an executioner is said to "faU" an axe.

'7'> •' ' f'ful, full of (tne enjoyment of) tasting; able to taste her
sweetness. Richardson quotes —

"Say, all ye wise and well-pierc'd hearts,
That live and die amidst her darts,
What is't your tasteful spirits do prove,
In that rare life of her, and love?''

Crashaw, The Flaming Heart.

So. i.]

NOTES. toy

i So. blubber1 d, disfigured by weeping. "The reader ought to
recollect that formerly this word did not convey the somewhat ludicrous
idea which it does at present"; (Dyce). Cf. J\om. andjul. in. 3. 87.

186. bids, invites; see Matt. xxii. 3, 4, 8, 9. much unlike, very
improbable ; the sense being — though I think it very improbable that
you should be so transported as she describes, and equally sorry that I
should urge such a petition as I now proceed to make.

JQO. surfeit, sickness; caused, in this case, by excess of grief. So
Macbeth speaks of having "supped full with horrors'1; Macb. V. 5. 13.

1 95. ' Or for ever condemning their power to silence '. Compare
• — 'to strike blind''.

198. fee, property, due. The A. S. feoh originally meant cattle,
which was also the signification of the cognate Latin word pecus, and is
still the sense of the cognate German word i'ich. In like manner we
have chattels in the sense of property, though chattel is but another
spelling of cattle. Cf. Lat. pecunia, money, from the same root as fee.

207. have me, i. e. have me do.

208. Get you, short for 'get you hence ', begone. Cf. "to take
oneself off", and the Lowland Scotch "to -win out", to escape; "to
loin aff ", to get away.

210. pretended, intended. This is the common meaning of the
word in old authors.

Xow presently I '11 give her father notice
Of their disguising and pretended flight.

Two G. of Verona, II. 5. 6.

Believe you are abused; this custom feign'd too,
And what you now pretend most fair and vertuous.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Cust. of Count. I. i.

Theseus means that all the preparations made for the festivity are to
be carried out, just as if nothing had happened.

211. Badly punctuated in the old editions. Mr Dyce (whom I
follow) says — "I have given, with Weber, the punctuation proposed
by Mason, who observes that the words Follow your soldier are addressed
to the Queens; the remainder of the line to Artesius, whom he had
before desired to draw out troops for the enterprise". See note to 1.159.
By your soldier Theseus means himself, as is evident from 1. 76 — And
pray for me, your soldier.

212. Aulis, the correction of Theobald, the old editions having
Anly, though there is no place of that name. The old dramatists were
not very particular as to geography, and Aulis is not very near to
Athens, being a seaport in Eubcea. Still, since it was celebrated as
having been the place where the Greek fleet assembled before sailing
against Troy, we may accept the suggestion with confidence. Heath
imagined that the use of the word banks necessarily implies a river, not
a harbour, and therefore proposed to read Ilisse, meaning the river Ilissus.
His premiss is wrong, since Shakespeare uses banks for shores of the
sea; i Hen. IV. in. i. 45.

214. moiety, part; strictly, half; Fr. mottle, Old Fr. moitiet, from
Lat. ace. medietatem, which from medius.

io8 'I HE TIl'O XOBLE KINS ATE N. [ACT I.

215. J/ icpected to have been a greater
one. We are \ as had planned some givat ex
pedition, tn lie undertaken after his marriage- feast was over, and had
collected part of an army for that purpose. He now intends to march
against Thebes, the taking of which he looked upon as easy, without
completing that army to its full number. For the use of the double
comparative, se .^tak.dram. art. n. Shakespeare has more

: Ant. ,ind CU\>p. in. 6. 76.

216. currant, red as a currant. Cf. " A cherry lip'1 ; Rich. III. \.
1.94.

220. bate, abate, omit, deduct. This use of fofewith the sense of
abater common in old authors. See 1. 225.

•222. -ii'iint, lack, be deficient, remain incomplete. Sewnnl pro
posed to i . but the suggestion is a poor one; he must have
forgotten the common use of -want in our old dramatists.

What mockery will it be
To -want the bridegroom ? &c. Tarn, of Shniu, III. 2. 4.

229. bend, give way- In the next line they themselves must refer to
the gods, who "groan under the mastery of the affections"; i.e. find it
difficult always to suppress them. This seems to be the sense, but it is
somewhat obscure.

•230. some sttv. Tin; s — Kal cr' our' d0a.vd.Tuv tf>ij£i/jLos

ouoeis, /c.r.X. ; . .' • lassie mythology abounds with love-

stories concerning the gods.

232. being subdued, when we are conquered by our passions.

233. human. Several editions retain the old spelling humane:
but, though the words human and humane are really one and the
same, we have t Herentiate them, i.e. to establish a difference
between the senses in which they are u-ed. Mr Dyce is obviously
right in printing human. A "human title " is a title to be ranked as

ACT I. Sc. 2.

1. Contrast this with the expression in Hamlet — "A little more
than kin, and less than kind"; I. 2. 65.

2. prime, chief, best-beloved; hence, very dear.
6. keep, dwell, continue, reside; see 1. 38.

8. In the- aid of the current, with the stream. "What Arcite
means to urge as a reason for their quitting Thebes is, that, if they
struggled against the current of the fashion [which is denoted by not
swimming in the aid of it], their striving would answer no purpose ;
and that, if they followed the common stream, it would lead them to
an eddy where they would either be drowned or reap no advantage
from their labouring through it but life and weakness." — Mason.

1 1. if labour through, if we should labour through it.

13. cried up icit/i example, approved by instances.

ruins ; not material ruins of houses, but wrecks of men, i.e. men
who are but wrecks of their former selves; see 1. 27. Palamon is

Sc. 2.]

NOTES. 109

following up the idea started by Arcite, that the men in Thebes
were mostly coming to ruin. Hence the word -walking in 1. 15 may
just as well agree with ruins as refer to Palamon himself; and
he goes on to say that he sees upon them little else but scars and
bare garments (such being the common meaning of lafcds in our old
authors) ; and these scars are all that the martialists (or men fond of
war) really gain, though hoping to win honour and money. Observe
the phrase '' when such I meet" in 1. 21 ; and so in 1. 27.

15. After Thebes (a monosyllable, see 11. 28, 36), there is a pause.
Also the word bare is equivalent to a disyllabic, as if it were ba-er. So
also weird is ioe-ird in Macb. I. 3. 32; see other instances in Abbott,
Shak. Gram. 3rd ed. art. 485. The sense of bare is thread-bare, thin
with excessive wear.

16. Nares says — " Martialisl, a martial person, a soldier. This
word was once very common, and is amply exemplified by Mr Todd.

He was a swain whom all the graces kist,
A brave, heroick, worthy martialist.

Browne, Bril. Past. \. 5.
And straine the magicke muses to rehearse
The high exploits of Jove-borne martialists.

Fitz-geffrey : On Sir Fr. Drake.'"

1 7. ingots, masses of unwrought metal ; masses of metal roughly
shaped by having been cast in a mould after they have been purified by
fire. The etymology of the word has not been satisfactorily accounted
for. The French form is lingot, which has been derived from a Low-
Latin lingottis, which Ducange assigns to A.D. 14)0. But in many
cases the Low-Latin word was adopted from the French, and such may
have been the case here. Again, the French words Icndcmain, loriot,
Inette, lierre, lors exhibit a prefixed article (id), being respectively derived
from Fr. en demain, Lat. aureolits, Lat. in' a (dimin. uvetta'], Lat.
hedera, and Lat. ace. pi. horas ; see Brachet's Etym. French Dictionary.
Probably, then the French lingot may be no other than the usual con
traction of le ingot. The word occurs as early as in Chaucer, who uses
the form ingot in his Cant. Tales, 13156. Mr Wedgwood says — "Ingot,
originally the mould in which the vessel was cast, and not the bar
itself. The alchemist in the Canon Yeoman's Tale gets a piece of
chalk, and cuts it in the shape of an ingot which will hold an ounce of
metal.

He put this ounce of copre in the crosslet,

And on the fyr as swith he hath it set,

And afterward in the ingot he it cast.

G. einguss, the pouring in, that which is infused, a melting vessel,
ingot-mould, crucible. — Kiittner. From eingicssen, Dutch ingietcn, to
pour in, cast in." Of course Mr Wedgwood means that it is the Germ,
form einguss, not the Eng. ingot, which is derived from the Germ.
eingiessen. Perhaps no mistake is more common, or more absurd, than
the derivation of English forms from High-German ; a mistake un
worthy of the merest tyro in comparative philology. It is obvious, on
reflection, that the form ingot is Ztfrw-German, and was either Dutch or

no THE Tll'O NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT I.

English in origin. The Dutch for to pour out is gh'ten, but it exists
also in the Old Saxon givfiiu (see the Hdiand, 4643), and in ti
geotan, pp. gcift-n. The A.S. verb has left its mark in the 1'rov. Eng.
gotc, or gcnvt, a drain, and gut, a channel: see gate in Pi-.
lorttm. Indeed the word gutter (formerly goter) may have been formed
from it too, by assimilation with the French goitttiere. The most curious
trace of it is in the name ' Billiters' Lane' in London, where JnHilcr was
originally belle-yfter, i.e. bell-pourer, bell-founder; Bardsley's En;*.
Surnames, p. 358; Prompt. Pctrv. p. 30. The same root appears again
in gush, and in the Icelandic geysir (a gusher). This opinion, that the
Kng. ingot is, after all, the original of Fr. lingot and of the Low-Latin
lingoltis, seems to be preferred by Diez.

At any rate, if any of my readers learn from this note (possibly for
the first time) that English words belong to the /,<w-German, not the
///^//-German stock, and that, in general, to "derive" English words
from the 'German' is merely ridiculous, I shall not have written it in
vain.

1 8. had not, i. e. did not get for himself, for it went to the
captain. Cf. 1. 34.

fluffed, scorned. It is rather common in the works of Beaumont
and Fletcher, as appears from these examples. See Richardson's
Dictionary,

Is this the fellow

That had the patience to become a fool,
•:i rtcd fool ? R:ih- a \\':fct III. 2.

I am ashamed, I am scorned, I am Jlnrtt'd; yes, I am so. ll'Hd
Cause Chase, n. i.

I'll not be fooled, nor JlurUd. Pilgrim, I. i.
I'll follow her, but who shall vex her father, then ?
One flurt at him, and then I am for the voyage.

:m, III. i.

21. One of the causes of the Trojan war was the jealous anger of
Juno ; see the opening lines of Virgil'.-, sEncid, and ( )vid's J-'tis/i, vi. 43.

24. /(•;-, i.e. ;i.-, a CUM- f' >•-, in order to cure, retain seems hardly
the right word. Heath (MS. notes) proposes to read reclaim (Dyce).
I would rather n .:t any rate, that is the sense intended.

26. out, astray, in the wrong ; perhaps a short form for ' out of
tune' ; cf. 'you put me out '. SLV . /> }',>n Like It, in. i. 262, 2^5.

28. cranks and turns, winding streets and turnings. Shakespeare
uses cranks for the veins, or winding passages of the body. Cor.
I. i. 141. See Mr Haless note to I? Allegro, 27, in Longer English
Poems.

39. colour, outward appearance ; especially a specious appearance

1. Thus in IJacon, \\ ho wrote a short treatise, called 'Table of the

dolours, or Appearances of Good and Evil, and their Degrees '. ^Ye

still say a 'colourable pretext '. The A.S. hiw (now spelt //«<•) means

both a colour and an appearance ; and the verb hiii'ian (lit. to /me)

means both to fashion, and to pretend; whence the sb. hiivung (lit. a

i. a pretence. Thus — " Jli-ci^in/t- lang gebed ". pretending long

prayers ; Luke xx. 47.

Sc. 2.] NOTES. in

40. even jump, just exactly. See Hamlet, I. i. 65 ; v. i. 385.

41. "Mason says we should place the comma after here, but
surely the text means exactly the same as the alteration. Arcite says —
If we were not exactly as they are, we should be here (in Thebes)
strangers, and such things as would be considered mere, i. e. absolute
monsters, or things out of the common track of human customs."
Weber.

43. tutor's, instruct us : 's being for us.

46. faith, apparently here used in the sense of self-reliance.

48. conceiv'd, understood. So I conceive^ I understand ; Tempest,
iv. i. 50.

49. Speaking it truly, if I say truly all that I have to say.

51. Follcnvs, i.e. who follows. This omission of the relative
pronoun is extremely common ; Abbott's Shak. Gram. art. 244.

52. make pursuit, i.e. pursue him in a law-court, by prosecuting
him for debt. In Scotland, a. pursuer means a plaintiff.

55. canon, rule; commonly, a religious rule ; see Hamlet, i. 2. 132.

59. Palamon presents us with an odd alternative; he wishes to be
first", or not last ! He means, perhaps, that, if he cannot be the first in
the team, he will not help to draw the cart at all. "Aut Csesar, aut
nullus."

60. sequent, following. It occurs in Hamlet, \. i. 54.

61. plantain. The plantain-leaf was used for healing sores and
fresh wounds. Bartholomanis (as translated by Batman, lib. xvti. cap.
129) speaks of it as "healing sore wounds, and biting of woode
hounds [mad dogs], and abateth the swelling thereof". And Dray ton,
in his Polyolbion, speaks of a " plaintain for a sore". See note to
Romeo and Juliet, I. 2. 56, in Furness's edition. It was supposed
also to be efficacious in stanching blood.

63 — 65. See the Critical Notes. Mr Dyce remarks that "a
most unbounded tyrant, who" is to be understood as the nominative to
the verb puts. Observe the use of who in 1. 67. Such idiomatic sen
tences are common in our old authors. Indeed, I think it probable
that the old reading Makes in 1. 64 is right enough, even after the
plural substantive successes ; for the writer was thinking of a string of
singular verbs to come, viz. puts, deifies, &c.

67. Voluble ; not used in the usual sense of fluent, but in the
original sense of the Latin nolubilis, i. e. inconstant, fickle (a fit epithet
of fortune), from the verb uoluere, to roll. Richardson quotes the
following from Holland's translation of Pliny, Book II. : — "The heaven
bendeth and inclineth toward the centre, but the earth goeth from the
centre, whiles the world, with continuall •volubilitie and turning about it,
driveth the huge and excessive globe thereof into the forme of a round
ball." For volubilitie in this passage, we should now use revolution.

72. sib, akin, related. The A. S. sib is commonly a substantive,
meaning relationship, kinship. But we also find it in use as an
adjective, as in Piers tin Plo^uman, B-text, V. 634 ; Havelok the
Dane, 1. 2277, &c. See gossip discussed in Trench, Eng. Past and
Present.

Ray quotes a Cheshire proverb: "No more sib'd than sieve and

ii2 THE TWO NOBLE A7.Y [Ail.

that grew both in a wood together"; where no more .r#V=no
nearer akin, and riddle — a kind of -

73. break, \. e. burst with repletion.

74. "Fame is the spur which the clear spirit doth raise", &c.
Milton, Lycidas, 70. And see v. 4. 13.

76. our is here a disyllabic.

The allusion is probably to the story of Phaiithon in Ovid;
the clay after Phaethon's death, Phoebus could hardly be persuaded to
drive the chariot of the sun once more, and wreaked some of his anger
upon the horses, which he lashed severely.

Colligit amentes et adhuc terrore pauentes

Pho< : stimnlotjiie dolens et uerbere sacuit:

Saeuit enim, natumque obiectat et imputat illis.

Mitanun-j!:, torn lib. II. .;•

86. U'hipstock, the handle of a whip. It occurs in Shakespeare,
and is used as almost synonymous with whip. "Malvolio's n<
•whip*:- '.>. ii. 3. 28 ; and see Pericles, II. i. ~i.

87. A>, ns compared with, in comparison with; see Abbott, Shah.
Gram. art.

96. ''The meaning is, what man can exert a third part of his
powers when his mind is clogged with a consci* t he fights in

a bad cause ?"— Mason's note. The word dregged, though at first looking
as if it should be dragged or drilled, is no doubt right. Compare the
phrase li dregs of conscience"; see Rich. HI. I. 4. 124. The man's
;s hindered by these dregs of misgiving. Still, the metaphor is
rather confused. The sense is much plainer in A'. Lear, v.
" Where I could not be honest, I never yet was valiant
2 Hen. VI. in. 2. 232.

loo. The editions put a comma after yet, and another after him,
but they are not required. Yd may be considered to mean— yet 1
might urge that.

103. iriio refers to fate. The writer was no doubt thinking of
the personified Fates, especially of Atropos, the Fate who cuts the
thread of life.

104. or it shall be, or that it is to be. See note to I. i. 60.

106. , i.e. messenger, as in A". John, iv. 2. 116 — "Oh,

where hath our intelligence been drunk?'' So the Lat. nnntiits means
(r) a messenger, (2) news. The meaning is that CYeon's own official
spy and the bearer of Theseus' message both reached Thebes at the
same moment.

1 10. our health ; an allusion to the almost universal belief of the
period, that occasional blood-letting was conducive to health.

112. This seems to mean — if our hands are prompter and more
forward in the business than our hearts are. Men fight but weakly
unless their hearts are pre-engaged in the cause, what, to what
extent, how much. The word will bear this sense.

" What is ten hundred touches unto thee?
Are they not quickly told and quickly gone?"

ll'ii. and Adon. 519.

NOTES. 113

1 1 6. becking, beckoning, invitation. Cf. "When gold and silver
/{-j- me to come on " ; A'. John, m. 3. 13.

ACT I. Sc. 3.

r, Pirithous is going- to follow Theseus to the war, and, taking
leave of Hippolyta and Emilia at the gates of Athens, bids them to
aceompany him no further.

5. In place of dare, the old editions, as also Weber and Knight,
print ditre; Seward and Colman print cure. Mr Dyce prints dare, aud
gives it as the conjecture of Sympson and Heath. The best ex
planation is the following by Heath, quoted by Dyce from some MS.
notes. "The words excess and overflow of power relate not to the
success of Theseus just before mentioned, but to the reinforcement
Pirithous was on the point of leading to join his army. And the
sense is — Though I dare not question the success of my lord even with
the troops he has, yet I wish him rather excess and overflow of power,
more force than is necessary, that, if possible, he may defy Fortune to
disappoint him."

