56 Hildebrand.—Meaning Pope Gregory the Seventh. See Bishop Warburton's note on 1st Part of Henry 4th, A. 5. S. 3.

Y. Pal. But say I bring this lady, sir, unto Your lawful sheets, make her your bosom wife: Besides the plenty of her heritage,

How would it sound, that you had conquered her,

Who hath so often conquered you?

E. Pal. Dear brother, no new plots.

Y. Pal. Six thousand pounds, sir, is your yearly rent:

A fair temptation to a discreet lady :

Luce hath filled both mine ears with hope; be-
sides,

I heard her say, she ne'er should meet a man
That she could more subdue with wit and govern-

ment.

E. Pal. That I'll venture.

Y. Pal. Well, my first bounty is your freedom,
sir;

For the constable obeys no law but mine;
And now, madam, appear.

Enter AMPLE, Lucy.

Amp. You're welcome 'mongst the living, sir.
E. Pal. Lady, no words; if you've but so
much mercy

As could secure one that your eyes affect-
Amp. Why, you're grown arrogant again; d'you
think

They are so weak to affect you?

E. Pal. I have a heart so kind unto myself,
To wish they could; O we should live-
Amp. Not by our wits.

E. Pal. No, no; but with such soft content,
still in

Conspiracy how to betray ourselves

To new delights: keep harmony with no
More noise than what the upper motions 57 make;
And this so constant too, turtles themselves,
Seeing our faith, shall slight their own, and pine
With jealousy.

Amp. Luce, the youth talks sense now; no
medicine for

The brain, like to captivity in a dark chest.
Y. Pal. O madam, you are cruel.
Amp. Well, my sad convertite;

this:

58

I've often made a vow to marry on
That very day my wardship is expired;

Amp. And, know, my glory is dispatch: My

ancestors

Were of the fiery French, and taught me love,
Hot eagerness, and haste.

E. Pal. Let me be rude

A while, lie with your judgment, and beget
Sages on that. My dearest, chiefest lady!

Amp. Your brain's yet foul, and will recoil
again.

E. Pal. No more; I'll swallow down my tongue.
Amp. If, sir, your nature be so excellent,
As your kind brother hath confirmed to Luce
And me, follow, and I'll present you straight
With certain writings you shall seal to, hood-
winked,

And purely ignorant of what they are:
This is the swiftest, and the easiest test,
That I can make of your bold love; do this,
Perhaps I may vouchsafe to marry you;
The writings are within.

E. Pal. Lead me to trial; come.
Amp. But, sir, if I should marry you, it is
In confidence, I have the better wit;
And can subdue you still to quietness,
Meek sufferings, and patient awe.

E. Pal. You rap me 59 still a-new.

Y. Pal. In, Luce; our hopes grow strong and
giantly.
[Exeunt.
Enter THRIFT, SNORE, Mrs SNORE, QUEASY,
GINET.

Gin. To him, Mrs Snore; 'tis he has kept
Your husband from his bed so long, to watch
Him for a church-robbery.

Mrs Snore. Ah, thou Judas! I thought what
thou'ldst come to!

Remember the warrant thou sent'st for me
Into Duck-lane, 'cause I call'd thy maid, Trot;
When I was fain t'invite thy clerk to a

Fee pie, sent me by a Temple cook, my sister's
sweetheart.

Quea. Nay, and remember who was brought to-bed

Under thy coach-house wall, when thou deny'dst joy yet at A wad of straw, and wouldst not join thy half

And two hours since that liberty begun.

Lucy. Nay, hear her out; your wishes are so saucy, sir.

penny

58 Convertite-See note 10 to the The Jew of Malta, p. 255.

59

rap me.-i. e. astonish me. So in Macbeth's letter to his wife, "While I stood rapt in won der," &c. S. This perhaps was

60 Chrisom-The mantle was the white cloth thrown over the new-baptized child. the perquisite of the officiating clergyman. The child itself was sometimes called a chrysome.

