Arm. But 0,-but 0,

Moth. the hobby-horse is forgot".

Arm. Callest thou my love hobby-horse?

Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but a colt, and your love, perhaps, a hackney. But have you forgot your love?

Arm. Almost I had.

Moth. Negligent student! learn her by heart.

Arm. By heart, and in heart, boy.

Moth. And out of heart, master: all those three I will prove.

Arm. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. A man, if I live: and this, by, in, and without, upon the instant: by heart you love her, because your heart cannot come by her; in heart you love her, because your heart is in love with her; and out of heart you love her, being out of heart that you cannot enjoy her.

Arm. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more, and yet nothing at all.

Arm. Fetch hither the swain: he must carry me a letter.

Moth. A message well sympathised: a horse to be ambassador for an ass.

Arm. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?

Moth. Marry, sir, you must send the ass upon the horse, for he is very slow-gaited: but I go.

Arm. The way is but short.
Moth. As swift as lead, sir.

Away!

reading, though both quarto and folio have it penne. made the change.

Sir Thomas Hanmer

The hobby-horse is forgot.] This is meant by Moth as the end of the line which Armado had begun with "But 0,-but 0,-". In "Hamlet," A. iii. sc. 3, we have the whole line of the ballad, "For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot." It seems to have been written on the omission of the hobby-horse in May-games. "The hobby-horse is forgot," and "the hobby-horse is quite forgot," are phrases constantly occurring in old writers.

Arm. Thy meaning, pretty ingenious?

Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow?

Moth. Minime, honest master; or rather, master,

no.

Arm. I say, lead is slow.

Moth.

You are too swift, sir, to say so:

Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun?

Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetoric!

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:I shoot thee at the swain.

Moth.

Thump then, and I flee.

[Exit.

Arm. A most acute juvenal; voluble and free of

grace!

By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face:
Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place.
My herald is return'd.

Re-enter MOTH with COSTard.

Moth. A wonder, master! here's a Costard broken in a shin'.

Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come,-thy l'envoy; -begin.

Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy! no salve in the male, sir: O, sir, plantain, a plain plantain! no l'envoy, no l'envoy: no salve, sir, but a plantain.

Arm. By virtue, thou enforcest laughter; thy silly thought, my spleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes

7 Here's a COSTARD broken in a shin.] "Costard" signifies a head; hence Moth's joke.

8 Come, thy L'ENVOY ;-begin.] L'envoy is the old French word for the conclusion of a story or poem. Armado means," Come to thy conclusion by beginning." L'envoy was adopted early in English.

66

9 No salve in THE MALE, sir:] This is printed in the quarto, 1598, and in the folio, no salve in thee male, sir." Malone, Steevens, and Johnson, take male in the sense of bag-there is no salve in the bag or wallet; but Tyrwhitt proposes to read "no salve in them all, sir," which is so plausible, that I am almost tempted to place it in the text, even in opposition to all the authorities.

me to ridiculous smiling. O, pardon me, my stars! Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy, and the word l'envoy for a salve?

Moth. Do the wise think them other? is not l'envoy a salve?

Arm. No, page: it is an epilogue, or discourse, to make plain

Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been sain. I will example it':

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three.

There's the moral: now the l'envoy.

Moth. I will add the l'envoy. Say the moral again.
Arm. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.

Moth. Until the goose came out of door,

And stay'd the odds by adding four.

Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy.

The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,

Were still at odds, being but three.

Arm. Until the goose came out of door,
Staying the odds by adding four.

Moth. A good l'envoy, ending in the goose. you desire more?

Would

Cost. The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose, that's flat.

Sir, your pennyworth is good, an your goose be fat.To sell a bargain well, is as cunning as fast and loose : Let me see, a fat l'envoy; ay, that's a fat goose.

Arm. Come hither, come hither. How did this argument begin?

Moth. By saying that a Costard was broken in a

shin.

Then call'd you for the l'envoy.

1 I will example it :] These words, and the eight lines following, are omitted in all the folios. The dialogue is thus rendered unintelligible.

Cost. True, and I for a plantain: thus came your

argument in;

Then the boy's fat l'envoy, the goose that you bought,

And he ended the market.

Arm. But tell me; how was there a Costard broken in a shin?

Moth. I will tell you sensibly.

Cost. Thou hast no feeling of it, Moth: I will speak that l'envoy.

I, Costard, running out, that was safely within, Fell over the threshold, and broke my shin. Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. Cost. Till there be more matter in the shin. Arm. Sirrah Costard, I will enfranchise thee. Cost. O marry me to one Frances?-I smell some l'envoy, some goose, in this.

Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean, setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person: thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound.

Cost. True, true; and now you will be my purgation, and let me loose.

Arm. I give thee thy liberty, set thee from durance; and, in lieu thereof, impose on thee nothing but this: bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta. There is remuneration; for the best ward of mine honour is rewarding my dependents. Moth, follow.

[Exit. Moth. Like the sequel, I.—Signior Costard, adieu. Cost. My sweet ounce of man's flesh! my incony Jews![Exit MOTH.

Now will I look to his remuneration. Remuneration!

2

3

the best ward of mine HONOUR] Thus the 4to: the folio has honours. - my incony Jew !] Mr. Dyce, in his edition of Middleton's Works, i. 252, explains "incony" as fine, delicate, pretty. This was also Warburton's interpretation of the word, asserting it to be of northern origin, which Ritson, without sufficient evidence, denied. It is of frequent occurrence, and we meet with it again in this play, A. iv. sc. 1. "Jew" seems used by Costard as a term of endearment, and for the sake of the rhyme. In "Midsummer Night's Dream," A. iii. sc. 1, Thisbe calls Pyramus "most lovely Jew."

O! that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings, remuneration.-" What's the price of this inkle1? a penny :-No, I'll give you a remuneration:" why, it carries it.-Remuneration!-why, it is a fairer name than French crown. I will never buy and sell out of this word.

Enter BIRON.

Biron. O, my good knave Costard! exceedingly well

met.

Cost. Pray you, sir, how much carnation ribbon may a man buy for a remuneration?

Biron. What is a remuneration?

Cost. Marry, sir, half-penny farthing.

Biron. O! why then, three-farthing-worth of silk.
Cost. I thank your worship. God be wi' you.
Biron. O, stay, slave! I must employ thee:
As thou wilt win my favour, good my knave,
Do one thing for me that I shall entreat.
Cost. When would you have it done, sir?
Biron. O! this afternoon.

Cost. Well, I will do it, sir. Fare you well.
Biron. O! thou knowest not what it is.

Cost. I shall know, sir, when I have done it.
Biron. Why, villain, thou must know first.

Cost. I will come to your worship to-morrow morning.

Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, slave, It is but this :—

The princess comes to hunt here in the park,

And in her train there is a gentle lady;

When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her

name,

And Rosaline they call her: ask for her,

4 What's the price of this INKLE?] "Inkle" seems to have been a species of tape. We have it mentioned again in "The Winter's Tale,” A. iv. sc. 3, and in "Pericles," A. v. sc. 1.