fain to take away their weapons; your house had been begg'd by this time else." Mor. For what? Cler. For man-slaughter, sir, as being accessary. Mor. And for her favours? True. Ay, sir, heretofore, not present-Clerimont, carry them their swords now. They have done all the hurt they will do. [Exit Cler. with the two swords. Daup. Have you spoke with the lawyer, sir? Mor. O, no! there is such a noise in the court, that they have frighted me home with more violence than I went! such speaking and counter-speaking, with their several voices of citations, appellations, allegations, certificates, attachments, intergatories, references, convictions, and afflictions indeed, among the doctors and proctors, that the noise here is silence to't, a kind of calm midnight! True. Why, sir, if you would be resolved indeed, I can bring you hither a very sufficient lawyer, and a learned divine, that shall enquire into every least scruple for you. Mor. Can you, master Truewit? True. Yes, and are very sober, grave persons, that will dispatch it in a chamber, with a whisper or two. "Your house had been begg'd by this time else.] For a riot, &c. for which it would have fallen, as a deodand, to the crown. The quick-scented rapacity of James's courtiers is well marked by this expression, which, though used in jest, contains little more than the simple fact. 8 O no! there is such a noise in the court, &c.] This, with the legal terms which follow, is adapted, with considerable humour, from Libanius : των εκκλησίων 8 μαλα κοινωνών, ४ δια το των κοινη συμφεροντων αμελείν, αλλα δια τας των ε δυναμένων σιγησαν βοας ῥητορων, εις αγοραν 8 σφόδρα εμβαλλων, δια τα πολλα ταυτα των δίκων ονόματα, φασις, ενδειξις, απαγωγή, διαδικασία, παραγραφη, ἃ και δις δεν ετι πραγμα φιλεσιν ονομάσειν. Ibid. p. 301-2. Mor. Good sir, shall I hope this benefit from you, and trust myself into your hands? True. Alas, sir! your nephew and I have been ashamed and oft-times mad, since you went, to think how you are abused. Go in, good sir, and lock yourself up till we call you; we'll tell you more anon, sir. Mor. Do your pleasure with me, gentlemen; I believe in you, and that deserves no delusion. [Exit. True. You shall find none, sir;-but heap'd, heap'd plenty of vexation. Daup. What wilt thou do now, Wit? True. Recover me hither Otter and the barber, if you can, by any means, presently. Daup. Why? to what purpose? True. O, I'll make the deepest divine, and gravest lawyer, out of them two, for him-Daup. Thou canst not, man; these are waking dreams. True. Do not fear me. Clap but a civil gown with a welt' on the one, and a canonical cloke with sleeves on the other, and give them a few terms in their mouths, if there come not forth as able a doctor and complete a parson, for this turn, as may be wish'd, trust not my election : and I hope, without wronging the dignity of either profession, since they are but persons put on, and for mirth's sake, to torment him. The barber smatters Latin, I remember. Daup. Yes, and Otter too. True. Well then, if I make them not wrangle 9 Clap but a civil gown with a welt, &c.] A civil gown is the gown of a civilian: a welt, as I have already observed, is a hem or border, of fur, &c. In the conclusion of this speech, Jonson shews himself yet sore of the censure passed on him for his al. leged reflection on the law, in the Poetaster. out this case to his no comfort, let me be thought a Jack Daw or La-Foole or anything worse. Go you to your ladies, but first send for them. Daup. I will. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. A Room in Morose's House. Enter LA-FOOLE, CLERIMONT, and Daw. La-F. Where had you our swords, master Clerimont? Cler. Why, Dauphine took them from the madman. La-F. And he took them from our boys, I warrant you. Cler. Very like, sir. La-F. Thank you, good master Clerimont. Sir John Daw and I are both beholden to you. Cler. Would I knew how to make you so, gentlemen! Daw. Sir Amorous and I are your servants, sir. Enter MAVIS. Mav. Gentlemen, have any of you a pen and ink? I would fain write out a riddle in Italian, for sir Dauphine to translate. Cler. Not I, in troth, lady; I am no scrivener. Daw. I can