6. Store, quantity of wealth or men. Cf. " store of ladies";
L1 Allegro, 121. "Store is no sore ''; Hey wood's Proverbs, gcrcernors,
commanders, rulers.

7. Weber draws attention to a somewhat similar passage in
Shakespeare: —

I was of late as petty to his ends
As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf
To his grand sea. Ant. and Cleop. Hi. 12. 8.
10. pieces, works of art, creatures; see note to I. r. 122.
18. We, referring to herself, an Amazon and a warrior. So in
]. 23, she says Pirithous will never see "such spinsters of us", i.e. such
a feminine character in her. For this use of of, cf. "We shall find of
him A shrewd contriver", Jul. Cizs. n. i. 157; and see Abbott, SAax.
Gram. sect, i 72.

20. broached, spitted. To broach a cask is to pierce it; a broach is
an ornament furnished with a pin. Cf. Fr. i>n>che, a spit. Compare
the following passage from Hen. V. ill. 3. 38.
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.

This refers, of course, to the murder of the Innocents. Perhaps tin.1
•words of the text have reference to another story of a wife of Jewry.
vi,5. the dreadful account given by Josephus (Wars of the Jews, VI. 3. 4)
of the woman who, maddened by famine, ate a part of her own son.

24. "This passage is oddly expressed ; but the meaning is, Peace
be to you as long as I pursue this war; when that is ended, we shall
not need to pray for it. — Mason. .

26. The famous friendship between Pirithous and Theseus is al-

s R \

ii4 THE TWO NOBLE AY .: [ACT I.

ludecl to by Chancer; Kn. Tale, 333 — 343. Some account of it is also
given in North's Plutarch (ed. 1612, p. i~) i;: ' Theseus.

i- . depart, departure. It occurs again in 7V. v Cent. i<f I'er. \. 4.
96; i lien. VI. I. i. 2; 3 Hen. VI. II. i. no; IV. i. 92.

sports, amusements, diversions. This has a particular reference to
the festivities which Pirithous was charged to take the direction of.

31. one, a happy emendation ; the old text has ore, by a misprint of
r for «. The business which Pirithous was executing with his hand
was the conducting of the festivities; that which he directed in his head
was the preparation for war.

32. nurse equal, being an equal nurse, nursing together.

36. as dangerous, as dangerous as any that can be found. But a
better reading may be obtained by striking out the comma. We then
have as dangerous as poor = equally < nd poor. And that this
is right seems proved by the next line in which peril is said to contend
with (or vie with) u\int.

37. "They have passed in a slight bark over torrents whose roar
ing tyranny and power, even when at the minimum of fury, were

. :ful." — Weber.

53. count, number of years. They were both n years old.

60. 'She for whom I sigh and of whom I spoke'. Perhaps the
true reading is sigtid.

6r. fur r;r did, because we did love.

63. operance, operation, action. The word is extremely rare. C'f.
" My operant powers" ; Hamlet, III. 2. 1X4.

66. No mere arraignment, i.e. "her not liking it was sufficient to
;i it, without any further arraignment, or bringing it to its trial".
Dr Dodcl (in edit, of 1778).

71. toy, head-dress. So used in Autolycus' song — "Any toys for
your head?" ll'iiif. Tale, iv. 4. 326. The word is borrowed from
the Dutch tooi, meaning attire, or adornment ; which (by the usual
letter-changes) is cognate with the German zetig, used in many senses,
such as stuff, materials, armament, &c. In modern English, the word
has lost its original sense. See also the note to v. 4. 66.

72. her Affections, "i. e. what she , liked ''. — Knight.

73. happily, haply: cf. Hamlet, i. i. 134; n. 2. 402. See Critical
for various readings.

75. (>;/<•; old edd. on, which was an old spelling of one.

78. rehearsal, enumeration of our likenesses of habit. The old
text is not very satisfactory and rather obscure here; but the general
notion intended is what 1 have given, viz. this enumeration has this
import and this conclusion.

Si. sex dividual ; old edd., sex individual^ an obvious error. The
sense is — this recital is intended to prove that love between two young
people of the same sex may be stronger than that between persons of
different sexes. This beautiful passage is unfortunate in one respect;
for it suggests a comparison with the well-known lines in the M'«l-
sitmmer Nighft Dream, m. 2. 203, where Helena uses very similar
language —

Both warbling of one song, both in one key, &c.

Sc. 3-] NOTES. 115

There is a remarkable parallel passage in Fletcher's play of the
Lover" s Progress, Act n. Sc. i, descriptive of the love of two male,
friends —

Both brought up from our infancy together,
One company, one friendship, and one exercise
Ever affecting, one bed holding us,
One grief and one joy parted still between iis,
More than companions, twins in all our actions,
We grew up till we were men, held one heart still.
Time call'd us on to arms; \ve were one soldier,
Alike we sought our dangers and our honours,
Gloried alike one in another's nobleness.

The word dividual here merely means different, and seems to have
been used to round off the description. In Milton it means separable,
and occurs in the Areopagitica, ed. Hales, p. 39, 1. 25, as well as in the
Par. Lost, VII. 382, xn. 85. Richardson's Dictionary has also the fol
lowing quotation containing the word —

While through the pores nutritive portions tend,
Their equal aliment dividual share,
And similar to kindred parts adhere.

Brooke, Universal Beauty, b. IV.

ACT I. Sc. 4.

Stage direction. Mr Dyce adds — " Dead bodies lying on the ground ;
among them Palamon and Arcite". This was certainly intended, as is
clear from 1. 13. struck, fought. "When Cressy battle fatally was
struck" ; Hen. V. II. 4. 54.

8. ceremony is but a trisyllable in Shakespeare ; here also, cere
constitutes but one syllable, and the two remaining syllables are rapidly
pronounced. The metrical pause gives time for them. See in. i. 4.

ii. even, make even; used as a verb. Cf. "toetr;z your content";
Airs Well, I. 3. 3.

13. What are those? Here Theseus perceives the bodies of Pala
mon and Arcite; see note at the beginning of the scene.

14. Herald. Suggested by Chaucer's lines —
Nat fully quike, ne fully deede they were,
But by her cote-armures, and by her gere,
The heraudes knewe hem best in special,
As they that weren of the blood real

Of Thebes, and of sistren tuo i-born. I\n. T. 157.

19. To make a lane, i. e. to cut out a way for oneself, is a phrase of
the period.

Three times did Richard make a lane to me. 3 Hen. VI. I. 4. 9.

"With a wonderfull courage and valiantnesse he made a lane through
the midst of them, and ouerthrew also those he Inyed at." Life cf
Coriolamis, in North's translation of Plutarch, ed. 161:, p. 224.

agast; so in the quarto; altered to agliast by modern editors. It

8 — 2

n6 THE TIVO NOBLE KIXSMEX. [Acr I.

is difficult to see why the h was introduced into agast and gost ; and,
though we are too familiar with tlie spelling ghost to admit of the u.>e of
the old spelling gost, we may fairly retain : !:ing in the present

The root of the word is seen in the old Mn>o-(iothic verb
gel san, only used in its derivatives, viz. nsju's/iin, to terrify, and ns-
giiisiiiin, to be afraid; cf. -I eel. gciski, or grcXv, panic, terror; ll-
to shudder. Gastnesse, meaning terror, occurs in Chaucer's tr. of
/•oft/tins, ed. Morris, p. 75 ; and in Langley's (or Langland's) I'ision of
Piers the Placeman (A. vn. 129) we have the expre^- rrowen

from his corn", meaning to frighten crows from his corn. In Shake
speare (?) the word is wrongly spelt amazed, from a mistaken idea as to its
etymology; i /A->i. /'/. I. i. i :6. Tin- . in this instance,

answers to the A. S. a-, mod. ( ler. er-, Moeso-Gothic us- (or nr-}; it
has the same origin in <; Goth, itrreisaii. It may be added

that the prefix a- has nearly a dozen other meaning-;. The (loth, us
means out, up. note, observation; "the note of the king"; Cymb. iv.

.',• 4-1-

i\. All the editions have — What prisoner was' t that told me, &c.
which is mere nonsense. Mr I)y«% by simply transposing the order of
the words, has no doubt restored the reading. At any rate this reading
makes good

72. With leave: old edd. Hre have, probably a printer's error for
//'/' lean', which is Mr Dyce's reading.

•26. To read it for V might improve the line; but it is unnecessary.

_-, i. ^semble. Cf. ' Y,>;,'7v;//<v/ Upon a pleading treaty",

i :. :. ;S. So also Tiv conrcnt, i. e. we assemble or gather together,
in Se. 5, 1. 10, below.

40. This passage is the great ' crux' of the play. See the reading
of the old editions in the Critical Notes. I do not see that the trans
position suggested by Seward is necessary, or that it helps us in any
way. \Vith a slighter mending, we can do better. It is clear that
-hould be a genitive case, coupled as it is with J

.gestion fi^ht1 s fury is a great improvement upon the
. fury of tlie old editions. The introduction of in aftei

is also a happy ti :t there we may as

well stop. 1 understand the word thtit before Hath, nothing being
commoner in our dramatists than the omission of the relative; and I
retain Jfath, without altering it. as some have done, to JLire. I in
terpret it thus. 'For I have known the fury of fight, the requisitions of
friends, the provocations of love, the zeal employed in executing a
mistress task, or the desire of liberty — to be (or, to amount to) a fever
or a madness, which has proposed an aim (for endeavours) which the
man's natural strength could not attain to, without at least some forcing.
1C fainting of the will, or some severe struggle in the mind.' This
i^ at least as good as any previous explanations, and further discussion
of so difficult a passage would be useless. Imposition means demand or
requirement, in an •

46. ' Let all our best (physicians) tender their best skill.'

Sc. 5.] NOTES. 117

ACT I. Sc. 5.

3. flW;*, sorrow, dolour. Cf. Lat. cordolinm, sorrow at heart ; Fr.
deuil, mourning.

4. chetrs, outward looks ; heaiy cheers, sad looks. Cf. chere as used
by Chaucer.

9. We convent, we bring together; see note above; Sc. 4, 1. 3:.

11. household's grave. 'So the quarto; the ordinary reading is
household graves. Each king had one grave.' — Knight.

ACT II. Sc. i.

I follow Weber and Mr Dyce in the division of this Act into scenes.
In the quarto, and most editions, a new scene (the second) is made to
begin at 1. 54. Weber says — "It is evident that the Jailer and hi.s
Daughter were placed in the same situation as Emilia is afterwards,
a garden overlooked by the prison in which Palamon and Arcite were
confined. But there is considerable difficulty how the subsequent con
versation with the Jailer is to be carried on. In the ancient theatres
this was easily accomplished by the platform of the stage representing
the garden, and the permanent gallery at the back the inside of the
tower in which they were immured." Mr Dyce adds — "The two
prisoners were no doubt supposed to appear at the window (see 1. 260),
and, in all probability, they entered on what was called the upper-stage.
It is also most probable that the Jailer re-entered on the upper stage."
This is clearly what was meant. All the action is carried on above, at
the upper or back part of the stage, except in the case of Emilia and
her Servant, who enter in front or below.

i. I may depart with little, I can part with but little. Cf. "John...
Hath willingly departed with a part". K. Jolin. n. i. 563. In the
Induction to Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, we find the phrase — "the
author having now departed with his right".

5. given out, reported; Hamlet, I. 5. 35. better lined, furnished
with more wealth; "did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage" ;
Macb. I. 3. 112.

7. delivered to be, said to be, asserted to be. Marry, for Mary; an
oath invoking the name of the Virgin.

12. of, from. 'A promise of her' would now mean — a promise
that you shall obtain her; which is a very different matter. The Wooer
had yet to receive the Gaoler's consent, though he had gained that of
the Daughter.

15. iv it /i rushes; these two words were added by Weber. Mr
Dyce prints — -with strewings. The sense is the same; the Daughter
tells us she has brought strewings with her, i. e. rushes for strewing the
floor of their apartment, according to the custom of our forefathers.

24. all the world ; meaning, I suppose, that the prisoners were as
happy in their one chamber as if they possessed all the world. We may
take have= possess.

25. absolute, perfect. So in Hamlet, V. i. in — " an absolute gentle
man, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society and great

n8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT II.

shewing"; and in RItrry Wives, in. 3. 66 — "Thou wouldst make an
absolute courtier ".

26. shimmers 'cm; speaks stammeringly concerning them, does
them but small justice.

•2-. weise; so the quarto, Seward, and Dyce. The folio has grief,
which is a misprint, and gives no sense. A greise or gricse means a step,

hilly explained by Nares. Degrees also used in the sense •
and hence we find in Twelfth .\7. in. i. 135. that Viola replies to Olivia's
remark — "that's a degree to love" — in the words — "no, not Tigrize ". So
in Oth. I. 3. -200, we have "SL grist or step". The plural was prices, grists,
or gresses. Nares quotes from William Thomas's Hist, of Italy, 1561,
II 2 — ''certain skalfolds of horde, with prices or steppes one above
another". See also Way's note at p. 209 of the Protnptoriiim Pan-it-
/v,vw, which has — "Grece, or tredyi, or steyre. G radii s." We find in
Wyclif, L'xod. xx. 26 — "thou schalt not stye [ascend] by grees to myn
auter", and the singular form > found, meaning a step. The

latter form, grce, is ckr : from the Old French gre, which is

the Latin gradits ; and it has been supposed that the word grice or griese
is a mere corruption of grees, the plural of gree ; in which case we
!i the three successive senses of steps, a flight of steps or
stair, and thence, a. single step. Otherwise, it may have been an inde
pendent formation from the same root; we find, for example, that
the Welsh word for steps is grisiaii, and the Norfolk word for a flight
of steps is grissens. If so, we may regard the form gree (pi. grees) as
separate from (but very near a!-:in to) the word <'se.t).

41. presently, immediately ; see Wright's Bible Word-boat.

;:. Lord, the difference of men. Very close to Shakespeare's —
"O ! the difference of man and man !" K. Lear, iv. 2. 26.

75. R>ri'istfd our sides, torn from our sides. The old edd. hr*ve
flrarisk'd. clue, as Seward pointed out, to a repetition of the initial U of
the preceding line.

8r. too- timely, too early, too forward. Timely = early, used as an
adverb; Alacb. II. 3. 51. The expression 'too-timely' is by no means
a happy one.

104. Stuck; so Mr Dyce; old edd. Stnicke or Stntck : cf. "about
her stuck Thousand fresh waterflowc: iv. Sc. i, 1.84; and see

IV. 3. 62. The emendation, suggested by Heath, is excellent, because
the swine is likened to a quiver; and it is easy to see that it would be
likely to be misprinted Struck. The Farthians were reputed for dis
charging arrows as they fled before the enemy; cf. Cymbel. I. 6. 20 —
Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight.

The simile here is strained, since Parthian means little more than
m'ift : mention is made of the 'quiver', merely to eke out the resemblance.

uses, exercises ; but in 1. 1 22 below it is equivalent to the modern use.

107. lastly. Some have supposed a mistake here, as the verse seems
to lack a syllable. But we have a similar line further on (1. 191), ending
•with gently; cf. v. i. 97. So in Shakesp. , P.ic/i. III. iv. 4. 428, we
have — "I go. Write to me very shortly". See Abbott, Shak. Gram.
sect. 477. " Lastly", says Mason, "means, which is worst of all."

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 119

in. mere, i.e. unmixed, absolute; the old sense of the word.
Lat. merits. Cf. "his mere enemy" ; Merck, of Ven. ill. 2. 265. A
similar passage occurs in the Woman-hater, Act ill. Sc. 2 —

Yet do I see
Thro' this confusedness, some little comfort.

1 1 1. I follow former editors ; but perhaps we may read—
If the gods please, to hold here a brave patience.

1 1 6. main goodness, special piece of good luck. Main, as an ad
jective, is only somewhat remotely related to main as a substantive.
The former is the O. Fr. maim or magtic, Lat. magnits, great ; and is
not used at any very early period as an English word. The latter is
the Middle English maim or mein, A. S. miegen, might, in use at the
earliest period of English ; from the verb migan, to be able. The
Latin and A. S. roots are identical, viz. mag-, being cognate with each
other. The old Indo-European root was magh, to be great, to be
powerful; whence come a number of important derivatives, as, e.g.
Sansk. maha, great, mahant, strong, Gk. /u^yas, Lat. magnus (whence
0. F. maine, Eng. main), Moeso-Goth. magus, a boy, A. S. ma-g, a
relation, either male or female (whence Mid. Eng. may, a girl), A. S.
m(£g%>, a maid, A. S. mcegdcn, a maiden; also Mceso-Goth. magan, A. S.
magan, E. may, G. mogen, &c. ; Gk. fj.rj^avfj, a machine, A.S. macian,
to make; Sansk. mah, to honour; Lat. mactus, honoured, mactarc, to
honour; Gk. fj.eyd\os, Mceso-Goth. mikils, A. S. micel, Eng. mickle ; Gk.
fj.rj/cos, length; A. S. magn, strength, Eng. main. Hence also Moeso-
Goth. mahts, A. S. mxht, mi/it, Eng. might; also much, more, most ; Gk.
/J.O.KPOS, long, &c. And such derivatives as major, mayor, maxim, master,
magistrate, magnate, magnify, majesty, mechanics, &c. Also, since Lat.
mactare means (i) to honour, (2) to sacrifice, (3) to kill, we have hence
Span, malar, to kill, and matador, the killer. »

127. conversation, association with others; referring to conduct
rather than to talk. See the Bible Word-book.

144. Grave, entomb ; Mr Dyce's suggestion. See the Critical
Notes.

153. more content, a greater content, a greater cause for content
ment. See Abbott's Shakesp. Gram, sect 17 (3rd edition).

164. Ye sliall. So in the quarto, which I follow closely. Most
editions have_j'iW. So in 11. 179, 224.

165. record was commonly accented on the last syllable at this
period, whether used as a noun or verb. See Hamlet, I. 5. 99, &c.

Stage direction. For Servant, the quarto has Woman.

170. The irony of the writer is very evident here; he makes the
expressions of friendship very strong, as a contrast to the enmity that
is imminent. Compare Duncan's speech in Macbeth, I. 4. n — 14, in
contrast with the treatment he is about to receive from Macbeth.

