Cyth. No, this is Hermogenes: as humourous as a poet, though: he is a musician. Chloe. A musician! then he can sing. Cyth. That he can excellently; did you never hear him? Chloe. O no: will he be entreated, think you? Cyth. I know not.-Friend, mistress Chloe would fain hear Hermogenes sing: are you interested in him? Gal. No doubt, his own humanity will command him so far, to the satisfaction of so fair a beauty; but rather than fail, we'll all be suitors to him. Her. 'Cannot sing. Gal. Prithee, Hermogenes. Her. 'Cannot sing. Gal. For honour of this gentlewoman, to whose house I know thou mayest be ever welcome. Chloe. That he shall, in truth, sir, if he can sing. Ovid. What's that? Gal. This gentlewoman is wooing Hermogenes for a song. Ovid. A song! come, he shall not deny her. Hermogenes! Her. 'Cannot sing. Gal. No, the ladies must do it; he stays but to have their thanks acknowledged as a debt to his cunning. Jul. That shall not want; ourself will be the first shall promise to pay him more than thanks, upon a favour so worthily vouchsafed. Her. Thank you, madam; but 'will not sing. Tib. Tut, the only way to win him, is to abstain from entreating him. Cris. Do you love singing, lady?" Cris. Entreat the ladies to entreat me to sing then, I beseech you. Chloe. I beseech your grace, entreat this gentleman to sing. Jul. That we will, Chloe; can he sing excellently? Chloe. I think so, madam; for he entreated me to entreat you to entreat him to sing. Cris. Heaven and earth! would you tell that? Jul. Good sir, let's entreat you to use your voice. Cris. Alas, madam, I cannot in truth. Pla. The gentleman is modest: I warrant you, he sings excellently. Ovid. Hermogenes, clear your throat; I see by him, here's a gentleman will worthily challenge you. Cris. Not I, sir, I'll challenge no man. Tib. That's your modesty, sir; but we, out of an assurance of your excellency, challenge him in your behalf. Cris. I thank you, gentlemen, I'll do my best. Her. Let that best be good, sir, you were best. Gal. O, this contention is excellent! What is't you sing, sir? Cris. If I freely may discover, sir; I'll sing that. Ovid. One of your own compositions, Hermo. genes. He offers you vantage enough. Cris. Nay, truly, gentlemen, I'll challenge no man. I can sing but one staff of the ditty neither. Gal. The better: Hermogenes himself will be entreated to sing the other. CRISPINUS sings. If I freely may discover What would please me in my lover, Gal. Believe me, sir, you sing most excellently. Ovid. If there were a praise above excellence, the gentleman highly deserves it. Her. Sir, all this doth not yet make me envy you; for I know I sing better than you. Tib. Attend Hermogenes, now. HERMOGENES, accompanied. She should be allow'd her passions, Jul. Nay, Hermogenes, your merit hath long since been both known and admired of us. Her. You shall hear me sing another. Now will I begin." Gal. We shall do this gentleman's banquet too much wrong, that stays for us, ladies. Jul. 'Tis true; and well thought on, Cornelius Gallus. Her. Why, 'tis but a short air, 'twill be done presently, pray stay: strike, music. Ovid. No, good Hermogenes; we'll end this difference within. Jul. "Tis the common disease3 of all your musicians, that they know no mean, to be entreated either to begin or end. Alb. Please you lead the way, gentles. [Exeunt all but Albius. Alb. O, what a charm of thanks was here put upon me! O Jove, what a setting forth it is to a man to have many courtiers come to his house! Sweetly was it said of a good old house-keeper, I had rather want meat, than want guests; espe Nox will I begin.] The character of Hermogenes is drawn with great pleasantry by Horace, and Jonson has embodied his description very successfully: his insolence, vanity, affectation, and capriciousness are distinctly placed before the reader. The outlines, and merely the outlines, of the elegant song in the text, Ben found in Martial, as Whalley observes; the filling up is his own. "Qualem, Flacce, velim quæris, nolimve puellam? "Illud quod medium est, atque inter utrumque probamus, L. 1. ep. 58. 3 'Tis the common disease, &c.] With this observation Horace introduces his character of Hermogenes: "Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos 66 cially if they be courtly guests. For, never trust me, if one of their good legs made in a house be not worth all the good cheer a man can make them. He that would have fine guests, let him have a fine wife; he that would have a fine wife, let him come to me. Re-enter CRISPINUS. Cris. By your kind leave, master Albius. Alb. What, you are not gone, master Crispinus? Cris. Yes, faith, I have a design draws me hence pray, sir, fashion me an excuse to the ladies. I Alb. Will you not stay and see the jewels, sir? pray you stay. Cris. Not for a million, sir, now. Let it suffice, I must relinquish; and so, in a word, please you to expiate this compliment. Alb. Mum. [Exit. Cris. I'll presently go and enghle some broker for a poet's gown, and bespeak a garland: and then, jeweller, look to your best jewel, i'faith. [Exit. 4 I'll presently go and enghle some broker for a poet's gown,] This word, the modern angle, is used with some latitude by our old poets; in general, however, it means to cheat, to impose upon, to draw in, as here-the substantive is always taken in a bad sense, sometimes for a bait thrown out, and sometimes for a person deceived by it; simply, for a dupe, a gull, a master Stcphen. Hanmer derives enghle from the Fr. engluer, and Steevens, from inveigle both are mistaken, however: it comes from a Saxon, or, if the reader likes it better, an old English word, signifying to suspend or hang, which is but another mode of spelling it. Now I am advanced thus far, I will just observe that the commentators have made strange work of a passage in Shakspeare, for want of understanding the import of this term: |