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To the prince, and his book-mates.

PRIN.

Thou, fellow, a word:

above Monarcho the Italian, that ware crownes in his fhoes, and quite renounced his natural English accents and geftures, and wrefted himself wholly to the Italian puntilios, &c.

But one of the epitaphs written by Thomas Churchyard, and printed in a colle&ion called his Chance, &c. 4to. 1580, will afford the most ample account of this extraordinary character. I do not therefore apologize for the length of the following extra&:

"The Phantasticall Monarkes Epitaphe..

"Though Dant be dedde, and Marrot lies in graue,
"And Petrarks fprite bee mounted paft our vewe,
"Yet fome doe liue (that poets humours haue)

"To keepe old course with vains of verfes newe:
"Whose penns are preft to paint out people plaine,
"That els a fleepe in filence should remaine:
"Come poore old man that boare the Monarks name,
Thyne Epitaphe fhall here fet forthe thy fame.

Thy climyng mynde afpierd beyonde the ftarrs,

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Thy loftie ftile no yearthly titell bore:

Thy witts would feem to fee through peace and warrs,

"Thy tauntyng tong was pleasant fharpe aud fore.

"And though thy pride and pompe was fomewhat vaine,
"The Monarcke had a deepe difcourfyng braine:
"Alone with freend he could of wonders treate,

In publike place pronounce a sentence greate.

"No matche for fooles, if wifemen were in place,
"No mate at meale to fit with common fort:
"Both grave of looks and fatherlike of face,

"Of judgement quicke, of comely forme and port.
"Mofte bent to words on hye and folempne daies,
"Of diet fine, and daintie diuerfe waies:
"And well difpofde, if Prince did pleasure take,
At any mirthe that he poore man could make.

On gallant robes his greatest glorie food, "Yet garments bare could never daunt his minde: He feard no ftate, nor caerd for worldly good, "Held eche thyng light as fethers in the winde. And ftill he faied, the ftrong thrufts weake to wall, "When fword bore fwaie, the Monarcke should have all.

Who gave thee this letter?

COST.

I told you; my lord.

The man of might at length fhall Monarcke bee, "And greateft ftrength fhall make the feeble flee.

"When fraungers came in prefence any wheare,

"Straunge was the talke the Monarke uttred than: "He had a voice could thonder through your eare, "And fpeake mutche like a merry Christmas man: "But fure fmall mirthe his matter harped on.

His forme of life who lifts to looke upon,

"Did fhewe fome witte, though follie fedde his will:
The man is dedde, yet Monarke liueth ftill." p. 7.

A local allufion employed by a poet like Shakspeare, resembles the mortal feed that drew in the chariot of Achilles. But fhort fervices could be expected from either. STEEVENS.

The fucceeding quotations will afford fome further intelligence concerning this fantastick being. "I could ufe an incident for

this, which though it may feeme of fmall weight, yet may it have his mifterie with his a&, who, being of base condition, placed himself (without any perturbation of minde) in the royall feat of Alexander, which the Caldeans prognofticated to portend the death of Alexander.

"The actors were, that Bergamafco (for his phantaftick humors) named Monarche, and two of the Spanith embaffadors retinue, who being about foure and twentie yeares paft, in Paules Church in Lon. don, contended who was foveraigne of the world; the Monarcho maintained himself to be he, and named their king to be but his viceroy for Spain: the other two with great fury denying it. At which myself, and fome of good account, now dead, wondred in refpect of the fubje& they handled, and that want of judgement we looked not for in the Spaniards. Yet this, moreover, we noted, that notwithstanding the weight of their controverfie they kept in their walk the Spanish turne: which is, that he which goeth at the right hand, fhall at every end of the walke turne in the midft; the which place the Monarcho was loth to yeald but as they compelled him, though they gave him fometimes that romthe) in refpect of his fuppofed majeftie; but I would this were the worst of their ceremonies; the fame keeping fome decorum concerning equalitie. A briefe Difcourfe of the Spanish State, with a Dialogue annexed, intituled Philobafilis, 4to. 1590. p. 39.

The reader will pardon one further notice.

heere comes a fouldier, for my life it is a captain Swag:

PRIN. To whom fhouldft thou give it?
COST,

From my lord to my lady.

PRIN. From which lord, to which lady?

COST. From my lord Bion, a good mafler of

mine,

To a lady of France, that he call'd Rofaline.

PRIN, Thou haft mistaken his letter.

lords, away.