171. This garden. See Chaucer, Kn. Tale, 193, &c. for the rest
of this scene.

174. To love himself. Alluding to the well-known tale about Nar
cissus, that he fell in love with his own image, as reflected in the water.
Chaucer mentions him in the Knightes Tale, 1. 1083.

120 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT II.

17 = . TV,/!-, /,"v7. -\ird. Forward means proceed, go on. Palamon
had said above, "you shall hear me" ; and now Arcite is eager!
ing to hear the remainder of his speech. Palamon, eiigro.-,>ed in watch
ing Emilia, pays little attention, and merely says "yes'', without adding
more. Hence Arcite's repeated remonstrance below (1. i;i/ "\\ili
you go fonvard, cousin?" And again he says— "Cousin ! how do you,
sir? why, Palamon" — supposing, for the moment, that Palamon is
seized with a fit of illness. Cf. "Well, sir, go forward ' '; Act III.
Sc. 5. 1. ys.

177. That's a ,^od wench, i.e. you are a good girl. Cf. "Whv,
thafs my spirit"; Tempest, I. 2. 215. It is still a common idiom.
The use of wench does not necessarily imply any hint of inferiority in
rank. Emilia applies it to herself: \\ . 2. 153. Prospero uses it in ad
dressing Miranda, Tempest, i. 2. 412. It was used as we use.v//'/.

Compare: the fine expression of Keats, Ere of St .
1- 243—

As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again.

•343. let mine honour dwn, allow my honour to be ah;.

244. //'/! . i.e. if the enemy be but a single person. The

'enemy', in this instance, is Emilia. Arcite's reply is — suppose the
enemy would prefer to fight with me; i.e. suppose Emilia were to
prefer me. Palamon rejoins that, in that case, Arcite would be free to
love; otherwise, he looks upon him as a villain.

_;e direction. For Gaoler, the quarto has Keeper through
out the rest of the scene.

the old spelling of apricot; see Rich. //. ill. 4. 29.

•292. Pirithous. Chaucer expressly tells us that Arcite was re
leased from pri-oii at Piiithous' request ; Kit. Ta. 344.

i 'haucer, A"//. Ta. 4:5.

2o,x. a fortune, a chance; answering to Chaucer's "som aven-
ture " ; A'n. Ta. 4^0.

314. pelting, paltry, contemptible, miserable. So used five times
in Shakespeare, as, e.g., Meas. for Meas. II. 2. 112 — 'every
petty officer'. Cf. " \\\\& f tiling prating peace is good for nothi:
A'iii^ and ,V<> A'hij, Act IV. Sc. 2. The word seems to be an,
v;\\.\\ paltry, and with the Swedish patter, rags.

321. morris, a morris-dan te to Act III. Sc. 5, 1. 108.

325. bury me, i. e. place me where I can never see her, which is,
to me, a burial.

ACT II. Sc. 2.

i. Banish' d. See A'n. Tale, 361— 416. Compare Romeo's speech
in Rom. and Jul. III. 3. 29; and Valentine's, in Two Gent, of I'erona,
III. i. 170.

12. nor ne'er. This reduplication of the negative is common. See
Abbott, Shak. Gram. sect. 406. Cf. ' Nor none ' in Act in. 3. 4.

21. another shape. He means that he will disguise himself; see

1. 74-

make me, i. e. render me successful.

NOTES. 121

26. have with ye is equivalent to 'I will go with you.' Richardson
says — "Have after him, at him, iiith him, are elliptical expressions,
equivalent to 'I will have, or Let us have (or keep) after him'; i.e.
follow, pursue. 'I will hare, or Let us have a blow, a hit, an aim,
a tiial at him, or it'. ' I will have, or Let us have, or keep (in company)
-with him'; attend him". Cf. ''''have with you"; Rich. III. III. 2. 92.
It may be added that '•have at you' was mostly used as a term in
gaming; and '•have towards you' was a term among men who drank
together. See Nares, ed. Wright and Halliwell.

27. flifv, remain idle.

31. hold, keep to our engagement ; see. 1. 54, and see note to 1. 37.
Maying. See a good account of the May-day observances and

games in Chambers, Book of Days, I. 571. They included the gather
ing of hawthorn-bloom, hence called may ; the crowning of the Queen
of the May ; the setting up of the May-pole ; the milkmaids' dance ;
the singing of carols, &c. We have in this play mention of the rustic
sports, consisting of running, leaping, wrestling, &c. ; as well as the
introduction of a morris-dance in the fifth scene of Act ill. Chaucer
speaks of Arcite going into the woods "to doon his obseruaunce to May"
(Kn. 7a. 64-2), and making himself a garland of the "hawthorn leues"
\Kn. Ta. 650) ; after which he sings a song or carol.

32. What should ail us, what should be the matter with us, to
prevent us? Milton has — "And ask a Talmudest what ai/s the
modesty of his marginall Keri", &.C.; Areopagitica, ed. Hale^s,
p. 19, 1. 16.

36. domine ; an Italian word, signifying a curate, priest, or school
master; from the Latin domitins, whence also don. Here it means a
schoolmaster; in which sense it is found in Lowland Scottish, but
generally spelt dominie. Sir Walter Scott introduces us to Dominie
Sampson. The Italian form would appear to be the vocative case, and
may very well have arisen from the constant use of it by schoolboys.

37. Keep touch, abide by his promise, be true to his appointment.
Coles's Dictionary has — " to keep touch, facere quod dixeris", i. e. to do
what you have promised. See Nares.

38. horn-book. " It consisted of a single leaf, containing on one
side the alphabet, large and small (in black letter or in Roman), with
perhaps a small regiment of monosyllables, and a copy of the Lord's
Prayer; and this leaf was commonly set in a frame of wood, with
a slice of diaphanous horn in front — hence the name hor/i-book" ;
Chambers, Book of Days, I. 47 ; where may be seen an engraving
of one, and a further account of it.

43. for our tint'it, for the honour of our town (Athens).

44. heigh for the weavers, hurrah for the singers ! Weaver is probably
equivalent to singer here. Nares says — " Weavers were supposed to be
generally good singers. Their trade being sedentary, they had an
opportunity of practising, and sometimes in parts, while they were at
•work". Hence the allusions in i Hen. IV. II. 4. 146; M.N.D. I. 2.
19; "Fw. Nt. II. 3. 61.

46. By any means, by all means. So also in III. 5. 133, and in
Wint. Tale, v. 2. 183.

122 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT II.

48. furiously, amazingly. "Parlous is a popular corruption of
perilous, jocularly used for alarming, amazing" :

49. cry, noise, i. e. dispi.iy. Cf. " cry of dogs"; Sc. 4, 1. 12. The
line of argument is not at all clear.

50. tackle, equipments, things prepared for the occasion. Chaucer
uses tackle of the arrows and equipments of an archer; 7'n>/. 106.

63. along, along with us. See Abbott, A'/'. Gram. sect. 30.

(>?. trick o t,V liip. See J\Icrch. of I'cuit v, I. 3. 42 ; on which
Mr Wright's note is — to '•''catch upon the hip was a wrestler's phrase.
See Oth. II. i. 314; and so in this play, iv. i. 330". '1
tell us precisely what it was. The reference is not to the hip of the
vanquished wrestler, as some think, but to that of the victor. If a
wrestler can succeed in hitching his hip in a certain way under his
adversary's body, lie may often succeed in throwing with almost irre
sistible violence. This is the 'trick of the hip' referred to here and by
Shakes;

68. He roast e^s, a contemptuous expression, intimating the
speaker's doubt as to Arcilc's capacity even for cooking an egg. The
phrase "like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side" is in As You Like It,
ill. i. 38. It looks as if eggs were sometimes roasted, like apples,
before the fire, and required turning at intervals. Ray gives the phrase,
"I have eggs on the spit" as a common proverb, adding that it means —
" I am very busy. I'-ggs, if they be well roasted, require much turn
ing." Two more proverbs are — "Set a fool to roast eggs, and a wise
man to eat them"; and — "There goes some reason to the roasting
of eggs". Kven the great /Elfrcd failed in a similar task, if v.
believe the story.

73. See Critical Notes. I strongly suspect that the old re
WtT'tv (or ;•,•',-;•) //,;>• was true to what the author wrote. It is not much
stranger than the 'nor ne'er' of 1. 12.

76. happiness, i. e. luck, good fortune, good hap. Cf. happily, I. 3.
73; and Shakespeare's 'in huffy time'; Oth. in. i. 32.

ACT II. Sc. 3.

1. Tis odds, 'tis most likely. Odds are the excess of probabilities
tending to determine an event. Some confusion has arisen from not
observing that the adjective odd, in the sense of notable, is probably a
different word, being the Welsh od, notable. Otherwise, when we
speak of odd or c:\-n, the word is related to the A. S. ord, Icel. oddr. a
point ; whence Icel. oddi, an odd number, and the phrase st.ini!us!i
i odda, to stand at odds, to quarrel. See oddi in Cleasby's Icel. Dic
tionary ; and cf. Swedish itdda, odd, with iidJ, a point.

2. affect, love ; from Lat. affectare, to aim at, earnestly desire. It
occurs in Gal. iv. 17; Kcclus. xiii. u. See Wright's Bible Word
book; also Love's La. Lo. I. 2. 172, &c.

7. When once we come to the age of fifteen.

14. I have inserted the word and, to complete the line.

1 8. what a coil he keeps, what a constant turmoil he excites.
"What a coil is there ! " Coin, of Err. III. i. 48 ; " What a coil 's here !"
Tinwn, I. 2. 236.

Sc. 3.] NOTES. 123

19. See the speech of Helena in All's Well, I. i. 90, especially
the lines —

'T\vas pretty, though a plague,
To see him every hour, &c.

20. Fairer spoken, more fair-spoken. The word fair-spoken ap
pears to be equivalent to fair-speaking. A converse instance of con
fusion is seen in the phrase "I am much beholden to you'', which, in
Tudor-English, is constantly written "I am much beholding to you".
See note to Alerch. of Vcn. i. 3. 93 (Clar. Press edition).

ACT II. Sc. 4.

4. allow, approve of, praise highly; F. allouer, Lat. allaudare.
See Allow in the Bible Word-book.

9. proves von, proves you to be a gentleman.

14. piece, i.e. performance, feat, accomplishment.

22. illustrate, shew; accented on the second syllable. See Hen.
VIII. III. 2. 181.

24. baser garments ; referring to Arcite's disguise. See Chaucer,
Kn. Ta. 551 —

And cladde him as a poure laborer.

26. purchase, acquire, win ; see the Bible Word-book, name, i. e.
fame. "David gat him a name"; 2 Sam. viii. 13.

44. use, treat. Cf. Hamlet, n. 2. 552, 556.

51. Chaucer has {Kn. Ta. 642) —

And for to doon his obseruance to May.
So Shakespeare (M. N. D. I. i. 167)—

To do observance to a morn of May.

For the May-day customs, see Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Ellis, i.
179. And see note above, II. 2. 31.

65. wise, discreet. "Holy, fair, and wise is she" was said of
Sylvia; Two G. of Ver. IV. 2. 41.

ACT II. Sc. 5.

6. fast by, close by; as in Milton, Par. L. I. 12. So also "fast
by-side"; Will, of Palcrne, ed. Skeat, 1. 3.

35. lohoobub, the old spelling of hubbub. ' Had not the old man
come in with a ivhoo-bttb ', &c. ; Wint. Ta. iv. 4. 629. Cf. w/ioop.

ACT III. Sc. i.

i. laund \s Mr Dyce's suggestion ; all the editions have land. Mr
Dyce says — ' ' I suspect we ought to read laund, an old form of law n ;
Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves,
For through this laund anon the deer \vill come ;

3 Hen. VI. in. r."

it is strange that Mr Dyce overlooked a much stronger argument, viz.
that laund is Chaucer's word —

And to the laiiude he rydeth him ful ryghte ;

X. T. 833.

124 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSUEN. [Acr III.

And whan this duk was come unto tlie latin

K. T. 838.

Even Dryden remembered to employ the word in his version of
ralamon and Arcite —

The way that Theseus took was to the wood,

'Where the t\vo knights in cruel battle Bl

The la-vn on which they fought, th' appointed place, &c.

So again, in Green's play of Friar Bacon, the third line in the
first scene is —

Alate we ran the deer, and through the laivnds,

The original sense of laisn or lannd was a cleared space in n
and it is probably the same word with lane. We have already had the
phrase " to make a laiu " above ; I. 4. 19. Cf. Dutch laau, a lane, alley.
,:/ means separate, different. So in Much Ado, V. 3. 10 ; and
in Milton's Hymn on tin Nativity, 234 — "Each fetter'd ghost slips to

/••(/// grave".
4. ceremony; a trisyllable; see note above, I. 4. 8.

6. buttons, buds. The Fr. bouton means a bud as well as a button.
The Old Fr. botcr meant to push out, whence bouton, that which pushes
out, or makes knobs on plants: thence, by analogy, pieces of wood or
metal shaped like buds. (ISrachet). Cf. Dutch hot, a bud.

7. knacks, ornaments, especially of a trifling kind. Cf. "To load
my she with knacks", i.e. trifling presents, U'iitt. Talc, iv. 4. 360.

(j. Compare Spenser's Prothalainion, 73 — 82.

12. t'j'lsoons, soon after; A. S. trftsona.

13. chop, exchange, make an exchange; A. S. ccdpcin, to barter;

. i 1. kaii J'tn ; whence cliapnian, cheap, &c. Arcite means—
Oh! that I might, whilst thou art meditating, come between.

• me cold or sober thought, and make an exchange, by changing
o>ld thoughts to thoughts of i

30. (Stage direction), bend.;, i.e. doubles; see note on bent, v. 3. 42.
^o. appointment^ i.e. accoutrement for the light, wen;<
So appointed means equipped, Judges xviii. II. See the />'//'// ll'urd-
i'lie very word appointment occurs in Trail, and Cress. IV. 5. i.

43. honse-clo^s, a contemptuous term for his fetters. So, in
r, II. 4. 7, Kent, who is in the stocks, is described as wearing

" cruel garters " and " wooden nether-stocks ".

44. cozener, cheat. A similar play on words occurs in r lien. II'.
I. 3. 254, where Hotspur, after mentioning the words kind cousin,
breaks out with — " O, the devil take such cozeners!" And when
Palamon asks Arcite to give him such language as he has shewn him
feat (or action), he means that Arcite, having acted like an enemy, ought

nemy also.

47. your l>Liz.>n, your description. The original sense of blason
in Old French was simply a shield ; then it came to mean a coat-of-
arms, which is still the sense it has in French ; then, in English only, it
passed on to the sense of description of arms, and even to description in
a general sense, as in Hamlet, \. 5. 21, iMuch Ado, il. i. 307. Its sense

Sc. i.] NOTES. 125

has clearly been influenced by confusion with the verb to blaze abroad
(Mark i. 45), which is connected with blare and blast, and is, in fact,
the A. S. bli'fsan, to blow ; cf. Lat._//tf?v.

52. skip them, pass them over, ignore them.

65. Clearly suggested by Chaucer's line, Kn. Ta. 681 —
Selde is the Fryday al the wyke i-lyke.

68. Compare Macbeth, v. 7. i, i.

72. gyves, fetters. A word of Celtic origin ; cf. Welsh gffyn, a
fetter; Gaelic gdmheal, a fetter, chain; Irish gdbheal, fetters.

75, 76. This is like the language of Macduff (Much. iv. 3. 234) —
Within my sword's length set him ; if he scape,
Heaven forgive him too !

83. connsd, i. e. assistance. But it is rather a bold phrase.

86. the smell o' the prison. This says but little for the state in
which prisons were kept. See the expression "you are now too foul",
III. 3. 49 ; and the second mention of perfumes, in. 3. 46.

88. in plight, in good plight, ready.

97. musit, the opening in a hedge through which a hare, or other
beast of sport, is accustomed to pass; Nares. It occurs in Venus ami
AJoiiis, in the description of a hunted hare —

The many nuisits through the which he goes

Are like a labyrinth, to amaze his foes ; 1. 683.

Gervase Markham says—' We terme the place where she [the hare]
sitteth, her forme ; [and] the places through the which she goes to
releefe, her imiset'1 ; Gent. Academie, 1595, p. 32. The word is the
diminutive of muse, which is used, still more frequently, in the same
sense. Cotgrave gives the French forms as mussdte (not muset, as
Nares spells it), and mitsse; also the verb miisser, which he interprets
' to hide, conceale, keep close, lay out of the way ; also, to lurke,
skowke, or squat in a corner'. The verb in Old French takes the form'
nntcer or nine/tier, with the sense of to hide ; and this is plainly the
original of the provincial English word motuh or inich, to play truant.
See mich in Halliwell's Dictionary. The word, in the old editions of
this play, was oddly misprinted musicke (see Critical Notes), and the
correction has been attributed to Theobald ; but it ought rather to be
put to the credit of Sir William Davenant, who in his play of the Rivals
(a mere recast of the present play) gives us the reading — " You hear the
horns : Enter your muise". The sense is then — enter your hiding-place.

101. bent brow, i.e. an angry brow. See i Hen. VI. v. 3. 34 ; 3 Ihn.
VI. v. i. 19 — 22.

103. oil, smoothness, apparent courtesy. Cf. Ps. Iv. 21; Prov. v. 3.

104. stomach (probably) inclination, used much as we now use
'palate'; the 'oil' did not suit his palate, and he could scarcely persuade
himself to like it. The construction is — -'were not my stomach', &c.
Cf. "it goes much against my stomach", As You Like It, in. i. 11 ; "If
you have a stomach to it", All's Well, III. 6. 67. This use of the word
is very common in Shakespeare, and many examples might be cited.

114. bleeding; see note to i. 2. no.

i26 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMEN. [Acr III.

ACT III. Sc. 2.

I. brake ; clearly the right reading in place of the old word beale.
Just above, Sc. 2, 1. 30, we have — "Enter 1'alamon out of a busk".
And again below, Sc. 6. 1. in, we have — "into your bush again !"
"We may compare also Arcite's expression — "your hawthorn-house"
(Sc. 2, 1. 82) with Shakespeare's expression — " This green plot shall be
our stage, this hawthorn-0ro& our tiring-house" ; M. N. D. III. i. 3 ;
and again, "enter into that brake" in the same scene, 1. 77. Also
" Into these brakes" in Thierry and Thcodord, Act v. Sc. i.