furnish you, I think, lady. [Exeunt Daw and Mavis. Cler. He has it in the haft of a knife, I believe. La-F. No, he has his box of instruments. Cler. Like a surgeon! La-F. For the mathematics: his square, his compasses, his brass pens, and black-lead, to draw maps of every place and person where he comes, Cler. How, maps of persons! La-F. Yes, sir, of Nomentack, when he was here,' and of the prince of Moldavia, and of his mistress, mistress Epicone. Re-enter Daw. Cler. Away! he hath not found out her latitude, I hope. La-F. You are a pleasant gentleman, sir. Cler. Faith, now we are in private, let's wanton it a little, and talk waggishly.—Sir John, I am telling sir Amorous here, that you two govern the ladies wherever you come; you carry the feminine gender afore you. Daw. They shall rather carry us afore them, if they will, sir. Cler. Nay, I believe that they do, withal'— Yes, sir, of Nomentack, when he was here, &c.] Nomentack was an Indian chief, from Virginia, who was brought to England some years before this was written. Of the prince of Moldavia, I can give no account. 2 Nay, I believe that they do, withal-] I quote these words, merely because the collocation of them recalls to my mind an expression in Shakspeare, on which I have something to say. In one of the prettiest speeches surely that ever was penned, that of Portia (Merchant of Venice, A. iii. S. 4.) to Nerissa, she describes the appearance she shall make, and the language she shall hold when "accoutred like a man:" 66 I'll speak of frays "Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies, "Which I denying, they fell sick, and died; "I could not do withal: This last line, or rather, a corruption of it, the commentators, who are always routing in the mire of impurity, explain in the most indecent manner. I will not say of Portia, as of Desde but, that you are the prime men in their affections, and direct all their actions Daw. Not I; sir Amorous is. Daw. As I hope to rise in the state, sir Amorous, you have the person. mona, that her "motion blushed at herself," yet she was assuredly a woman of modesty, and, therefore little likely to use the language of a brothel, or to attribute the manners of one, to the honourable ladies who sought her love." The fact is, that the phrase, so shamelessly misinterpreted, is, in itself, perfectly innocent, and means neither more nor less than, I COULD NOT HELP IT. In Morte Arthur-where Guinever is accused of poisoning one of the knights of the round table, the king says to her, "None of them will say well of you, nor none of them will doe battle for you, and that shall be great slaunder for you in this court. Alas! said the queen, I cannot doe withall," (I cannot help it," and now I miss sir Launcelot," Part III. c. 108. In the trial of Udall, lord Anderson says: "You had as good say you were the author." Udall. "That will not follow, my lord: but if you think so, I cannot do withal,” (I cannot help it.) State Trials, fol. Vol. I. p. 162. And in that excellent old play, the Little French Lawyer, Dinant, who is reproached by Clerimont, for not silencing the music, which endangered his safety, replies: "I cannot do withal;" (I cannot help it ;) "I have spoke and spoke; I am betrayed and lost too. I make no apology for this long note, irrelevant as it will, perhaps, be thought. Shakspeare is in every hand; and it is therefore incumbent on all those who feel a due respect for youth and innocence, to take every opportunity of removing the impurities with which his pages are wantonly overcharged. As the sense of the words is now fully ascertained, we have a right to expect that the stupid and indecent comments of Collins and others. on it, shall be henceforth omitted. 66 Withal, the reading of the old copies," Mr. Malone tells us, was corrected" (corrected, with a vengeance!)" to with all, (as it stands in his and Steevens' editions,) by Mr. Pope." Notwithstanding this cheering assurance, the future editors of Shakspeare will do well to let him speak his own language, and to print the line as it stands above, and as it ought always to have stood: "I could not do withal." Withal, in Jonson, is a mere expletive. 66 |