Come,

Here, fweet, put up this; 'twill be thine another [Exit PRINCESS and Train. BOYET. Who is the fuitor? who is the fuitor?

day.

tis even he indeede, I do knowe him by his plume and his fcarffe; he looks like a Monarcho of a very cholericke complexion, and as teafty as a goofe that hath young goflings," &c. B. Riche's Faults and Nothing but Faults, p. 12. REED.

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Come, ladies, away.

Perhaps the Princefs faid rather:

The reft of the fceue deferves no care. JOHNSON,

166

6 Who is the fuitor?] The old copies readWho is the fhooter?" but it should be who is the fuitor? and this occafions the quibble. Finely put on," &c. feem only marginal obfervations. FARMER, It appears that fuitor was anciently pronounced Shooter. So, in The Puritan, 1605: the maid informs her miftrefs that fome archers are come to wait on her. She fuppofes them to be fletchers, or arrow-fmiths:

Enter the futers, &c.

"Why do you not fee them before you? are not these archers, what do you call them, fhooters? Shooters and archers are all one, I hope. STEEVENS.

Wherever Shakspeare. ufes words equivocally, as in the prefent inftance, he lays his editor under fome embarraffment. When he told Ben Jonfon he would ftand Godfather to his child," and give him a dozen latten spoons," if we write the word as we have now done, the conceit, fuch as it is, is loft, at leaft does not at once appear; if we write it Latin, it becomes abfurd. So, in Much ado about nothing, Dogberry fays, if juftice cannot tame you, she fhall ne'er weigh more reafons in her balance." If we write the word thus, the conftable's equivoque, poor as it is, is loft, at leaft to the eye. If we write raifins, (between which word and reasons,

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BOYET. My lady goes to kill horns; but, if thou marry,

Hang me by the neck, if horns that year miscarry. Finely put on!

Ros. Well then, I am the fhooter.

BOYET.

And who is your deer?' Ros. If we choofe by the horns, yourself: come

near.

Finely put on, indeed!

MAR. You ftill wrangle with her, Boyet, and fhe ftrikes at the brow.

BOYET. But fhe herself is hit lower: Have I hit her now?

there was, I believe, no difference at that time of pronunciation,) we write nonsense. In the paffage before us an equivoque was certainly intended; the words Shooter and fuitor being (as Mr. Steevens has observed pronounced alike in Shakspeare's time. So, in Essays and Characters of a Prifon ond Prisoners, by G. M. 1618: “The king's guard are counted the ftrongest archers, but here are better fuitors. Again, in Antony and Cleopatra, edit. 1623, (owing probably to the tranfcriber's car having deceived him,)

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a grief that shoots.

In Ireland, where, I believe, much of the pronunciation of Queen Elizabeth's age is yet retained, the word fuitor is at this day pronounced by the vulgar as if it were written shooter. However, I have followed the fpelling of the old copy, as it is fufficiently intelligible. MASON.

7 And who is your deer?] Our author has the fame play on this word In The Merry Wives of Windfor, A& V. Again, in his Venus and Adonis:

"I'll be thy park, and thou shalt be my deer."

MALONE.

Ros. Shall I come upon thee with an old faying, that was a man when king Pepin of France was a little boy, as touching the hit it?

BOYET. So I may anfwer thee with one as old, that was a woman when queen Guinever of Britain was a little wench, as touching the hit it. Ros. Thou can't not hit it, hit it, hit it, [ finging. Thou canst not hit it, my good man.

BOYET. An I cannot, cannot, cannot,

An I cannot, another can.

[Exeunt Ros. and KAT.

Cost. By my troth, most pleasant! how both did fit it!

MAR. A mark marvellous well fhot; for they both did hit it.

BOYET. A mark! O, mark but that mark; A mark, fays my lady!

Let the mark have a prick in't, to mete at, if it

may be.

9

MAR. Wide o' the bow hand! I'faith, your

hand is out.

COST. Indeed a'muft fhoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout. 2

not

8 -queen Guinever] This was king Arthur's queen, over famous for fidelity to her husband. See the fong of The Boy and the Mantle, iu Dr. Percy's Collection.

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, the elder Loveless addreffes Abigail, the old incontinent waiting-woman, by this name. STEEVENS.

9 Wide o' the bow hand!] i. c. a good deal to the left of the mark; a term ftill retained in modern archery. DOUCE.

the clout.] The clout was th white mark at which archThe pin was the wooden nail that upheld it. STEEVENS.

ers took their aim.

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