7. J-.i-i' MI', use their jaws on me, devour me.

15. fell, cruel. Cf. "fell sword"; Hamlet, II. 2. 495.

17. set it down, consider it as certain. Cf. ll'int. Tale, I. 2. 340.

20. Be bold to ring the bell, you may, without hesitation, begin to
toll the bell for him ; i. e. he is certainly dead. See Roister Doister, ill. 3
(Specimens of English, A. D. 1394 — 1579, ec'- Skeat), where Roister
Doister says — "I will go home and die", to which Merygreek rejoins —
"Then shall I bidde toll the bell?" See the whole passage, especially

II. 69-85.

how stand I thai ? i.e. what is my position? The very phrase is in
Hamlet, iv. 4. 56.

21. AlCs chared, i.e. all is despatched ; the same as "all offices are
done " in 1. 36. A chare or char is a turn of work, and is derived from
the A. S. cyrraii, to turn, the Middle- English form of which is cherren,
which see in Stratmann's Old English Dictionary. Hence we find, in
Ray's Glossary, the verb chc.r used in both senses, viz. (i) to turn ; and
(2) to despatch business. The substantive is used in America, but is
pronounced chore; thus in the novel of Qneechy, by Miss \\~etherell,
ch. xxv., we find "none of the men never comes near the house to
do a chore" ; whilst in English we have the phrase ' to go a charing'',
and the sb. chancoman. The present passage is particularly well illus
trated by the old proverb, given in Hazlitt's collection — " That char is

[i.e. that business is done], as the good wife said when she
had hanged her hushand ". In the Marriage of Wit and Science (Haz
litt's Old Plays, II. 375), we have —

This char is char'd well now, Ignorance, my son,
Thou seest all this, how featly it is done.

Chare occurs twice in Antony and Cliofatm, viz. in iv. 15. 74 and v. 2.
231. We also find, in Beaumont and Fletcher, the spelling chewre ; as
in Love's Cure, Act ill. Sc. 2 — " Here's two clu-wrcs cliewrd ; when
wisdom is employed 'Tis ever thus ".

23. Afyselfto beg, I myself (>hould have) to beg.

-25. by dozens, in dozens of ways, in various forms. Perhaps for
death we should read deaths.

mop\i, rendered stupid ; see Clark and Wright's note to Hamlet,

III. 4. 8r. Compare also Polonius' account ot Hamlet in the same
play, II. 2. 146 — 151.

26. The words within brackets were supplied by Mr Dyce.

NOTES. 127

29. Here compare A". Lear, I. 5. 50 ; and the use of unsettle in
the same p!"y, in. 4. 167.

31. state cf nature < natural reasoning power; cf. "wrenched my
frame of nature From the fixed place"; K. Lear, I. 4. 2QO.

32. -warp'd, bent asides, like a prop too weak to support the weight
above it ; as when we say, of a piece of wood, that it is warped.

33. next, nearest, nighest. Next and nighest are 'doublets', i.e.
they are etymologically identical ; being ' variants', i.e. differing forms,
from the A. S. nehsta, the superlative of nea/i, nigh.

3> So in Macb. II. 2. 16 — "I heard the owl scream, and the
crickets cry ':.

36. all offices are done, (apparently) all the duties of the day and
night are done, and a new day is beginning; I alone have failed to give
Palamon the file I brought for him, which might have saved him.

ACT III. Sc. 3.

6. beastly, beast-like, like a beast of the field. The word often had
this sense, as when Arviragus says — "We are beastly, subtle as the
fox" ; Cymb. ill. 3. 40. And in \Vyclifs Bible we have some curious
examples of it, as, e. g — " It is sowun a beestli bodi, it schal rise a
spiritual bodi. If ther is a beestli bodi, there is also a spiritual bodi " ;
1 Cor. xv. 44. See the Bible Word-book. Note also 1. 45 below.

24. How tastes. We should now say, How taste ; but this usage of
the singular verb was common in certain cases ; especially when the
verb immediately follows such words as how, here, there, and the like ;
see Abbott's Shak. Gram. sect. 3.35.

25. Alluding to the proverb 'Hunger is the best sauce'. Ray
quotes the Italian "Appetito no vuol salse", appetite wishes not for
sauces; the Old French "II n'y a saulce que d'appetit", there is no sauce
like appetite; and adds — "This proverb is reckoned among the
aphorisms of Socrates, Optimum cibi condimentum fames, sitis potus ;
Cicero, De Finibtis, lib. 2". In 1. 26, tart means sharp, acrid.

39. thereby hangs a tale; so in Merry Wives, I. 4. 159; As You
Like It, II. 7. 28; Tarn, of Shrew, IV. i. 60; &c.

43. break, i.e. break our agreement. You1 re wide, i.e. wide of the
mark, an archer's phrase. Cf. Lo. La. Lo. iv. i. 135.

49. J*\'c.r me not, do not doubt me.

51. keep touch, be true to his promise; see above, n. 2. 37.

ACT III. Sc. 4.

2. aglets, properly tags to laces, or (as here) the bright tops or
heads of such tags. I quote Mr Dyce's note. " 'Aglets were worn
(says Sir F. Madden) by both sexes ; by the men chiefly as tags to
their laces or points (aiguillettes], which were made either square or
pointed, plain or in the form of acorns, or with small heads cut at the
end, or topped with a diamond or ruby... They were worn also by
ladies, as pendants or ornaments in their head-dress... Junius is there
fore mistaken in explaining aglet by spangle, iiuo which error Arch-

T23 THE TWO NOBLE Kl'XSMF^7. [ ACT III.

deacon Xares has also partly fallen ' ; note on Privy Purse Expenses <>/"
t:it' /';-/;/<v.o- Mary, p. -205. ' - b»!h 'An Aglet (lag of a.

point), u'ramcntitin tign!,r, and also 'An Aglet (a little plate of metal),
Jiraetea, Jiractfola'. Spenser, /'. Q. II. 3. 26, describing Belphuebe,
tells us that she

wns yclad, for heat of scorching aire,
All in a silken cam us lilly-\vhite,
1'urfled u])un with many a folded plight,
"Which all above besprinckled was throughout
With golden aygitlets, that glistred bi;
Like twinckling star1

9. Run her. For this conjectural emendation I am responsible.
The old text has — ' L'fon her', where the first two letters are clearly
due to the repetition of the Up of the next line ; and the most likely
word is one which shall be a short monosyllable, ending with //.
Nearly all the modern editions read .SyV.w ho; from a conjecture
of Weber's, founded on the fact that sp. in Beaumont and

Fletcher's Double Marriage, Act II. Sc. I ; but the word .yV<»w, in that
•, is an intransitive verb, meaning to sail steadily, and is a mere
variation, apparently, of spume (foam), as if the to throw up

foam. Xares remarks accordingly — "an attempt has been made to
introduce spoom into the Two Noble Kinsmen, m. 4, but with small
critical judgment."

14. carrack, a ship of heavy burden. Cotgrave has — " Carraqite,
the huge ship termed a Carricke ". Cf. Span, ctirraea, Ital. caracca, a
ship of heavy burden. The word is from the same root as carry, cargo,
charge, and t'tu:

i .= . pigmies, a fabulous people, said to be of the height of a pygme
(irvy/jtri), i. e. i $\ inches, mentioned by Homer (liiad, ill. ~.) as dwelling
on the shores of Ocean, and at times subject to attacks by cranes.
] hvarfs have often been credited with supernatural powers, especially in
Northern mythology.

17. t>-nsfC:l up, lit. packed up, or pinioned like a trussed fowl.
Here it is a euphemism for being hung.

19. This Song may have been part of an old ballad. It much
resembles stanza 19 of the Nut-Brown Maid.

::. He's, probably short for he shall, or rather for he sal
will), the Northern form ; still in use in the North of England.

•'a familiar appellation for a common or labouring h'»
i vvhom see). A good instance is in I Hen. 11'. It. I. 6 — "I
prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle '•'. See note to v. i. 30.

25. The idea that the nightingale used to lean her breast agii
thorn whilst singing, is frequently alluded to by our poets, hee tiie
beautiful passage in The Passipttate Pilgrim, Sect. :i —
Everything did banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone ;
She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn,
And there sung the doiefull'st ditty, ic.

Sc. 5.] NOTES. 129

Reed quotes a passage from Christ's Victorie, by Giles Fletcher, which

contains the lines —

But leaning on a thorn her dainty chest,

for fear soft sleep should steal into her breast, £c.

See also Hood's poem entitled Ode to Melancholy.

ACT III. Sc. 5.

The Baman. This is the name of a character introduced in the
morris-dance, whose part seems to have been confined to pantomimic
tumbling and occasional barking ; see 11. 33 — 37. "The tricks of the
Bavian, his tumbling and barking like a dog... were peculiar to the
morris-dance described in The Two Noble Kinsmen, which has some
other characters that seem to have been introduced for stage effect, and
not to have belonged to the genuine morris " ; Douce, Illustrations of
Shakespeare, II. 459. The word is simply the Dutch baviaan, which is
the Dutch spelling of our word baboon. Cotgrave gives — " Babion, a
babion, or baboone". The name of the animal was probably taken
from its making grimaces with the lips. Thus Cotgrave has " Fa ire
la baboit, to bob or to make a mow [i. e. grimace] at"; also, " Baboyer,
to blabber with the lips ", &c. Cf. Eng. babble.

i. Tediosity, tediousness. This word, like disensanity, seems coined
for the occasion, in order to describe the pedantry of the schoolmaster.
If ensanity is the same as insanity, then disensanity really means the
opposite of this, viz. sanity, so that the schoolmaster uses a word
expressing the reverse of what he means. Some such joke is probably
intended ; or else the syllable en is a meaningless insertion.

5. plum-broth, broth with plums in it; cf. The Honest Mail's
Fortune, V. i. 23. We have already had plum-porridge; II. -2. 67.

8. jane ; old texls,jave. This happy emendation of Mr Dyce's is
clearly right. Frieze is a sort of coarse cloth, and jane is a twilled
cotton cloth. The former took its name from Friesland, whence it
came, and the latter, I suppose, from Genoa ; since jane is often used
also in the sense of a Genoese coin, in which case it was certainly a
mere corruption of the name of that place. The misprints of n for 21,
and for u for v, are innumerable in old books.

The expression may have been imitated from that of Shakespeare —
"In russet yeas and honest kersey noes"; Lo. La. Lo. V. i. 413.

ii. medins fidius, an old Latin oath, apparently short for me dins
Fidius adhiuet, may the divine Fidius help me! \i fidius stands for
fdius, then it means, may the divine son of Jupiter help me ! The
reference, in that case, is most likely to the god Hercules.

1 8. Meleager is said to have slain the monstrous boar infesting
the woods of Calydon ; Homer's Iliad, ix. 527.

21. trace, follow out your proper track. We find "And trace the
streets in terror " ; Philaster, V. 4.

23. laborer, player on the tabor, a kind of small drum ; from the
Old French tabor, labour ; cf. mod. Fr. tambour, whence tambourine.

L. 23 is imitated, like much else in this scene, from Mids. Nt. Dream.

S. Q

i3o THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT III.

See Act I. Sc. 2 of that play. The epithet bouncing (1. 26) is in the
same play, n. r. 70.

29. deliverly, with agility. Chaucer describes the Squire as "won-
derly deliner"; Prol. 84.

30. a favour, (perhaps) a love-knot made of the ribands mentioned
in 1. 28, which they were occasionally to throw to the company. Cf.
Lo. La. Lo. V. 2. 130. Or does it mean a curtsy?

38. Quousqiie tandem, how long? an expression most likely caught
from the first sentence in Cicero's Orations against Catiline — "Quous-
que tandem abutere, Catilina, nostra patientia?"

41. -washed a tile, laboured in vain, spent toil on a useless matter.
It is a Latin proverb, laterem larare, and occurs in Terence, P/wrniio,

I. 4. 9. There is a similar proverb in Greek, irXivOovs ir\wtiv, to wash
bricks. Faluns (in 1. 42) means foolish.

43. piece, creature ; here a term of contempt, ft tiding, base wretch ;
applied to women as well as men. Thus old Capulet says of Juliet —
"Out on her, hildiitg!" Rom. andjul. ill. 5. 169.

48. wine and breaS probably means here, by the eucharistic wine
and bread. Sir Thopas swore by ah' and bread. See Chaucer,
Prioresses Tale, &c. (Clar. Press), note to B 2062. break, break her
promise.

-,i. In Hazlitt's Collection of Proverbs w find — "There is as much
hold of his words as of a wet eel by the tail." Who the "learned poet"
is, I cannot say. I'lautus has — "anguilla est, elabitur"; PseiuL'litst

II. 4. 56.

53. wild-fire^ a composition of inflammable materials, very difficult
to quench when ignited ; also called Greek fire. The old editions have
fire ill, which is unmeaning ; wildfire is Mr Dyce's amendment, which
he supports by the quotation — "a wildfire take you!" found in
Beaumont and Fletcher's play of The Mad Lover. Again, in Philastt-r,
Act II. Sc. 4, by the same authors, we have — " Sure she has a garrison
of devils in her tongue, she utlereth such balls of wildfire". The
imprecation is found again, in a slightly altered form, in the following :
— ''That a wildfire bren {burn] thee, Celestina ! " Calisto an, I Melt'
Ilazlitt's Old Plays, I. 72. Greek fire is explained in Warton,
Hist. Engl. Poetry, ed. 1840, I. 161.

58. frampal, peeVish, fro ward, pettish, perverse. Slightly cor-
rapted from the Welsh ffromffol, passionate, which is derived from the
\'GY\)ffromi, to fume, to be in a pet, to be testy. It is spelt frampold,
and means vexatious, in Aferry /F/rw of ]\'indsor, II. 2. 94. The
etymology of the word, simple as it is, has much exercised the com
mentators. It is not uncommon, and is given by Ray, in his list of
South and East-country words. Similarly I would derive frump
(hitherto unexplained) from the Welsh ffrom, testy, touchy.

60. alow, lit. low down; possibly referring to the appearance of a
ship on the horizon. Nares gives a quotation from Foxe, containing the
phrase "creep almve by the ground".

74. i' the nick, i.e. in the nick of time, at exactly the right moment.
as mad, &~'s. a common proverb ; I'orde, in his Jaoke of Kno-idedgc,
1542, has "staring madde, like March hares"; but I ley wood, in his

Sc. 5.] NOTES. 131

Epigrams, 2nd Hundred, 1562, 95, puts the question — "Are not Mid-
somer hares as mad as March hares?"

80. Tell ten, i. e. count ten ; to be able to count up to ten was, as
Weber observes, a trial of idiocy. Buz was an interjection of im
patience, used when a person was about to make some remark with
which the hearers were already acquainted ; thus it is equivalent to
"you need not speak". So used in Hamlet, II. 2. 412; see note to

I. 381 in the Clarendon Press edition.

87. Qui passa ; Italian for 'here passes'; an incomplete sentence.
I do not understand the allusion. The bells meant are the morris-bells.
The bones were used in rough music ; M. N. D. iv. i. 32.

88. to a peace, i. e. to be quiet ; because she was inclined to be
noisy. It is strange that three different alterations have been proposed
of this simple expression.

89. I have no hesitation in substituting En for the Et of the
old editions, which will neither scan nor make sense. Strictly, Ovid
has ' ' Jamqtie opus ", and "ignes", not ignis; Metamorph. XV. 871.

95. edify, i. e. be edified; edify yourselves.

98. go forward ; see note above, Act II. Sc. r, 1. 175.

104. Perhaps it means — Whom their somewhat uneducated expres
sions proclaim to be villagers. But Gerrold talks much nonsense, and is
very stupid.

108. morris, a morris-dance ; a dance of countrymen, particularly
performed on May-Day; cf. "a morris for May-Day"; All's Well,

II. 2. 25. For an account of it, see Chambers, Book of Days, I. 631,
819, It was sometimes called a Morisco, whence it has been concluded
that it was originally a Moorish dance, or rather an imitation of one.
Some have imagined a likeness between the Morris and the Salic
dance. The Salic games are said to have been instituted by the Veian
king Morrins, a name pointing to Mars, in whose honour they were held.
See Kuhn, in Haupt's Zeitschrift fur deutsches Altertlmm, V. 488 — 493.
This, however, is mere conjecture. In the Introduction to Vol. v. of
his edition of English Ballads, Professor Child has the following
remarks. "At the beginning of the i6th centuiy the May sports in
vogue were, besides a contest of archery, four pageants ; the Kingham
(or election of a Lord and Lady of the May, otherwise called Summer
King and Queen), the Morris-dance, the Hobby-horse, and the Robin
Hood. Though these pageants were diverse in their origin, they had,
at the epoch of which we write, begun to be confounded ; and the
Morris exhibited a tendency to absorb and blend them all, as, from
its character, being a procession interspersed with dancing, it easily
might do. We shall hardly find the Morris pure and simple in the
English May-game ; but from a comparison of the two earliest repre
sentations which we have of this sport, the Flemish print given by
Douce in his Illustrations of Shakespeare, and Tollett's celebrated
painted window, (described in Johnson and Steeven's Shakespeare}, we
may form an idea of what was essential and what adventitious in the
English spectacle. The Lady is evidently the central personage in
both. She is, we presume, the same as the Queen of May, who is
the oldest of all the characters in the May-games, and the apparent

132 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [Acx III.

successor to the Goddess of Spring in the Roman Floral ia. Tn the
English Morris she is called simply the Lady, or more frequently Maid
Marian". • > v. i. 33.

1 1 1. ferula ; an instrument of punishment. It was made of wood,
and shaped like a battledore, but with the bat much climini.-'
as to be adapted for administering a severe pat on the palm of the
victim's hand. See note to Milton's A . p. 30, 1. 19; ed.

Hales. In a picture called "The Schoolmaster", by Gerard Douw,
in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, it will be seen that the master
holds v. ferula in his left hand, ready for use.

113. machine evidently refers to a temporary wooden stage on
which the dancers, who are presently to enter, were to perform.

