Nathaniel.
Nath.
Very reverend sport, truly; and done in the
testimony of a good Conscience.
Hol.
The deer was (as you know) sanguis, in blood;
ripe as a pomwater, who now hangeth like a jewel in
-- 156 --
the ear of Cœlo, the sky, the welkin, the heav'n; and
anon falleth like a crab on the face of Terra, the soil,
the land, the earth.
Nath.
Truly, master Holofernes, the epithets are
sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least: but, Sir, I
assure ye, it was a buck of the first head.
Hol.
Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.
Dull.
'Twas not a haud credo, 'twas a pricket.
Hol.
Most barbarous intimation; yet a kind of insinuation,
as it were in via, in way of explication;
-- 157 --
facere, as it were, replication; or rather, ostentare, to
show, as it were, his inclination; after his undressed,
unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather
unlettered, or ratherest unconfirmed fashion, to
insert again my haud credo for a deer.
Dull.
I said, the deer was not a haud credo; 'twas
a pricket.
Hol.
Twice sod simplicity, bis coctus; O thou monster
ignorance, how deformed dost thou look?
Nath.
Sir, he hath never fed on the dainties that
are bred in a book. He hath not eat paper, as it were;
he hath not drunk ink. His intellect is not replenished.
He is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts;
8 note
And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be,
Which we taste and feeling are for those parts that do fructify in us, more than He.
-- 158 --
For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool;
So were there a patch* note set on learning, to see him in a school.
But omne bene, say I; being of an old father's mind,
Many can brook the weather, that love not the wind.
Dull.
You two are book-men; can you tell by your wit,
What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five weeks old as yet?
Hol.
Dictynna, good-man Dull; Dictynna, good-man
Dull.
Dull.
What is Dictynna?
Nath.
A title to Phœbe, to Luna, to the Moon.
Hol.
The moon was a month old, when Adam was no more:
And raught not to five weeks, when he came to five-score.
Th' allusion holds in the exchange.9 note
Dull.
'Tis true, indeed; the collusion holds in the
exchange.
Hol.
God comfort thy capacity! I say, the allusion
holds in the exchange.
Dull.
And I say, the pollution holds in the exchange;
for the moon is never but a month old; and
I say beside, that 'twas a pricket that the Princess kill'd.
Hol.
Sir Nathaniel, will you hear an extemporal
epitaph on the death of the deer? and to humour the
ignorant, I have call'd the deer the Princess kill'd, a
pricket.
Nath.
Perge, good master Holofernes, perge; so it
shall please you to abrogate scurrility.
-- 159 --
Hol.
I will something affect the letter; for it argues
facility.
The praiseful Princess pierc'd and prickt
A pretty pleasing pricket;
Some say, a sore; but not a sore,
'Till now made sore with shooting.
The dogs did yell; put L to sore,
Then sorel jumpt from thicket;
Or pricket sore, or else sorel,
The people fall a hooting.
If sore be sore, then L to sore
Makes fifty sores, o' sorel!1 note
Of one sore I an hundred make,
By adding but one more L.
Nath.
A rare talent!
Dull.
If a talent be a claw, look how he claws him
with a talent.
Hol.
This is a gift that I have; simple! simple! a
foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, shapes,
objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions.
These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourish'd
in the womb of pia mater, and deliver'd upon the
mellowing of occasion; but the gift is good in those
in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it.
Nath.
Sir, I praise the Lord for you, and so may
my parishioners; for their sons are well tutor'd by
you, and their daughters profit very greatly under
you; you are a good member of the commonwealth.
Hol.
Mehercle, if their sons be ingenuous, they shall
want no instruction: if their daughters be capable, I
-- 160 --
will put it to them. But vir sapit, qui pauca loquitur;
a soul feminine saluteth us.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