Enter ТHWACK, PERT, MEAGER, ENGINE.

Thwack. We'll teach you to rob churches; 'slight, hereafter

We of the pious shall be afraid to go

To a long exercise, for fear our pockets should
Be picked. Come, sir; you sce already how
The neighbours throng to find you; will you con-
sent?

'Tis but a thousand pounds apiece to these
Two gentlemen, and five hundred more ť En-
gine;

Your crime is then concealed, and yourself free.
Mea. No, he may chuse; he'll trust to the kind-
hearted law.

Pert. Let him, and to dame Justice too; who,
though

Her ladyship be blind, will grope hard, sir,
To find your money-bags.

Eng. Sir, you are rich; besides, you know what

you

Have got by your ward's death: I fear you will
Be begged at court, 62 unless you come off thus.
Thrift. There is my closet key; do what you
please.

And jeer for recreation sake; 'twill keep
Me, sir, in breath, now I am past growing.

E. Pal. Hark, knight, here's relish for your
ears: I chose

None of your dull country madams, that spend
Their time in studying receipts to make
March-pane, " and preserve plumbs; that talk
Of painful child-birth, servants' wages, and
Their husband's good complexion, and his leg.
Thwack. New wonders yet!

Eng. Gentlemen, I'll lead
to it;
you
64
follow me.
Thwack. D'you use to find such sums as these
beneath

An oak after a long march? I think, sure,

The wars are not so plentiful.

Pert. We think so too.

E. Pal. What was that, mistress, which I sealed to hood-winked?

Thwack. Y' had better trail a bodkin, gentle- A simple trial of my confidence and love?

Amp. Your brother has it; 'tis a gift to him
Of one fair manor, 'mongst those many that you
Have in possession, sir; and in this bond
You're witness to three thousand pounds I give to
Luce.

Lucy. Yes, sir; for Pall and I must marry too.
Y. Pul. I were an eunuch else, and the world

should know't.

E. Pal. Thou couldst not have betrayed me to a bounty

I more love. Brother, give thee joy.

[THWACK takes Y. PALLATINE aside. Thwack. You are the cause of all these miracles,

A long exercise-i. e. long sermon.

62 Be begg'd at court-The wardship of ideots was in the crown, and being connected with the management of their estates, was usually begged as a boon by some hungry courtier.

63 Yes, and her wardship out before y' have proffered her

A husband, sir, &c.-This refers to that power which a guardian, by law, was entitled to exercise over his ward; it was taken away, together with all the other oppressive circumstances attending the feu dal system, by the stat. 12 Charles II. c. 24. Before that time," while the infant was in ward, the guar "dian had the power of tendering him or her a suitable match, without disparagement or inequality; "which, if the infants refused, they forfeited the value of the marriage, valorem maritagii, to their guar "dian; that is, so much as a jury would assess, or any one would, hona fide, give to the guardian for "such an alliance; and if the infants married themselves without the guardian's consent, they forfeited "double the value, duplicem valorem maritagii.”—2 Blackstone's Commentaries, p. 70.

64 March-pane-A confection made of Pistachio-nuts, almonds, sugar, &c.

Mea. 'Tis for your sake we groan under these burdens.

Y. Pal. The offal of sir Tyrant's trunks. Bro-
ther,

Pray know these gentlemen; they owe you more
Money than they mean to pay now.

E. Pal. I remember 'em: but no words, my
cavaliers,

And you are safe. Where shall we dine to-day?
Y. Pal. At Lucy's aunt's; we'll make her cos-
tive beldamship

Come off,65 when she beholds a goodly jointure,
And our fair hopes.

E. Pal. First, to the church, lady;
I'll make your skittish person sure. Some of
Your pleasant arts upon me may become
A wise example, and a moral too;

Such as their haughty fancy well befits,
That undertake to live here by their wits.
[Exeunt omnes.

THE office of an epilogue is now

EPILOGUE.