114. The alliteration is obviously imitated from that in the
AliJsiimmer A'i^ht's Dream, v. i. 147. " Wlu-reat with blade, with
bloody blameful blade, £c. " The whole scene is copied from
Shakespeare's scene.

nS. men-- is the first part of the word morris ; the remainder of
it begins the next line.

i 23. this tenor, this meaning, to this effect.

124. fen no; a pen-ease, a case for holding pens. See Nares,
and Tamieson.

1:5. Vv'e have here a list of the characters in the Morris-dance,
viz. the Lord of May, the Lady of May (also called Queen of May,
or Maid Marian), the Chamber-maid, the Serving-man, the Hoit,
the Hostess, &.c. ; to which should be added the liavian or Tumbler,
and the Clown or Jester, who was seldom absent from such festivities.
]>y putting together the account in this part of the scene and the
preceding part, we may make out the list of the twelve principal
characters, six of each sex, with the persons who took the parts.

Male. i. Lord of May; 2. Serving-man; 3. Host; 4. Clown:
5. liavian ; 6. Taborer.

Female. 7. Lady of May; 8. Chambermaid; 9. Hostess; 10.
n. 12. Dancers.

The parts may be thus distributed among the actors.

i. 2. 3. 4. First, Second, Third, and Fourth Countrymen ;
5. A fifth Countryman ; 6. A man named Timothy.

P\male. 7. Friz; 8. Gaoler's Daughter, taking the place of Cicely
(for it is clearly the Second Countryman's partner who failed to
appear); 9. Maudlin; 10. Luce; n. ISarbary ; 11. Nell.

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of ihe J-tnniin^ Pestle, Act IV.
Sc. 5, we have — "Enter Ralph, dressed as a May-lord"; he describes
himself as having a "gilded .staff, and crossed scarf".

127. hiin^in^, i.e. tapestry. The epithet silent seems to mear,
that does not rustle.

128. welcomes; so the old editions, which also have informs in
1. 130. It is best to keep to the old reading, as it is so common in
our old dramatists to find a verb used in the singular after the relative
pronoun that, even when a pair of singular nouns precedes the relative.
See Abbott's Shak. Gram. sect. 247. Of course, too, their should be
his, if Gerrold's grammar is to be set right.

Sc. 6.] NOTES. 133

ACT III. Sc. 6.

3. armours, suits of defensive armour.

24. quit, i. e. requite. See quyte in glossary to Chaucer's Prioresses
Tale, 6v. ; ed. Skeat.

25. shew, appear, shew yourself to be.

59. grand-guard, a piece of defensive armour worn, in general,
only by knights when on horseback ; as is evident from the context.
Nares supposes it to have been a kind of gorget or neck-piece. At
any rate it was separate from the helmet, since we find in Holinshed's
Chronicle, p. 820, the sentence — "The one bare his helmet, the second
his granguardn , Chaucer tells us that Palamon and Arcite assisted
to arm each other.

72. three kings. An allusion to Act r. Sc. r, 1. 39.

82. virtue, native valour, manliness ; Lat. jtirtiis.

87. strait, tight. Strait and strict are various forms of the same
wcrd ; Lat. stridits. See 1. 55.

90. hold, consider, esteem ; but inl. 92, it means hold out, endure.

105. " Our scene lies rather in the land of kniglit-errantry than of
Athens; our authors follow Chaucer, and dress their heroes after the
manners of his age, when trials by the sword were thought just, and the
conquered always supposed guilty and held infamous" ; Seward.

112. safety, an obvious improvement on safely, the old reading.
Presently means immediately, at once ; as usual.

131. fears, frightens ; used actively, as in Shakesp. 3 Hen. VI. V. 2. 2.

132. 'The law will have a share in the honour of our deaths'.
134. Chaucer has (Kn. Ta. 852) —

But telleth me what mester men ye been,

That ben so hardy for to fyghten heere

Withouten jugge or other ofnceere,

As it were in a listes really?
See the whole passage.

147. edict, as in 1. 170, is accented on the last syllable. It is most
often accented on the same syllable in Shakespeare. Cf. "It stands as
an edict in destiny"; Mid. Nt. Dr. I. i. 151.

153. There are numerous other instances of the use of beest (in the
second person) after if. "If thou beest he"; Paradise Lost, I. 84; "if
thou beest Stephano"; Tempest, II. i. 104; and see Tempest, 111.2. 137;
Oth. V. 2. 287; 2 Hen. VJ. m. 2. 295 ; Wint. Ta. IV. 4. 791; Maid's
Tragedy, II. i,and v. 4, ed. Dyce, vol. I. pp. 344, 416.

1 6 1 . soon, ready, easy, thee, for thee ; the dative case.

162. I. e. And / am no more moved than thou wouldst be in giving
the order. Where, whereas; see Abbott, Sliak. Gram. art. 134.

177. cousin, i.e. Hercules; as in Act I. Sc. i, 1. 66. The 'twelve
strong labours' are well known.

181. tell my soul, assure myself, know assuredly.

192. kill, the old reading, ought certainly to be retained, as Mr Dyce
remarks ; some of the editors have altered it to kills. In my edition of
Chatterton's Poems, vol. I. p. 367, I have observed — "There is a certain
irregularity in English grammar, common in old authors, which has

i34 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ ACT III.

hardly received sufficient attention. In many cases, a verb is made to
agree with the nearest substantive, the ear deciding against the require
ments of logic. There are many such instances in Chatterton...! select
the following examples :

The wrinkled grass its silver joys unfold ; vol. I. p. 10.
Displays his bigot blade, and thunders draw (i.e. draws forth his

thunders) ; vol. I. p. 49.

The greatest of Creation's blessings cloy; vol. I. p. 67.
But now my lingering feet revenge denies; vol. i. p. 88."
So here, the verb kill is due to the word eyes which immediately pre
cedes it. Mr Wright has a note to the same effect in his edition of
Bacon's A dvancement of Learning ; note to p. 126, 1. 14.

2ii. want, lack, be without; see note to I. i. 222. There is pro
bably an allusion here to Chaucer's favourite line — "For pitee renneth
sone in gentil herte " ; Kn. Ta. 903 ; March. Ta. 9860 (ed. Tyrwhitt) ;
S:j. Ta. 479 ; Prol. to Leg. G. IV. 503.

217. rig/it, very, true. Cf. "Like a right gipsy"; Ant. and Clcop.
IV. 12. 28.

223. The quarto has The" yld (sic] for The}? Id, i.e. they would.
•228. BOT.U not, abase not, force not, set not aside.
•242. names opinion, i.e. the reputation of my name. This is a
generally accepted amendment of the old reading, which was "my name ;
Opinion" — as if the word Opinion formed a sentence by itself! But, be
sides this, I have altered the punctuation. Mr Dyce's edition has —
Think how you maim your honour
(For now I am set a-begging, sir, I am deaf
To all but your compassion); how their lives
Might breed the ruin of my name's opinion!

This can only mean — Think how you maim your honour ; (for now that
I begin to beg, I am deaf to all but your pity) ; think how their lives, &c.
But this makes no sense, and can only be made into sense by altering
lives into deaths; and even then it is not clear why their deaths should
damage her good name, at any rate in her own estimation. I take the
sentence to mean something very different, viz. — Think how you maim
your honour ! [After which there is a pause ; and then a new thought
arises.] For now that I have begun to beg, sir, I am deaf to all but
your compassion; (I am deaf to the thought) how their lives may bring
about the loss of my reputation. That this is clearly right, may be seen
from a reperusal of 11. 219 — 225.

244. proin (or proyne) is the old spelling; some editors have/rw«<',
which is the modern spelling. See /raw in Nares, and prune in Wedg
wood's Etymological Dictionary.

251. woe worth me, woe be to me. The A. S. verb weor%ian, to be
come, cognate with the German "tverden, once in very common use, now
survives only in such phrases as 'woe -worth thee', or 'woeivortA the day'.

254. Swear 'em, cause them to swear, make them swear.

256. The sense is clearer than the construction. It means, of
course, 'or to tread upon thy dukedom (i.e. territory); and (make them
swear) to be,' £c.

Sc. 6.J

NOTES. 135

262. along, along with us, wherever we go. See Abbott, Sh.
Gram. art. 30.

272. This is obscure. It seems to mean — I will turn death into
a horrible monster; cf. Tro. and Cress, ill. 2. 74.

284. If 1 fall from that month, if I die by her decision.

295. pyramid, a pillar; probably a pointed one ; see " pillar " in
L 297. And probably pyramids means no more than/z'//rtr.y in Macb.
IV. i. 57. Chaucer mentions tiuo stakes, one at each side of the lists;
Kn. Ta. 1694, 1695.

whether, which of the two; as in — "whether of them twain did
the will of his father?" Matt. xxi. 31 ; again in Matt, xxiii. 19. Whether
is a compound of who and the comparative suffix -ther, Mceso-Gothic
-thar. Cf. Lat. liter, Gk. (corepos, Sansk. katara ; Morris's Historical
Outlines of English Accidence, sect. 113. Chaucer has "whether of
yow bothe"; Kn. Ta. 998.

302. ye, you. Properly ye (A. S. ge) was invariably used in the
nominative, and you (A. S. eow) only in the dative and accusative cases.
I entirely agree with Dr Morris in supposing that, in cases like the pre
sent, the ye represents the rapid and careless pronunciation of you, and
should rather be written y'. Hence it is chiefly found at the end of a
sentence, as here, or at the end of a line, as in 1. 307. So also in Henry
VIII. III. 2. 365 — " Vain pomp and glory of the world, I hate ye".

Some readers have expressed surprise at the apparently strange doom
of Theseus, in decreeing death not only to the principal, but to "all his
friends", if worsted in the combat. Chaucer does not, it is true, go so far
as this ; but it was quite in accordance with the spirit of the age even in
Fletcher's time. Seward's note on the subject is much to the purpose ;
he says — "As to the probability of their procuring each three seconds
upon such odd terms, it may shock us to suppose any such gallant idiots ;
but even so low as our authors' age it was reckoned cowardise to refuse
any man, even a stranger, to be a second in almost any duel whatever,
of which there is a most inimitable burlesque in [Beaumont and Fletcher's
play of] the Little French Lawyer. Mankind were mad after knight-
errantry; and the reader must catch a little of the spirit himself, or he'll
lose a great part of the beauties of this play ; he must kindle with the
flames of military glory, think life a small stake to hazard in such a
combat, and death desirable to the conquered as a refuge from shame."
In Beaumont and Fletcher's play of the Lover's Progress, Act II. Scene 3,
the seconds fight as well as the principals. Perhaps the most striking
instance is afforded by the ferocious duel fought in Kensington Gardens,
on the 1 5th of November, 1712 ; in which not only the principals, Lord
Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton, were both killed, but the seconds
fought with fierce hatred, though interrupted before either of them was
slain. See Chambers' Book of Days, n. 583.

136 THE TWO N'OBLE KINSMEN. [ACT IV.

ACT IV. Sc. i.

1 1. compassion, four syllables. The ending -ion is almost always a
disyllabic in Tudor English, and is invariably so in Middle English.

14. Half his ffiun heart, i.e. who is half the heart of Theseus, set
in, put in his word.

1 6. scape, escape. It is quite unnecessary to prefix an apostrophe,
as Mr Knight does ; it is a common old spelling.

21. the prisoner, i. e. Palamon. See Act v. Sc. 4, I. 31.

37. mind her, remember her, call her appearance to mind.

41. innocent, an idiot. "There be three kinds of fools... An inno
cent, a knave-fool, a fool politick "; Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit without
Money, Act II. And again — -

For he is but an innocent, lo !
In manner of a fool;

The Four Elements, in Hazlitt's Old Plays, I. 42.

~2. Copied, no doubt, from the celebrated description of Ophelia in
Hamlet, iv. 7. 167; which see.

•;.= . attending, watching for. waiting for.

smallness, slenderness, shrillness. "Thy small pipe Is as the
maiden's organ, shrill and sound"; Tw. Nt. I. 4. 32; cf. Merry IVii'cs,
I. i. 49.

f>o. to his cnvn skill, to its own skill in catching fish. On his, see
Abbott, S/i. Gram. art. 228. Angle means the rod and line, a.s in
Ant. and CUop. II. 5. 10 — "Give me mine angle; we'll to the river".
Etymologically, it means the hook only; A. S. angel, a fish-hook, Lat.
angulus,

64. glade, according to Xares, sometimes meant an open track in a
wood, particularly made for placing nets for woodcocks. Here it
means an open track in the reeds, cut by fishermen for their con
venience. The fundamental sense is an opening for light, a bright
track, and it is closely connected with the adjective glad, now only
used in the metaphorical sense of light-hearted. In Dutch, however,
glad means (i) bright; (2) smooth, slippery; (3) flippant. Cf. G. and
Swed. glatt. The I eel. gladr means (i) bright, spoken of the sky or
weather; and (2) glad, gladsome. Mr Vigfusson reverses this order,
but it must have been by an oversight ; since the natural meaning must
precede the metaphorical one. Compare glitter, glance, glare, glass, &c.

71. Bevy, a company. "Ital. beva, a driaking; a bevy, as of
pheasants. — Florio. Fr. bevee, a brood, flock of quails, larks, roebucks,
thence applied to a company of ladies generally." — Wedgwood.

73. daffadillies, daffodils. Singularly corrupted from Lat. aspho-
delns, Gk. cur<£65e\or. "AsphoJile, the daffadill, affodill, or asphodill
llower"; Cotgrave.

75. antic, i.e. an antique dance, a quaint dance.

80. willow. Cf. "she had a song of Willow" &c. Othello, iv. 3.
28; part of the song being sung by Desdemona in that scene. The
whole ballad is printed at length in Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry,

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 137

and in Staunton's Shakespeare, from a black-letter copy in the Pepysian
library at Cambridge.

88. rings of rushes. This is an allusion to a common practice,
especially among the lower orders, of celebrating mock-marriages.
The ring used in such ceremonies was a rush-ring, or one made of some
equally common and fragile material. The practice led to grave abuses,
and it was sometimes forbidden. See Rush-ring in Nares, and Brand's
Popular Antiquities.

90. posits, short mottoes. Rings, knives, and other articles were
sometimes inscribed with short sentences ; and, as these were frequently
in rime, they were called poesies, or posies, from the Gk. Troi-r]<ris, a poem.
Fletcher gives two examples in the present passage. Numerous others
will be found in Chambers, Book of Days, i. 221. Shakespeare quotes
one in the Merchant of Venice, V. I. 150, viz. — "Love me, and leave me
not". Rimed examples are — "In thee, my choice, I do rejoice"; "God
above Increase our love"; "When this you see, Remember me".

91. loose. I strongly suspect this should be modernised by lose,
an idea which no editor seems to have thought of. There are two or
three instances in this play where the word lose occurs, and is spelt loose
in the quarto. But this I leave to the reader.

100. cross her, cross her path, in order to stop her.

107. The Broom. "This very popular song is quoted by Moros in
the old interlude [comedy, entitled] The Longer Thou Livest, The More
Fool Thou Art, by W. Wager;—

' Brome, brome on hill,

The gentle brome on hill, hill :

Brome, brome on Hive hill,' &c.

It is also mentioned by Laneham, [in his Letter from Kenihvorth, 1575]
as one of the songs in the possession of Captain Cox, a mason at Coven
try". — -Weber.

108. Bonny Robin. "Bonny Sweet Robin. In Queen Elizabeth's
Virginal Book, and William Ballet's Lute Book. In the latter there
are two copies, and the second copy is called 'Robin Hood is to the
greenwood gone ' ; it is, therefore, evidently the tune to a ballad of
Robin Hood, now lost. Ophelia sings a line of it in Hamlet — For
bonny sweet Robin is all my joy." ChappelFs National English Airs,
II. 176.

109. That tailors made gowns for ladies is clear enough from Act
IV. Sc. 3 of The Taming of the Shrew.

no. rarely, early, soon. Grose's Glossary (1790) gives — "Raid,
or Rear, early; Kent": and again — "Rear, corruptly (?) pronounced
rare, early, soon". Pegge, in his Alphabet of Kenticisms (Archaologia
Cantiana, vol. IX.) gives the Kentish form rade, early, as a variation of
the Middle English rathe, early, from A. S. Irnc^. The form rathe is
still used in Dorsetshire. Gay uses rear in the sense of soon in his
Shepherd's Week, Monday, where he says — "Then why does Cuddy
leave his cot so rear?" Grose confuses rear in the sense of early with
the commoner word rear or rare in the sense of underdone, as applied
to meat (A. S. hrere); but it is more likelv that the words are quite
distinct.

138 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMEN. [Acx IV.

112. Mr Dyce notes that among Certain Sonets at the end of
Sidney's Arcadia, ed. 1598, p. 474, we find one beginning — "Oh faire,
O sweet, when I do looke on thee", &c.

135. -weigh, i. e. weigh anchor, chterly, cheerily.

136. Owg/i; obviously intended to represent the sounds uttered by
sailors while weighing the anchor. The gaoler ami his friends humour
the daughter by pretending to do as she wishes them. \Vhen the an
chor is supposed to be weighed, they say — 'tis up!

137. Top, raise or tighten. The bawling or bowline is used to keep
the weather-edge of a square sail tight forward, when the ship is
closehaulcd.

J39- UP to thf topt 5° UP aloft.

140. To ken is to descry or spy; a word particularly used at sea, at
any rate in former times. Shakespeare has it both as a verb and sub
stantive.

As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs ;

2 Htn. VI. in. 2. 101 ;
and, only twelve lines further on,

For losing ken of Albion's wished coast.
It Ls the A. S. caiman, to know.

ACT IV. Sc. 2,

16. Jove; old copies Love; a mere misprint, due to Love in 1. 14.
That Jove is meant is obvious.

"The construction and meaning (as Mason saw) are — With such
another smile [which is understood from the preceding smiling] wanton
Ganymede set Jove a-fire." — Dyce. Ganymede was supposed to be
placed among the constellations, and is to be identified with the con
stellation Aquarius.

