Arm. The way is but short: away! Moth. As swift as lead, sir. Arm. The meaning, pretty ingenious? Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow? Moth. Minimè, master, no. honest master; or rather, Arm. I say lead is slow. Moth. You are too swift, sir, to say so: Is that lead slow which is fired from a gun? Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetoric! He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he: Moth. Thump, then, and I flee. [Exit. Arm. A most acute juvenal; volable and free of grace! By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face: 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 62. swift, ready, smart (esp. with reference to repartee). 67. volable, so Q1: The Ff and Q2 voluble. Volable nimble,' a neologism, expresses the 'bullet' swiftness of Moth, just referred to, as well as his nimbleness of wit. 71. costard, a colloquialism for the head. 73. 10 salve in the mail; Costard declines not only 'egma' and 'lenvoy' but every other 'salve' in the (apothecary's) bag 60 70 (Delius). This gives a tolerable sense. Tyrwhitt's in them all' is harsh. 73. l'envoy, properly the concluding stanza of a ballade containing the dedication or farewell. It was used more loosely by the Elizabethans for the conclusion of a poem, or letter, and so, according to Armado's definition, for the epilogue' which explains what precedes. The article was felt as part of the word; both Qq and Ff give lenvoy, in the mail, 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 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, 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, 80 90 Moth. A good l'envoy, ending in the goose : 100 would you desire more? Cost. The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose, that's flat. 81. Moth quibbles on the Lat. salve, a phrase used in parting as well as meeting. 83. sain, for 'said.' 85-93. These lines are found only in Q1. 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. 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, Arm. By my sweet soul, I mean setting thee at liberty, enfreedoming thy person: thou wert immured, restrained, captivated, bound. ΣΤΟ 120 102. sold him a bargain, be- and wagers invited from intrayed him into proclaiming cautious persons. himself a fool. 104. fast and loose, a swindling game, of many varieties; their common feature being that something loose' (or detachable) was made to look as if it were 'fast (fixed), or vice versa, III. he ended the market. 'Three women and a goose make a market,' was an Italian proverb. 114. sensibly. (1) intelligibly (Moth), (2) feelingly (Costard). 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 130 nothing but this bear this significant [giving a letter] 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 Jew! [Exit Moth. Remunera Now will I look to his remuneration. tion! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three farthings-remuneration.-'What 's the price of this inkle?'-'One penny.'-'No, I'll give you 140 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? Biron. Why, then, three-farthing worth of silk. 129. from, out of. 130. in lieu of, in return for. 131. significant, sign, symbol. 133. ward, guard. 150 As thou wilt win my favour, good my knave, Cost. When would you have it done, sir? Cost. Well, I will do it, sir: fare you well. Biron. It must be done this afternoon. Hark, slave, it is but this: The princess comes to hunt here in the park, When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend 160 There's thy guerdon; go. 170 [Giving him a shilling. Cost. Gardon, O sweet gardon! better than A very beadle to a humorous sigh; 171. Costard's interpretation of 'guerdon' and 'remuneration was probably founded on a stock anecdote of the time, which is given in a pamphlet, by J. M., 'A Health to the Gentlemanly Profession of Servingmen.' 177. humorous, The beadle was whipper. 179. pedant, tutor. 180 capricious. the public schoolmaster, 180. magnificent, pompous. |