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Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
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SCENE III. An Apartment in the Palace. Enter the Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Sands.

Cham.
7 note




Is it possible, the spells of France should juggle
Men into such strange mysteries?

-- 207 --

Sands.
New customs,
Though they be never so ridiculous,
Nay, let 'em be unmanly, yet are follow'd.

Cham.
As far as I see, all the good, our English
Have got by the late voyage, is but merely
8 note



A fit or two o'the face; but they are shrewd ones;
For, when they hold 'em, you would swear directly,
Their very noses had been counsellors
To Pepin, or Clotharius, they keep state so.

Sands.
They have all new legs, and lame ones; one would take it,
That never saw them pace before, the spavin
9 note



And springhalt reign'd among 'em.

-- 208 --

Cham.
Death! my lord,
Their cloaths are after such a pagan cut too,
That, sure, they have worn out christendom. How now?
What news, sir Thomas Lovel?
Enter Sir Thomas Lovel.

Lov.
Faith, my lord,
I hear of none, but the new proclamation
That's clapp'd upon the court gate.

Cham.
What is't for?

Lov.
The reformation of our travell'd gallants,
That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors.

Cham.
I am glad, 'tis there; now I would pray our monsieurs
To think an English courtier may be wise,
And never see the Louvre.

Lov.
They must either
(For so run the conditions) leave these remnants
Of fool, and feather1 note
, that they got in France,
With all their honourable points of ignorance
Pertaining thereunto, (as fights, and fire-works;

-- 209 --


Abusing better men than they can be,
Out of a foreign wisdom) renouncing clean
The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings,
Short blister'd breeches2 note, and those types of travel,
And understand again like honest men;
Or pack to their old play-fellows: there, I take it,
They may, cum privilegio, wear away
The lag end of their lewdness, and be laugh'd at.

Sands.
'Tis time to give them physick, their diseases
Are grown so catching.

Cham.
What a loss our ladies
Will have of these trim vanities!

Lov.
Ay, marry,
There will be woe indeed, lords: the sly whoresons
Have got a speeding trick to lay down ladies;
A French song, and a fiddle, has no fellow.

Sands.
The devil fiddle 'em! I am glad, they're going;
(For, sure, there's no converting of 'em) now
An honest country lord, as I am, beaten
A long time out of play, may bring his plain-song,
And have an hour of hearing; and, by'r-lady,
Held current musick too.

Cham.
Well said, lord Sands;
Your colt's tooth is not cast yet.

Sands.
No, my lord;
Nor shall not, while I have a stump.

Cham.
Sir Thomas,
Whither were you a going?

Lov.
To the cardinal's;
Your lordship is a guest too.

Cham.
O, 'tis true:
This night he makes a supper, and a great one,
To many lords and ladies; there will be
The beauty of this kingdom, I'll assure you.

-- 210 --

Lov.
That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed,
A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us;
His dews fall every where.

Cham.
No doubt, he's noble;
He had a black mouth, that said other of him.

Sands.
He may, my lord, he has wherewithal; in him,
Sparing would shew a worse sin than ill doctrine:
Men of his way should be most liberal,
They are set here for examples.

Cham.
True, they are so;
But few now give so great ones. My barge stays;
Your lordship shall along:—Come, good sir Thomas,
We shall be late else; which I would not be,
For I was spoke to, with sir Henry Guilford,
This night to be comptrollers.

Sands.
I am your lordship's.
[Exeunt.
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Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
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