21. "Tantalus, the favourite of the gods, once invited them to a
repast, and on that occasion killed his own son Pelops, and having
boiled him, set the flesh before them that they might eat it. But the
immortal gods, knowing what it was, did not touch it; Demeter alone,
being absorbed by grief for her lost daughter, consumed the shoulder
of Pelops. Hereupon the gods ordered Hermes to put the limbs of
Pelops into a cauldron, and thereby restore him life. When the process
was over, Clotho took him out of the cauldron, and as the shoulder
consumed by Demeter was wanting, the goddess supplied its place by
one made of ivory ; his descendants (the Pelopidae) as a mark of their
origin, were believed to have one shoulder as u'/iile as ivory" ; Smith's
Classical Dictionary, s. v. Pelops. See Ovid, Mctamorph. VI. 406.

21 — 25. These lines are almost a repetition from P/iilaster, IV. 4 : —

Place me, some god, upon a pyramis
Higher than hills of earth, and lend a voice
Loud as your thunder to me, that from thence
I may discourse to all the underworld
The worth that dwells in him'

SC. 2.]

NOTES. 139

27. siuarth, swarthy, very dark; from A. S. srueart, black.

35. Livdly, i. e. wickedly, vilely : cf. Acts xvii. 5 ; see the BibU
Word-book.

38. These the eyes, i. e. these are the eyes : she is supposed to be
contemplating his portrait. Mason proposed to read They're ; but it is
scarcely necessary. I think the original reading — the eyes — is better than
thy eyes, as in all the later editions.

45. sotted, besotted, foolish. Cf. sottish, in Ant. and Clcop.

IV. 15. 79-

48. Whether, which of the two; see note above, III. 6. 295.

49. ' And now, if my sister had asked me, I should have said I was
more inclined to Palamon.'

52. fancy, love, affection. Shakespeare tells us where it 'is bred';
Merch. of Venice, III. 2. 63.

53. gawds, toys, playthings. Merely borrowed from the Latin
gaitdium, though, strangely enough, the etymology has given much
trouble. See gauded in Chaucer's Prologue, 1. 159. Cotgrave has the
Old French verb gaudir, to be merry. The modern French word
formed from the Latin gaiidium is joie. Hence gaud and joy are
doublets, or varied forms of the same word.

63. Made mothers joy, caused mothers to rejoice. "The modern
editors (with the exception of Seward), not perceiving that_/iy is a verb,
print — 'Made mothers' joy'". — Dyce.

75. The hint for the description of this hero was given by Chaucer's
far finer description of Lycurgus, king of Thrace, which the reader
should consult ; see Kn. Tale, 12.70 — 1296.

81. fire; such is Mr Dyce's reading, instead of the reading faire of
the quarto, in which the letter a has probably been accidentally inserted.
Mr Dyce says — "nothing can be plainer than that the right reading is
fire — a correction which had occurred to me 'long before I found it in
Heath's MS. notes". To which I would add, to make assurance doubly
sure, that the passage is simply copied from Chaucer —

The cercles of his eyen in his heed
They glcrweden bytwixe yelwe and reed;
And lyk a griffoun lokede he aboute.

85. I.e. with long and round arms.

86. baldrick,7(. belt, see Chaucer's Prologue, 1. 116. Spenser uses
the word also in his Prothalamion, 1. 174; see Mr Hales's note to the
line, in his Longer English Poems. The epithet curious means orna
mented with care, elaborately adorned ; cf. "a most curious mantle";
Cymb. v. 5. 361. In the succeeding phrase the order of words is
inverted; we should now say — "to seal (i.e. execute) his will with
when he frowns."

87. This is more like a copy from Shakespeare, Oth. V. 2. 260 —

A better [sword] never did sustain itself
Upon a soldier's thigh.

90. The author has described the heroes in the wrong place. He
keeps to Chaucer's order, without observing that Chaucer describes

140 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [Acx IV.

Palawan's friend first. Accordingly, having copied some traits from
the description of Lycurgus of Thrace (really the friend of Palawan), he
now copies some others from Chaucer's description of Emetrius, king of
India, who was really the friend of Arcitc. Chaucer and our author
agree in giving black hair to the hero first described, and ydl^nu hair to
the second one.

97. what he fights for, i.e. love, so apt:r, is therefore fitter.
101. extremes, viz. of foolhardiness or of blind rage.
103. His crKpe h;er lyk ringes was i-ronne,

And that was yelwe, and gliterede as the sonne;

A'n. 7'a. 1307.

105. not to nndo with thunder, not to be easily destroyed by
thunder. It was supposed that some plants were thunder-proof. In
the 'Poet-Prologue' to Beaumont's Four Plays in One, we have the
expression — "thunder-fearless verdant bays ".

no. His nose was heigh, his eyen bryght citryn,
His lippes rounde, his colour was sangwyn;

Kn. Ta. 1309.
112. His voys was as a trumpe thunderinge ;

Kn. Ta. 1316.

114. clean, fine, excellent, well-made. Still in use, especially with
reference to the skin and limbs. Cf. " Hector was not so clcan-\M\\-
hercd"; Lmes La. Lo. v. i. 642. So in Piers Plmi'inan, l>. III. 22, the
expression " clenc golde" is used instead of pure gold.
116. Of fyue and twenty yeer his age I caste;

Kn. Ta. 1314.

119. Chaucer only describes two heroes; our author here copies a
trait" peculiar to Emetrius of India — "A fewe fraknes \_frcc klcs\ in his
face yspreynd" {sprinkled} ; Kn. Ta. 1311.

121. they, i.e. the "freckles"; see 1. 120.

122. wdl-dispos"d, well placed or situated. It is evident that the
poet wishes to express, that the few freckles on the hero's face were
rather becoming to him. This curious line is probably due to an
attempt to improve upon Chaucer.

129. a ti^er. See Chaucer, Kn. Ta. 799, 1768.

130. That is, he has gray eyes, which are a sign of mercy to the
vanquished. Probably because gray eyes seem to have been con
sidered as best suited for women, who are gentle by natural disposition.
Chaucer's Prioresse had "eyen greye as glas" ; and Julia says of Silvia
— " Her eyes are gray as glass, and so are mine"; Two G. of Ver. IV.
4. 197.

J35' Upon his heed he werede of laurer grene
A garlond fresch and lusty for to sene ;

Kit. Ta. 1317.

But Chaucer's expression is here altered to " the winner's oak";
with reference to the Roman custom of crowning a victorious soldier
with oak, especially if he had saved the life of a citizen. "For who
soever saveth the life of a Roman, it is a manner among them, to

Sc. 3.]

NOTES. 141

honour him with such a garland " ; Shakespeare 's Plutarch, ed. Skeat,
p. 3. See the whole passage, and see Coriolanus, n. i. 137.

138. charging-staff, (apparently) a lance or spear ; to match the
"axe " in 1. 115. Perhaps it was meant rather for ornament than use.
Or perhaps a "warder" may be meant ; see Rich. II. I. 3. 118.

152. bravery, magnificence, splendour of decoration. Cf. the
Scottish braiv, i.e. brave, fine, goodly in appearance.

ACT IV. Sc. 3.

The idea of this scene has some resemblance to that of Macbeth,
V. i ; which see, as well as Scene 3 of the same.

6. lards it, i. e. is mixed up with it. Cf. Hamlet, IV. 5. 37 ;
v. 2. 20.

7. farces, stuffs ; from Lat. farcire, to stuff. The sense is — With
that she stuffs every business, that name she fits to every question. The
vioxdijorce-iui'at is a corruption of farce-meat.

9. Look, where she comes, &c. These are Shakespeare's very
words, "Lo you, where she comes! This is her very guise"; Macb.
V. i. 22.

n. dmvn-a. So in Hamlet, IV. 5. 170 — "You must sing a-down
a-down, An you call him a-down-a". Deny-down is still sometimes
used in the burden of a song.

1 8. piece of silver. Charon was supposed to ferry the shades of the
dead across the rivers of the lower world. For this service he was paid
with a coin, an obolus or danace (6/3o\o's or 5ara'/cr;), which was placed
in the mouth of every corpse, for that purpose, just before burial. Hence
the Daughter says that, without a coin, there is "no ferry". See
Rich. III. I. 4. 46.

19. blessed spirits. See Vergil, Acn. VI. 639, &c. ; in 1. 669 we
find "felices animae".

22. Compare the story of Proserpine ; see Wint. Tale, IV. 4. 116.

25. Compare what Laertes says; Hamlet, IV. 5. 189.

27. barley-break. There are frequent allusions in our old dramatists
to this common rural game. There were various methods of playing it ;
see Nares's Glossary. The game was generally played in the South of
England by six persons, three of each sex. The general idea of it was
that one couple should try to catch the rest, when within certain
boundaries, without loosing their hold of each other's hands.

33. Cf. Macb. v. 3. 38 — " She is troubled with thick-coming
fancies".

41. perturbed mind. Compare Macbeth, V. 3. 40 — "Canst thou
not minister to a mind diseased?... Therein the patient Must minister
to himself".

49. stale, estate ; and conversely, estate is used for state. The words
are doublets ; both being from the Latin status.

6r. green, simple, silly; cf. "he hath all requisites in him that folly
and green minds look after"; Othello, II. I. 250. It is still thus
used, but regarded as vulgar.

142 THE TWO NOBLE KIXSMEN. [Acr V.

65. become Palawan, suit the character of Palamon.

67. cai-se her, i.e. carve for her. Mr Knight inserted for before
/;<•;•; but the following extract from Beaumont and Fletcher's play of
Love"1! Pilgrimage (Act I. Sc. i) will shew that the text is right as it
stands.

Ineiibo. I'll try your kid,

If he be sweet: he looks well. [Tasks it.] Yes; he is good.
I'll carve you, sir.

Philippo. You use me too too princely;

Taste and carve too !

Incubo. I love to do these offices.

And again in Beaumont's Poems (in Beaumont and Fletcher's
Works, ed. Dyce, XI. 483), we find the line-
Drink to him, carve him, give him compliment.

68. among, amongst the rest, thereunto ; as in Spenser, F. Q.

VI. 12. II.

70. play-pheers, playmates. Pheer is not good spelling; it should
be feer or fore, as it is from the Middle English fore, A. S. gefera, one
Vf\\o fares or travels with one, a comrade, companion; also, a playmate,
and sometimes a wife. It is spelt fere in Chaucer's Trailiis and Cressida,
IV. 791; see also Pericles, I. r. 21, where the Globe Edition has fere.
It is used by Burns in his well-known song of Auld Lang Syne — "And
here's a hand, my triisty_/£c/v."

75. regiment, rule, order, sway. The word commonly meant
government or sovereign sway. Sometimes it meant diet, in which
sense it has been preserved, though now spelt regimen. See Nares.

approved, put to the proof; cf. Philip, i. 10.

79. success, result. At least, such is certainly the meaning here, as
the Doctor hopes it may "bring forth comfort". So we find in Shake
speare — "I know not what the success will be. my lord''; Airs Well,
III. 6. 86. So, in the first sentence of Milton's Areopa^itica, we have
— " with doubt of what will be the successe"; and cf. " bad success" in
Par. Regained, iv. i.

ACT V. Sc. r.

3. fires is here a disyllabic. The poets make it disyllabic or mono
syllabic at pleasure. It is monosyllabic in V. 3. 98, and in 1. 69 of the
present scene. See note to 1. 87 below.

9. germane, nearly related, near akin ; from Lat. germanus, brother
ly. In Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 802, it is extended to kinship even in a remote
degree; since Autolycus speaks of "those that are germane to him,
though removed fifty times . It is accented on the first syllable.

10. This line is somewhat obscure. To blow out is to extinguish;
and, if nearness means nearness in blood, the sense is — to extinguish that
kinship that exists between you.

16. prayers is disyllabic here, as occasionally in Shakespeare:
That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said.

Merry Wives, V. 5. 54.

Sc. i.]

NOTES. 143

18. glass, i.e. hourglass. Cf. IVint. Tale, I. i. 306.

20. shew, appear as, seem; used intransitively.
25. tender, use, treat. Cf. "tender well my hounds"; Taming of

Shrew, Induct. 16. A commoner sense is proffer, offer; as in V.

4- 32-

28. 7*0 .mtf, S°f. The sense is — to place there another person, whom
I should wish to destroy. In other words, I regard you* no more as a
cousin, but suppose that an enemy occupies the position in which I see
you ; or, briefly, I will imagine that the person before me is a hated foe.
To confound is to destroy. Shylock is described as "keen and greedy to
co nfound a man " ; Mer. of Venice, III. 2. 278.

29. port, may mean either (i) transport, carry, or (2) bring into
port. For the second meaning, though a likely one, I can adduce no
clear example. In the first sense Richardson quotes from Fuller's
Worthies — -"What one may call river- or fresh-water-coale, digged out
in this county [Salop] at such a distance from Severne, they are easily
ported 'by boat into other shires".

30. Limitcr, He who limits or prescribes the bounds of human
action ; the Arbiter of human affairs.

34. lcn>ers, those who love me, friends-; so used again below, Sc. 4,
1. 123. Cf. Ps. xxxviik n ; Cor. V. 2. 14 ; &c.

my sacrifices, ye who are ready to sacrifice yourselves for me ; alluding
to the fact that, if defeated, they were to be put to death.

37. father of it. This is a happy correction of Theobald's, for
the unmeaning reading— -farther off it — of the old editions. Appre
hension means perception; and the sense is — whose spirit within you
expels the seeds of fear, and that perception of danger which is ever the
cause of fear. Fear cannot arise, even in the most timid, till there be
first some sense, or at any rate, some imagination, of danger at hand.
We find almost the same thought in Cymbeline, iv. 2. 109 —

Being scarce made up,
I mean, to man, he had not apprehension
Of roaring terrors ; for th' effect of judgment
Is oft the cause of fear.

39. Require, desire, ask,- beseech; as in I. i. 93.

44. will stick; the old editions read sticks, but there is little differ
ence in the sense. The reference seems to be to Emilia, and stick is,
apparently intransitive ; cf. v. 3. 54. Force and daring deeds are to
place the garland upon him; and in that girland she who is the queen
of flowers will appear conspicuous. Arcite had heard Emilia say that
'of all flowers the rose is best'; Act n. Sc. i ; and he now says that
Emilia herself will appear as the rose in his garland.

46. cestron, a cistern. The word is spelt "cesterne"in the First
Folio edition of Shakespeare, Othello, IV. 2, and Ant. and Cleop. II.

5- 95-

49. Arcite's prayer to Mars is given by Chaucer, Kn. Tale, 1515,
but in different terms; and yet the boon prayed for is the same, viz.
victory.

Yif me the victorie, I askc thee no more.

i44 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT V.

50. This resembles Macbeth's expression —

. this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red; Macb. II. 2. 61.

The words whose approach were added by Seward, and fairly supply
the place of words that are evidently wanted. He adds — "that comets
prewarn or foretel wars is the vulgar as well as poetical creed"; and
cites a very apposite passage from Milton, P. L. n. 708.

53- foison, abundance, plenty; an old French word formed from
the Latin MX. fusionent, which again is horn, fundcre, to pour out. Ceres
is represented in the Tempest, iv. i. no, as distributing the blessings of
"Earth's increase, foison plenty".

=4. armip'.itcnt, mighty in arms; the epithet is borrowed from
Chaucer, A'n. Talc, 1124, 1583: and Chaucer borrowed it from Statins;
Thebaid, VII. 78. Various misfortunes were attributed to the anger of
Mars ; he was supposed, as here, to be the destroyer of towns ; cf. Kn.
Talc, 1158.

57. Cf. "I am yong and unkonning" ; Kn. Tale, 1535.

62. enormous, irregular, disorderly. The original sense of Lat.
enormis was out of rule, the derivation being from e, out of, and norma,
a rule. It occurs in K. Lear, n. 2. 176.

66. flurisy, superabundance, plethora. See Hamlet, IV. 7. 1 1 8,
and Mr Wright's note upon the passage. Weber cites an additional
instance from Ford's Fancies Chaste and Noble: —

Thou art fallen suddenly
Into a plnrisy of faithless impudence.

Our dramatists were evidently thinking of the Latin plus, flitris, more.
Pleurisy is really from the Greek -rrXevpd, a side, and means an inflamma
tion of the pleura, or membrane lining the thorax. See Nares.

73. do, i. e. doth. The plural is used because he is addressing
several.

7 7. Palamon's prayer to Venus is given by Chaucer ; Kn. Tale, 1 363.
He prays for possession of Emilia, but in different terms.

79. To iMep unto, i. e. to weep before, to weep in imploring a girl's
grace.

83. Before, i. e. sooner than Apollo can, though he is the god of
healing.

85. polled, i.e. shorn, close-cropped, bald-headed. Absalom polled
(or shore) his hair annually, 2 Sam. xiv. 26; cf Ezekiel xliv. 20. An old
man of seventy would not wear long flowing locks, as a young man
might.

87. skiff, skipped over, or jumped through. The sense is — whose
youth has [>a»cil unsingecl through thy flame, like boys that jump
through bonlires in play. The word bonfires is trisyllabic ; see note to
1. 3 above.

In strict grammar, the word ILn'e in 1. 87 should be Has, but the
plural inflexion is clue to the word boys, on account of that word being
nearer to it than its true nominative youth is. See note above; in.
6. 192.

Sc. i.] NOTES. . 145

89. Abuse, misuse. The idea intended is much the same as that
conveyed by the expression 'to murder a song', viz. by singing it badly.

92. mortal son. Alluding to the fable of Phaethon. The huntress,
i. e. Diana ; alluding to her love for Endymion.

i oo. kenned, known, perceived. The past part, kenned occurs in
the romance of William of Palerne, \. 343, where it has the sense of
taught. In Middle English we generally find a distinction made between
kcnncn, to teach (pt. t. kende, pp. kenned], and konnen or kunnen, to know
(pt. t. konthe or coiithe, pp. couth). The former is from the A. S. cennan, to
produce, to vouch for the truth of ; the latter from the A. S. <•«««««, to know.

101. cbid; because hail (1. 100) is cold. A pun; as in Lo. La. Lo.
V. 2. 340.

102. liberal, licentious in their speech, loose in their talk; exactly
as in Hamlet, iv. 7. 171.

106. one, i. e. a mother, who was a true woman.

112. concealments, things that should be concealed, secrets; cf.
i Hen. IV. m. i. 167. nor names, i.e. nor (do I love him who) names.