To smooth and stroke the wrinkles from each brow;
To guide severer judgments (if we could
Be wise enough) until they thought all good,
Which they perhaps dislike; and, sure, this were

An over-boldness, raised from too much fear. You have a freedom, which we hope you'll use, T'advance our youthful poet, and his muse, With a kind doom; and he'll tread boldly then, | In's best new comic socks, this stage again.t

EDITION.

The Witts, a Comedie; presented at the Private House in Blacke Fryers, by his Majesties Servants. The author William D'Avenant, servant to her Majestie. London, printed for Richard Meighen, next to the Middle Temple, in Fleet-street. 1636. 4to.

65 Come off-To come off, was a phrase formerly much used. It signifies to pay, as is very clearly proved from the instances produced by Mr Steevens, Dr Farmer, and Mr Tyrwhitt, in their notes to The Merry Wives of Windsor, A. 4. S. 3.

+ This play, after the first edition, received considerable alterations from the author.

SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE.'

PART I.

PROLOGUE. 2

THE doubtful title, gentlemen, prefixed
Upon the argument we have in hand,
May breed suspence, and wrongfully disturb
The peaceful quiet of your settled thoughts.
To stop which scruple, let this brief suffice:
It is no pampered glutton we present,
Nor aged counsellor to youthful sin,

But one, whose virtue shone above the rest,
A valiant martyr, and a virtuous peer;
In whose true faith and loyalty, expressed
Unto his sovereign and his country's weal,
We strive to pay that tribute of our love
Your favours merit. Let fair truth be graced,
Since forged invention former time defaced.

The history of sir John Oldcastle (who, having married the heiress of lord Cobbam, was summoned to parliament by that title on the 18th of December 1409) may be found in Holinshed's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 544, et seq. and in many other books. In order to heighten his character, the author of this drama has departed from historical truth; for the conspiracy of the earl of Cambridge, lord Scroope, &c. against king Henry V. was discovered by Edmund earl of March, and not by sir John Oldcastle, who was himself engaged in a traitorous design against Henry, and hanged about four years after the execution of those conspirators. The present play was entered on the Stationers' books on the 4th of August 1600, by Thomas Pavier, under the title of The First Part of the History of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. At the same time was entered, The Second Part of the History of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, with his Martyrdom; but this was never published.

In the title-page of the original edition, in 1600, the name of William Shakspeare is printed at length. -I do not perceive the least trace of our great poet in any part of this play. It is observable, that in the entry on the Stationers' books the author's name is not mentioned. The printer, Pavier, (whose name is not prefixed to any of Shakespeare's undisputed performances, except King Henry V. and two parts of King Henry VI. of which plays he issued out copies manifestly spurious and imperfect) when he published it, was induced, I imagine, to ascribe it to Shakespeare by the success 'of the First Part of King Henry IV. The character of Falstaff having been formed, as I conceive, on the sir John Oldcastle of an elder drama, a hope was probably entertained that the public might be deceived, and suppose this piece also to be Shakespeare's performance.—MALONE.

The History of Sir John Oldcastle, and The Life and Death of Lord Cromwell, are much in the style and manner of Thomas Heywood, by whom I suppose them to have been written.-FARMER.

2 The sarcasm which this prologue contains on some writer who, in a preceding drama, had exhibited a pampered glutton and an aged counsellor to youthful sin—(by which description either sir John Oldcastle, a character in the old King Henry V. or sir John Falstaff, seems to have been pointed at) induced me, on a former occasion, to doubt whether Shakspeare was the author of the present play. The apparent allusion also to this prologue, in the epilogue to The Second Part of King Henry IV. (“ for Oldcastle died a martyr-and this is not the man") appeared to me a strong circumstance against the authenticity of this piece. I am still of the same opinion; nor do I see how it could have been the production of an author who had before exhibited sir John Falstaff on the stage. The present play was written, I believe, after the representation of the First Part, and before that of the Second Part of King Henry IV-MALONE.