1 20. chase, i. e. hunting-ground. We find it used in the same sense
in Titus Andronicus, II. 3. 255 — "Upon the north side of this pleasant
chase". Chevy Chase (often misinterpreted) really means the Cheviot
hunting-ground, as is obvious from 1. 31 of the poem, which in the
oldest copy stands thus — "Who gave youe leave to hunte in this chyviat
chays in the spyt of myn & of me?" See Specimens of English, 1394 — •
1579, ed- Skeat, P- 69. Also cf. Pope, Rape of the Lock, 1. 524.

Stage-direction; records are the same as recorders; see Clark and
Wright's note to Hamlet, Hi. 2. 262 (Globe ed., 1. 360). A record or
recorder was a kind of flageolet. See Milton, P. L. I. 551.

126. See Emilia's prayer to Diana; Kn. Tale, 1439.

129. As -wind-farm' d snow. Compare the well-known passage in
Coriol. V. 3. 65 — •

chaste as the icicle

That's curdied by the frost from purest snow
And hangs on Dian's temple!

female knights, i.e. female servants. When the old meaning of
knight (viz. servant, from A. S. cniht, a servant) is borne in mind, there
is nothing incongruous in the application of the word to a woman. So
in Much Ado, v. 3. 12, we have a similar address to Diana, introducing
the same word with reference to the lady Hero.

Pardon, goddess of the night,
Those that slew thy virgin knight;
For the which, with songs of woe,
Round about her tomb they go.

J33- "Green eyes were considered as peculiarly beautiful. So in
Rofneo and Juliet [in. 5. 221] —

an eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye.

The Spanish writers are peculiarly enthusiastic in the praise of green
eyes. So Cervantes, in his novel Del Zeloso Estremenno: 'Ay que ojos

S. TO

i46 7 HE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [Acr V.

tan grandes, y tan razgados ! y por el siglo de mi madre que son verdes,
que no parecen sino que son de esmeraldas '. [Ah ! how large and how
full are those eyes! and, by the life of my mother, how »vvy« are they,
•y look as if they are nothing else but emeralds!]''; — ',
e adds — "Giffbrd (in a note on his translation of Juvenal, Sat.
xni. "'. 223) after observing that the expression green eyes is common in
our early poets, cites one of Drummond's Sonnets in which Nature is
i. ted as consulting the gods about the colour of Auristelia's eyes :
:md Apollo advise her to make them black;
Chaste Phcebe spake for purest azure dyes :

Jove and Venus green about the light
To frame thought best, as bringing most delight,
1 hat to pin'd hearts hope
Nature, all said, a paradise m. green
There placed, to make all love which have them seen.

•rves too that he has seen many Norwegian seamen with eyes
of this hue, which were invariably quick, keen, and glancing. Pyramus
had, according to Shakespeare, eyes "as green as leeks"; Mid.
v. i. 342. And Dante uses the word smeraldi (emeralds) to denote the

Beatrice; Purg. XXXI. 116.

i. >,6. scurril, scurrilous, vulgarly witty ; Lat. scurrilis. Cf. " Breaks
scnrril jests" ; Tro. and Cress. I. 3. 148 ; and "scurrill Plautus" ; Milton,
• 1. Hales, p. 15. port, gate, entrance. So in Coriol. V. 6. 6,
mean the gates of the city. There is not the slightest reason
ir.g the word \.o porch, to make the expression agree to the letter
:t in Hamlet (\. 5. 63) — 'the porches of my ears'; an altera
tion suggested by Theobald. The Latin porta is as good a word as

: porticus.

140. 'pointed, appointed; so in Taming of the Shrew, III. i. 19;
i )b-erve that have 'pointed is not the perfect definite here. The
— I have a husband appointed for me.
147. , aspirants: not in a bad sense.

141;. viand. This is evidently meant to be equivalent

to a nuptial garland, which the bridegroom is supposed to remove

ie bride's head as a part of the ceremony of marriage. See Act

. 64, and the stage direction at the very beginning of the play.

. speare the expression occurs but once, viz., in 11 amid, v. 2. 41

. her wheaten garland wear".

"Grant that I may continue to occupy, in thy band, the
same rank and position which I hold at present." The word file is not
; here ; it is made to mean the place in a rank, whereas it
means the rank itself. Cf. Macbeth, III. i. 102 —
Now if you have a station in the file,
Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say it.

The word station should have been used in its stead; or (to preserve the
scansion) some such word as state or place. It may be observed that we
now use the word rank in the same ambiguous manner, to signify both

• and f.t'e.

152. cur general of ebbs and JJtnvs. our controller of the tides; a
to ue i;,oon or Diana.

Sc. 2.] NOTES. 147

Acr V. Sc. 2.

15. "'Tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough";
As You Like It, iv. 2. 9.

30. come cut and long-tail to him, let horses of every kind come to
him in rivalry, and beat him if they can. The phrase cut and long-tail
means thore that have their tails docked and those whose tails are
allowed to grow; thus including every kind. It would appear that
it was a proverbial phrase, used originally rather of dogs than of
horses. Nares quotes from the Art of Flattery, by U. Fulwel, ed. 1576,
sign. G 3, the following — "Yea, even their verie dogs, Rug, Rig, ami
Risbie, yea cut and longtaile, they shall be welcome." Cut-tail occurs
as a dog's name in Drayton's Sirena, p. 640. Nares adds — "These quo
tations fully explain a passage in the Aler. Wives of Winds. III. 4. 44 —
'•Shall. He will maintain you like a gentlewoman. Slen. Ay, that I will,
come cut and long-tail, under the degree of a squire.' That is — Come
who will to contend with me, under the degree of a squire."

31. The word ye is not governed by turns, but represents the old
dative, where we should say for you. 'He turns like a top for you.'
See Abbott, Shak. Gram. sect. 220.

33. founder, disable. It is especially used of disabling by causing
an inflammation in the horse's foot.

The hobby-horse figured in the old morris-dance, and excited
amusement by his capers. "The morris rings, while hobby-horse
doth foot it featuously"; Knight of the Burning Pestle, Act IV. Sc. 5.
A picture of one is given in Chambers' Book of Days, \. 631, where
also will be found some account of the morris-dancers, and of the extra
ordinary feat (probably here referred to in 1. 32) described in Kemp's
Nine Daies Wonder, which consisted of a sort of dancing journey, from
London to Norwich, performed by William Kemp, a comic actor and
morris-dancer. A hobby-horse is a man so dressed up as to represent
both a horse and his rider; and appears occasionally upon the modern
stage. Cf. Hamlet, ill. 2. 142.

35. Light-o'-love. Mr Staunton says, in a note to Two Gent, of
Verona, I. 2 — " Light -a1 -Love is so frequently mentioned by writers of
the 1 6th century that it is much to be regretted that the words of the
original song are still undiscovered. When played slowly and with ex
pression, the air is beautiful". Shakespeare mentions it again in Muck
Ado, ill. 4. 44.

36. virtues, accomplishments. There may be an allusion here
to the wonderful performing horse exhibited in 1595 by a Scotchman
named Banks. See Chambers, Book of Days, I. 225; Douce, Illustra
tions of Shakespeare, I. 214.

45. bottles, i.e. bottles of hay. A bottle of hay, according to Nares,
is a truss of hay, i. e. a bundle of hay weighing about half a hundred
weight. But I have little hesitation in saying that Nares is mistaken, and
that a bottle was less than a truss. Thus, in Riley's Memorials of
London, p. 166, is a record of a complaint that, instead of selling hay
by the cartload or by trusses, men brought carts into the city laden

1 43 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT V.

"with dozens of small boieles". Cf. Mids. Nt. Dr. iv. i. 35, win re
Bottom wishes for "a peck of provender", or "a bottle of hay". The
phrase is preserved in the common proverb — " to look for a needle in a
bottle of hay". Chaucer has — "not worth a hotel hay"; Mane. J'rol,
14. Cf. Fr. botte, in the sense of a bundle of hay.

46. strike, i.e. strikes, bushels; still used in provincial English.
Cf. "Marry, forsooth, how many strike of pease would feed a hog fat
against Christmas?" Antonio and MelliJa, by J. Marston, Act u.
Sc. I. According to Bailey, a strike is four bushels; like other
measures, it has different values in different localities. The use of
strike for strikes is quite in accordance with the usual idiom. We say
a man weighs "ten stone'", not "ten stones".

55. Stool-hall. A game formerly very popular among young women.
It -was played with a ball and one or two stools, and seems to hive
had some resemblance to cricket. See Strutt, Sports anil Pastimes,
p. 97, and see Stoolball in Halliwell's Dictionary.

60. nice, scrupulous, over-particular. Cf. "she is nice and coy";
7w,> Gent, of I'erona, III. I. 82.

85. from her, i.e. go away from her.

ACT V. Sc. 3.

13. The sense is — which sometimes look •well, even when only
painted. S/uiv — look, appear, has occurred before in this play; in. 6.
25, V. i. 20. The old meaning of pencil was a paint-brush ; cf. Lat.
penicillus, penieultts, diminutives formed from penis, a tail. Hence
pencilled means painted; as in Timon, I. i. 159.

17. Pardon me, i.e. excuse me; so in 1. 32.

21. en?1}1, malice, unkindness. This sense is not uncommon; see
Merchant of Venice, iv. i. 10, and 126. The sense is — there is naught
but unkindness in a light which shews one combatant to the other.

42. engine, an engine of destruction, such as a crossbow or catapult.
lent, bent back, ready to be discharged. Scott has the expression
"With hackbut bent", i.e. with cocked gun or arquebus; Catiytxv
Castle, 1. 137. On which Mr Hales notes— "A word, properly ap
plying to a bow, is here transferred to a gun. Many terms of the old
artillery were transferred to the new."

45. aspect. Such is the usual accentuation; Abbott, Shak. Cram.
sect. 490.

46. grarfd, i. e. furrowed, deeply cut.

49. his object, i. e. its object ; his referring to eye.

63. ivard, guard; offence, blow. It means — omit to parry, or fail
to inflict a blow. We speak of ''''offensive weapons".

66. After this line, the old editions have "Enter a Servant". This
is unnecessary, as Emilia was not left unattended ; see 1. 35.

72. sett-ant, i.e. lover, referring to Arcite. See Act I. Sc. I, 1. 89.

76. sinister, left ; Lat. sinister.

82. redemption, rescue, viz. of Arcite.

Sc. 3.] NOTES. 149

85. The general sense is — Were both made into one, no woman
were worthy of a man so composed. Even as they are, the share of
nobleness which each singly possesses is such as to assign, to any lady
Vlive, a prejudicial inequality, a deficiency of worth as compared with
them.

95. Half-sights, hasty glances, like those of dim-sighted persons.

96. God^-lid, by God's eye-lid, generally corrupted into ''slid, as
in Merry Wives, III. 4. 24. The use of this oath by Emilia is, to
modern ears, shocking; but even queen Elizabeth herself is said to
have used strong expressions. See 2 Hen. IV. III. r. 252 — 261.

97. Cf. Macb. III. i. 128 — "Your spirits shine through you".

99. humble, low-lying; Lat. humilis. go to law with, cope with,
strive to restrain.

100. drift-winds, driving winds. Cf. "drift of bullets"; K. John,
II. i. 412.

119. Alcides, Hercules; so named because Amphitryon, his step
father, was the son of Alcseus.

1 20. a sow of lead, a lump of lead, i. e. a sluggish, heavy, dull
warrior. Lead, when first cast, is run into large masses, called sows or
pigs, according to the size of them. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. I. i. 118.

124. Philomels, nightingales. Seward calls attention to the beauty
of this simile. "What, at first sight", he says, "could be more unlike
than the fury of a combat to the singing of nightingales? Yet how
charmingly are they married together!"

127. out-breasted, i.e. out- voiced, out-sung. See the numerous
examples in Nares in which breast means a musical voice, a voice for
singing. Thus — "The fool hath an excellent breast"; Tw, Night,
II. 3. 19.

129. heavens, the celestial powers; see 1. 139.

130. hardly, with difficulty, after severe fighting between the
rivals.

132. our present justice, the immediate doom we promised them.
Here justice means death by the law, execution ; exactly as jitwyse is
used in Chaucer's Kn. Ta. 88 1 (jfuwyse is the Old Fr.juise, from Lat.
indicium). Cf. "Shalt feel our justice" ; Wint. Tale, III. 2. 91.

133. pinch ''em, vex them. It was in the very spirit of chivalry
that a warrior should not care to survive defeat. This doom of Palamon
and his three knights would be revolting, if it were not that the
spectators might be expected to know enough of Chaucer's story to
make them suspect that the sentence would not really be executed. To
which must be added the consideration, that the spectators of plays in
the time of James I. could behold, almost unmoved, many things which
we now shudder even to read.

135. Arm your prize. Mr Knight explains this "offer your arm to
the lady you have won". Mason says, "take her by the arm". The
former seems to me the better explanation. But perhaps it means-
take in your arms, embrace, like the German umarmen; see Cymb. iv.
2. 400.

150 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEX. [Acr V.

ACT V. Sc. 4.

The scene is determined to be the same as that in Act m. Sc. 6
1 y the remarks of Theseus in 1. 99. Mr Dyce was the first to point
this out.

5. It means — We have their good wishes, that our lives might be
prolonged.

8. lag, late-coming, latter. To lag behind is to loiter behind ; so
here, the lag hours of life are those that come on slowly at the end
of life. The word also gives the idea of slow, tardy, lingering; but
perhaps the best comment on it is afforded by quoting a parallel passage
from Shakespeare, i lien. IV. v. i. 23.

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
"With quiet hours.

The general sense is — We anticipate the loathsome misery of old
age, and we beguile the gout and the rheum, that, in their latter hours,
lay wait for grey old men that approach the gods more slowly. Com
pare this passage with Dr Johnson's Vanity oj Human Wishes, 11. -255
—310.

jo. unmapped d, "i.e. unworn, not debilitated. Grose [in his
Glossary, ed. 1790] has — ' IVappered, restless or fatigued; spoken of
a sick person, Gloucestershire'"; Dyce. Mr Knight gives the reading
••.•n't/, and says — "The originals have unwapper'd. Without
knowing exactly the meaning of the word ivapperid, we would receive
the epithet here as the opposite to that in Timon of Athens, [IV. 3. 38]
— That makes the wappeifd widow wed a^ain". Mr Knight forgot,
however, that, if the words are to be assimilated, the result can be
effected equally well by changing the word ivappetfd into mapper* d.
The words are so rare that it is best to leave both passages unaltered.
See Wapfer, IVapper-eycd, Wapper-jaw in Ilalliwell's Provincial Dic
tionary. It is clear that the sense here required by the context is unex
hausted, fresh.

i r. that, i. e. who ; referring to we in 1. 9. In the next line, such
refers to the grey approachers.

i =. too too, printed too, too in all previous editions; but the comma
between the words is not wanted. Cf. "too too solid"; Hamlet, I. i.
129; "too too much"; Two Gent, of Verona, II. 4. 205; "(oo loo oft",
Rape of Lucrece, 1. 174. It was once a common mode of expression.
In Thoresby's Letter to Ray, 1703, which contains a list of Yorkshire
words and phrases, he gives examples of its use in Yorkshire, where
it was pronounced toota or tnta ; e.g. "toota well", i.e. very well;
"thou'rt tuta earnest", i.e. excessively earnest.

11. 'Who, even when she is most certain, is but unsteady and
wavering.'

23. Taste to you, taste for you, be the first to taste the banquet of
death. Alluding to the old practice of tasting things for others, as a
precaution against poison. See K. John, V. 6. 28.

Sc. 4.]

NOTES. 151

29. latest, last. Cf. "To take my latest leave "; PhiJasier, Act III.
Sc. 2. Ztf.rf is but a contraction oilafst, i.e. latest; like to/ for betst or

31. //AT, provide a part of. But see IV. 1.21 — 24.

32. Tender, offer. See note to V. i. 25.

47. dearly; misprinted early, in the old editions, but see the
phrase 'dearly sorry' in 1. 129 below. Dearly = z.t a clear rate; hence,
excessively, without reference to love or hate in particular. Hence
we find — "my father hated his father dearly" ; As You Like It, I. 3. 34.
But as dear is also used in the sense of beloved, we most often find
dearly joined with the verb to love. Forby, in his East- Anglian Glos
sary, is quite wrong in supposing dear to mean dire.

50. (nviiig, i.e. owning, possessing, having, (hue for own is the
usual form at this period, and very common; see Tempest, in. i. 45,
&c. Weber notes — "such a horse is called by the French zain; and
Cotgrave's explanation of that term will prove a good comment on the
text — 'a horse that's all of one dark colour, without any star, spot, or
mark about him, and thereby commonly vicious'."

s;. calkins; not hoofs, as explained by some, but (as Mr Dyce
says) the parts of a horseshoe which are turned up and pointed to
prevent the horse from slipping. It is also spelt calker or cawkon. It
is the diminutive of A. S. calc, a shoe, a word probably borrowed from
the Lat. calccits. Florio explains the Italian rampone as "a calkin in a
horse's shooe to keepe him from sliding".

56. tell, count. The calkins seemed rather to count the stones
than to trample on them, so light was the horse's motion. See 1. 58.

60. The origin of music is attributed to Jubal; Gen. iv. 21. But the
musical scale or gamut was ascribed by some commentators on the
Bible to Tubal-cain. Thus Peter Comester, in his Historia Scholastica,
speaks of "Tubal, de quo dictum est sono metallorum delectatus ex
ponderibus eorum proportiones et consonantias eorum quse ex eis nas-
cuntur excogitauit ; quam inuentionem Greci Pythagoras attrihuunt fa-
bulose". But no doubt the reference is here to the popular story of
Pythagoras and the hammers, "that Pythagoras discovered the law of
musical consonances passing through a blacksmith's shop, and weighing
the hammers that were striking fourths, fifths, and octaves upon an
anvil". See Chappell's History of Alusic, p. 7. Mr Chappell observes
that "the tone of a bell cannot be altered in pitch by changing the weight
of its clapper"; so that the story is, on the face of it, an absurd one.

62. Saturn was supposed to be a planet of a cold nature and evil
influence, according to the old astrology. Chaucer has the expression
" Saturnus the colde", Kn. Tale, 1585 ; and Saturn is made to claim for
himself the power to cause various fatal accidents; Kn. Tale, 1597 —
1611. But there is still more immediate reference to the parallel pas
sage in Chaucer, Kn. Tale, 1826 —

Out of the grounde a fyr infernal sterte,
From Pluto sent, at requeste of Saturne,
For which his hors for feere began to turne,

152 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. [ACT V.

And leep asyde, and foundrede as he leep;
And, or that Arcyta may taken keep,
He pyght him on the pomel of his heed,
That in the place he lay as he were deed,
His brest to-brosten with the sadel-bowe.

66. toy, a freak, a sudden whim. A clear example of a similar use
of the word occurs in Philaster, Act v. Sc. 3 — "What if a toy take 'em
i' the heels now, and they run all away?" And again, in the following:
— "But it was no boot [i.e. of no use] to let [i.e. stop] Phaonius, when
a mad mood or toy took him in the head"; Shakespeare's Plutarch, ed.
Skeat, p. 134.

69. of kind manage, \. e. trained by kind management. He had
never known rough treatment.

7 1 . jadery, jade-like behaviour ; a jade meaning a vicious horse, or,
more commonly, an old mare of not very good temper. The quarto
spells it ladrie. The -word, jade occurs below, in 1. 81.

dis-seat, unseat. This rare word occurs again, in Shakespeare;
Macbeth, v. 3. 11. In 1. 75 we have dis-root.

77. The original quarto has a blank space at the beginning of the
line, and On is spelt with a small letter. Weber remarks that the first
part of the line "was omitted by the compositor, being illegible in the
manuscript. The sense is, however, perfect as it stands." In fact, the
half-line is rather effective.

8 1. i.e. the whole of his weight becomes a burden upon the rider.

92. told, counted; cf. tell in 1. 56. Seward remarks — "I believe
the reader will not easily be convinced that Arcite had been false ". In
fact, the dramatists have forgotten to insert any instances of his falseness.
The epithet "false Arcite is in the Knightes Tale, 1. 287; but even
Chaucer has not made it very clear that Arcite really was so ; unless, in
deed, we refer to his poem entitled — Of queen Annelida and false Arcite.

98. honour, i.e. honour of Arcite, funeral respect.

104. arrose, besprinkle; from P'r. arroser, sometimes spelt arrouser.
Cotgrave has — "Arrouser, to bedew, besprinkle". The old editions
have aro-Mze, but the word meant is clear enough. The explanation
is Seward's, and has been generally received. Nares questions it, but
failed to observe Cotgrave's spelling of the French verb.

108. grace, honour, glory. See 1. 125.

109. Bear this hence, \. e. bear hence this dead body of Arcite. Mr
Staunton, in his note to Hamlet, Act in. Sc. 4, has accumulated a
number of instances in which bodies were borne off the stage, to suit the
requirements of the old theatres. See the last stage-direction in Hamlet.

1 23. lovers, companions, comrades, viz. Palamon's three Knights.
See above ; v. i . 34.

126. in whose end, at the end of which ; whose refers to funeral. Cf.
"the purpose of playing, whose end", &c. ; Hamlet, in. 2. 23. The A. S.
h-Mes (genitive of hioa, who), is the same for all genders, like the Lat.
cnius ; but we now generally use of which in speaking of things neuter,
though it is hardly necessary that we should do so.

Sc. 4.] NOTES. 153

131. charmers, "i.e. enchanters, ruling us at their will, whose opera
tions are beyond our power to conceive, till we see the effects of them" ;
Seward. Shakespeare uses charmer tor enchantress; Othello, III. 4. 57.

135. The sense is — and cease to dispute with you who are beyond
the reach of our expostulations.

137. like the time, i.e. as others do, by hiding our griefs. See
Macbeth, I. 5. 62 (Clarendon Press Series), and the note upon it

Epilogue; line i. Here say apparently means speak ;"and the simile
seems to consist in a comparison with schoolboys who are afraid to say
their lesson.

3. cruel, cruelly, excessively.

12. we, i.e. the actors. The Epilogue may not have been written
by the authors of the play.

INDEX OF WORDS EXPLAINED.

(The references are to the Act, Scene, and Line; and are available
either for the Text or the Notes.)

absolute, i. i. 25
abuse, 5. i. 89
affect, 2. 3. 2
affections, i. 3. 72
'gainst, i. i. 123
agast, i. 4. 19
aglets, 3. 4. 2
aid, i' the, i. 2. 8
ail us, 2. 2. 32
alack, i.'i. 113
allow, 2. 4. 4
along, 2. 2. 63 ; 3. 6. 26;
alow, 3. 5. 60
among, 4. 3. 68
angel, i. i. 16
angle, 4. i. 59
antic, 4. i. 75
any means, 2. 2. 46
appointment, 3. i. 40
approved, 4. 3. 75
apriccck, 2. i. 284
arm, 5. 3. 135
armours, 3. 6. 3
arraignment, i. 3. 66
arrose, 5. 4. 104
aspect, 5. 3. 45
attending, 4. i. 55

baldrick, 4. 2. 86
bare, 1.2. 15
barley-break, 4. 3. 27
bate, i. i. 220
bavian, 3. 5. 33

beastly, 3. 3. 6
becking, i. 2. r r6
become, 4. 3. 65
beest, 3. 6. 153
bend, i. i. 229
bends his fist, 3. i. 30
bent brow. 3. i. 101
bent engine, 5. 3. 42
bevy, 4. i. 71
bids, i. I. 1 86
blazon, 3. i. 47
blessing, r. i. 15
blood-siz'd, i. i. 99
blubber'd, i. i. 180
bootless, i. i. 153
bottles, 5. 2. 45
bow not, 3. 6. 228
bowling, 4. i. 137
brake, 3. 2. i
bravery, 4. i. 152
break (i.e. burst), i. 2. 73
break, 3. 3. 43; 5. 48
bride-house, i. i. 22
broach'd, i. 3. 20
buttons, 3. i. 6
buz, 3. 5. 80
by, fast, 2. 5. 6

cabin'd, i. 3. 35 (note to i. i. 50)
calkins, 5. 4. 55
canon, i. 2. 55
capital, i. i. 123
carrack, 3. 4. 14

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

carve her, 4. 3. 67

centre, I. I. 115

ceremony, I. 4. 8; 3. I. 4

cestron, 5. i. 46

chapel, i. i. 50

chared, 3. 2. 21

charging-staff, 4. 2. 138

charmers, 5. 4. 131

chase, 5. i. 120

cheers, i. 5. 4

chop, 3. i. 13

chough, r. i. 20

clean, 4.2. 114

clear-spirited, i. 2. 74

coil, 2. 3. 18

colour, i. 2. 39

concealments, 5. i. 112

conceived, i. :. 4S

confound, 5. i. 28

convent, i. 4. 31 ; i. 5. 9

conversation, 2. i. 127

corslet, i. i. 177 (note to i. i. 50)

counsel, 3. i. 83

count, r. 3. 53

cozener, 3. i. 44

cranks, I. 2. 28

creation, r. i. 82

cried up, 1.2. 13

cross her, 4. i. 100

cruel, Epil. 3

cry, 2. 2. 49

currant, i. i. 216

cut. 3. 4. 22

cut and longtail, 5. 2. 30

daffadillies, 4. i. 73

dare, i. 3. 5

deaf'd, i. 2. 80 {note to i. i. 50)

dearly, 5. 4. 47

delivered, to be, 2. i. 7

delivery, 3. 5. 29

depart, sb., I. 3. 27

depart, v., 2. i. i

disensanity, 3. 5. i

disposed, 4. 2. 122

disseat, 5. 4. 72

dividual, i. 3. 81

dole, i. 5. 3

domine, 2. 2. 36

down-a, 4. 3. 1 1

dregg'd, i. 2. 97
drift- winds, 5. 3. 100

edict, 3. 6. 147
edify, 3. 5. 95
eftsoons, 3. i. u
engine, 5. 3. 42
enormous, 5. i. 62

env7> 5- 3- 2I
equal, r. 3. 32
even, i. 4. n
example, i. 2. 13
eye of Phcebus, i . i . 45

fairer spoken, 2. 3. 20
faith, i. 2. 46
fall, i. i. 178
fancy, 4. 2. 52
fast by, 2. 5. 6
favour, 3. 5. 30
fear me not, 3. 3. 49
fears, 3. 6. 131
fee, i. i. 198
fell, 3. 2. 15
ferula, 3. 5. 112
file, 5. r. 150
flurted, i. 2. 18
foison, 5. i. 53
for, i. 2. 24
foregone, i. i. 173
fortune, 2. i. 298
forward, 2. i. 175
founder, 5. 2. 33
frampal, 3. 5. 58

gawds, 4. 2. 53

general, 5. i. 152

gentility, i. i. 25

germane, 5. i. 9

get you, i. i. 208

given out, 2. i. 5

glade, 4. i. 64

glass (i.e. mirror), i. r. 90

glass (i.e. hour-glass), 5. i. 18

God's-lid, 5. 3. 96

governors, i. 3. 6

grace, 5. 4. 108

grandguard, 3. 6. 59

grave, 2. i. 144

grav'd, 5. 3. 4<>

INDEX OF WORDS EXPLAINED.

157

gray-ey'd, 4. i. 129
green, 4. 3. 61
green eye, 5. i. 133
greise, 2. i. 27
grinning, i. i. 100
groom, i. i. 61
ground-piece, i. i. 122
gyves, 3. i. 72

hail, 3. 5. 100
hair-bells, i. i. 9
half-sights, 5. 3. 95
hanging, 3. 5. 127
hangs a tale, 3. 3. 39
happily, i. 3. 73
happiness, 2. 2. 76
harbinger, i. i. 8
hardly, 5. 3. 130
have with ye, 2. 2. 26
heavens, 5. 3. 129*
heigh, 2. 2. 44
he's, 3. 4. 22
hilding, 3. 5. 43
his, 4. r. 60; 5. 3. 49
hoar, i. i. 20
hobby-horse, 5. i. 33
hold, 2. 2. 31, 54; 3. 6. 90
horn-book, 2. 2. 38
house-clogs, 3. i. 43
human, i. i. 233
humble, 5. 3. 99

illustrate, 2. 4. 22
imposition, i. 4. 44
ingots, i. 2. 17
innocent, 4. i. 41
instruct, i. i. 123
intelligence, i. 2. 106

jadery, 5. 4. 72
jane, 3. 5. 8
jaw, 3. 2. 7
jump, i. 2. 40
justice, 5-3-I32

keep, i. 2. 6

keep touch, 2. 2. 37 ; 3. 3. 51

kenned, 5. j. 100

kenn'st, 4. i. 140

key, r. i. 54

knacks, 3. I. 7
knights, 5. i. 129
knolls, i. i. 134

lag, 5.4-8
lanes, i. 4. 19
lards it, 4. 3. 6
larks-heels, i. i. 12
lastly, 2. i. 107
latest, 5. 4. 29
laund, 3. i. 2
lewdly, 4. 2. 35
liberal, 5. i. 102
lie, r. i. 14
lief, had as, i. i. 102
Light-o'-love, 5. 2. 35
like the time, 5. 4. 137
limiter, 5. i. 30
lined, 2. i. 5
lock, i. i. 176
loose, 4. 1.91
lovers, 5. i. 34; 4. 123

machine, 3. 5. 113

mad as a March hare, 3. «. 74

maiden, adj., i. i. 4

main, 2. i. 116

make lanes, I. 4. 19

make me, 2. 2. 21

manage, 5. 4. 69

marigolds, i. i. n

marry, 2. i. 7

martialist, i. 2. 16

Maying, 2. 2. 31

medius fidius, 3. 5. ir

mere, 2. i. in

mind, v., 4. i. 37

moiety, i. i. 214

mop'd, 3. 2. 25

more, 2. i. 153

more bigger, i. i. 215

morris, 2. i. 321; 3. 5. 108

musit, 3. i. 97

natural, i. i. 125

next, 3. 2. 33

nice, 5. 2. 60

nick, i' the, 3. 5. 74

niggard, i. 4. 32 (note to i. r. 50)

nor ne'er, 2. 2. 12

153

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

odds, 2. 3. I

of thy goodness, i. i. 51

of her, 2. i. 12

of us, i. 3. 23 (note to i. 3. 18)

offence, 5. 3. 63

offices, 3. 2. 36

oil, 3. t. 103

on, i. I. 87

operance, i. 3. 63

ospreys, i. i. 138

our, i. 2. 76

out, r. 2. 26

out-breasted, 5. 3. 127

owgh, 4. i. 136

owing, 5. 4. 50

ow'st, i. i. 88

pardon me, 5. 3. 17
parlous! y, 2.2. 48
peace, to a, 3. 5. 88
pelting, 2. i. 314
pencilled, 5. 3. 13
penner, 3. 5. 124
Philomels, 5. 3. 124
pie, i. i. 21
piece, best, 2. 4. 14
piece, scornful, 3. 5. 43
piece, v., 5. 4. 31
pieces, s. //., i. 3. 10
pigmies, 3. 4. 15
pinch 'em, 5. 3. 133
plantain, i. 2. 61
play, 2. 2. 27
play-pheers, 4. 3. 70
plight, in, 3. i. 83
plum-broth, 3. 5. 5.
plurisy, 5. i. 66
pointed, 5. i. 140
poise, 7'., i. i. 86
poise, s., 5. 4. Hi
polled, 5. i. 85
port, v., 5. i. 29
port, s., 5. i. 136
posies, 4. i. 90
precipitance, i. i. 142
present, 5. 3. i;,2
presently, 2. i. 41 ; 3. 6. 112

• i- '• 73

pretended, r. i. 210
pretenders, 5. i. 147

prime, r. 2. 2
primrose, i. i. 7
proin, 3. 6. 244
purchase, 2. 4. 26
purger, i. i. 48
pursuit, i. 2. 52
pyramid, 3. 6. 295

quaint, r. i. 5
question, 5. 4. 136
qui passa, 3. 5. 87
quit, 3. 6. 24

rarely, 4. i. 100
ravish'd, 2. r. 75
raze, r. i. 33
record, 2. i. 165
records, after 5. i. 125
redemption, 5. 3, 82
regiment, 4. 3. 75
rehearsal, i. 3. 78
require, i. i. 93; 5. I. 39
right, 3. 6. 217
rings of rushes, 4. i. 88
rinsing, i. i. 150
roast eggs, 2. 2. 68
royal, i. i. 2
ruins, i. 2. 13
run her, 3. 4. 9

sacrifices, 5. i. 34

say, Epil. 2

scape, 4. i. 1 6

scurril, 5. i. 136

scythe- tusk'd, i. r. 79

secure, i. i. 154

sense, i. r. 15

sequent, i. 2. 60

servant, i. i. 89; 5. 3. 72

set in, 4. i. 14

set it down, 3. 2. 17

several, 3. i. 2

shall, i. i. 104

shew, 3. 6. 25; 5. i. 20; 5. 3. 13

should, i. i. 60

sib, i. 2. 72

sinister, 5, 3. 76

skiffed, i. 3. 37 (note to i. i. 50)

skip, 3. r. 52

skipt, 5. r. S;

INDEX OF WORDS EXPLAINED. 159

slanderous, i. i. 19

smallness, 4. i. 58

soldieress, i. i. 85

soon, 3. 6. 161

sotted, 4. i. 45

sow of lead, 5. 3. 120

sports, i. 3. 27

stammers, 2. i. 26

stand, (how stand I?), 3. 2. 20

state, 4. 3. 49

stead, i. i. 36

stomach, 3. i. 104

stool-ball, 5. 2. 55

store, i. 3. 6

strait, 3. 6. 87

strike, 5. 2. 46

stuck, 2. i. 104; 4. 1.84; 4. 3. 62.

styl'd it, i. i. 83

subdued, i. i. 232

success, 4. 3. 79

surfeit, i. i. 190

swarth, 4. 2. 27

sweet, i. i. 14

synod, i. i. 176

laborer, 3. 5. 23

tack, Frol. 14

tackle, 2. 2. 50

take hands, i. i. 165

talents, i. i. 41

taste, 5. 4. 23

tasteful, i. i. 179

tediosity, 3. 5. i

tell, 5. 4. 56

tell ten, 3. 5. 80

tender, 5'. i. 25; 4. 32

tenor, 3. 5. 123

thirds, i. 2. 96

this, i. i. 53

threats, i. 2. 90 (note to i. i. 50)

thyme, i. i. 6

told, 5. 4. 92

too-timely, 2. i. Si

too too, 5. 4. 15

top, 4. i. 137

touch, keep, 2. 2. 37; 3. 3. 51

toy (i.e. head-dress^, i. 3. 71

toy (i.e. whim), 5. 4. 66

trace, i. i. 102; 3. 5. 21

transported, i. i. 55
travail, Prol. 17
trick o' the hip, 2. 2. 65
trussed up, 3. 4. 17
twinning, i. i. 178

uncandied, i. i. 107
undertaker, i. i. 74
undo, to, 4. 2. 105
unwapper'd, 5. 4. 10
urn, i. i. 44
use, v., 2. 4. 44
uses, s. pi., 2. i. 104

vengeance and revenge, r. i. 58

Ver, i. i. 7

virtue, 3. 6. 82

virtues, 5. 2. 36

visitating, i. i. 146

voluble, i. 2. 67

want, i. r. 222 ; 3. 6. 211

ward, 5. 3. 63

warp'd, 3. 2. 32

washed a tile, 3. 5. 41

weavers, 2. 2. 44

weeds, i. 2. 15.

weigh, 4. i. 135

wench, 2. i. 177; 4. 2. 153

what, (i.e. how much), i.*2. 112

what, (i.e. whatever), i. i. 36

wheaten wreath, i. i. 64

wheaten garland, 5. i. 149

where, 3. 6. 162

whereto, i. r. 73

whether, 3. 6. 295; 4. 2. 48

whipstock, i. 2. 86

whoobub, 2. 5. 35

whose, 5.4. 126

wide, 3. 3. 43

widows, &c. , i. i. 166

wildfire, 3. 5. 53

willow, 4. i. 80

wine and bread, 3. 5. 48

wise, 2. 4. 65

woe worth, 3. 6. 251

ye, 3. 6. 302; 5. 2. 31
you, i. i. 33

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