KING. The heavens have thought well on thee,

Lafeu,

as a dead man. The fecond reading, as Dr. Percy fuggefts, may imply: I'll buy me a fon-in-law as they buy a horse in a fair; toul him, i. e. enter him on the toul or toll-book, to prove I came honeftly by him, and afcertain my title to him. In a play called The famous Hiftory of Tho. Stukely, 1605, is an allufion to this

cuftom:

"Gov. I will be anfwerable to thee for thy horfes.

"Stuk. Doft thou keep a tole-booth? zounds, doft thou make a borfe-courfer of me?"

Again, in Hudibras, p. 11. C. 1:

a roan gelding

"Where, when, by whom, and what y'were fold for
"And in the open market toll'd for.'

Alluding (as Dr. Grey obferves) to the two ftatutes relating to the fale of horses, 2 and 3 Phil. and Mary, and 31 Eliz. c. 12. and publickly tolling them in fairs, to prevent the sale of such as were stolen, and to preserve the property to the right owner.

The previous mention of a Fair, seems to justify the reading I have adopted from the fecond folio. STEEVENS.

The paffage fhould be pointed thus:

I will buy me a fon-in-law in a fair, and toll;

For this, I'll none of him.

That is, "I'll buy me a fon-in-law in a fair, and pay toll; as for this, I will have none of him." M. MASON.

The meaning, I think, is, "I will purchase a fon-in-law at a fair, and get rid of this worthlefs fellow, by tolling him out of it." To toll a perfon out of a fair was a phrafe of the time. So, in Camden's Remaines, 1605; "At a Bartholomew Faire at London there was an efcheator of the fame city, that had arrested a clothier that was outlawed, and had feized his goods, which he had brought into the faire, tolling him out of the faire, by a traine."

And toll for this may however mean-and I will fell this fellow in a fair, as I would a horfe, publickly entering in the toll-book the particulars of the fale. For the hint of this latter interpretation I am indebted to Dr. Percy. I incline, however, to the former expofition.

The following paffage in King Henry IV. P. II. may be adduced in fupport of Mr. Steevens's interpretation of this paffage: "Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown,--and I will take fuch order that thy friends fhall ring for thee."

Here Falftaff certainly means to speak equivocally; and one of his fenfes is, "I will take care to have thee knocked in the head, and thy friends fhall ring thy funeral knell." MALONE.

To bring forth this difcovery.-Seck thefe fuitors:--Go, fpeedily, and bring again the count.

[Exeunt Gentleman, and fome Attendants.

I am afeard, the life of Helen, lady,

Was foully fnatch'd.

COUNT.

Now, juftice on the doers!

Enter BERTRAM, guarded.

KING. I wonder, fir, fince wives are monsters to

you,'

And that you fly them as you fwear them lordship, Yet you defire to marry.-What woman's that?

Re-enter Gentleman, with Widow, and DIANA.

DIA. I am, my lord, a wretched Florentine,
Derived from the ancient Capulet;
My fuit, as I do understand, you know,
And therefore know how far I may be pitied.

4 I wonder, fir, fince wives, &c.] This paffage is thus read in the first folio:

Which

I wander, fir, fir, wives are monsters to you,

And that you fly them, as you fwear them lordship,

Yet you defire to marry.

may be corrected thus:

I wonder, fir, fince wives are monsters, &c.

The editors have made it-wives are fo monftrous to you, and in the next line-fwear to them, inftead of-fwear them lordship. Though the latter phrafe be a little obfcure, it fhould not have been turned out of the text without notice. I fuppofe lordship is put for that protection which the husband in the marriage ceremony promifes to the wife. TYRWHITT.

MALONE.

As, I believe, here fignifies as foon as. I read with Mr. Tyrwhitt, whofe emendation I have placed in the text. It may be obferved, however, that the fecond folio

reads:

I wonder, fir, wives are fuch monfters to you.

STEEVENS.

WID. I am her mother, fir, whofe age and honour
Both fuffer under this complaint we bring,
And both shall ceafe,' without your remedy.

KING. Come hither, count; Do you know these
women?

BER. My lord, I neither can, nor will deny
But that I know them: Do they charge me further?
DIA. Why do you look fo ftrange upon your
wife?

BER. She's none of mine, my lord.

DIA
If fhall marry,
you
You give away this hand, and that is mine;
You give away heaven's vows, and thofe are mine;
You give away myself, which is known mine;
For I by vow am fo embodied yours,

That fhe, which marries you, must marry me,
Either both, or none.

LAF. Your reputation [To BERTRAM.] comes too fhort for my daughter, you are no husband for her.

BER. My lord, this is a fond and desperate crea

ture,

Whom fometime I have laugh'd with: let your
highness

Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour,
Than for to think that I would fink it here.

KING. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to
friend,

Till your deeds gain them: Fairer prove your ho

shall ceafe,] i. e. deceafe, die. So, in King Lear: "Fall and ceafe." The word is used in the fame fenfe in p. 358 of the prefent comedy. STEEVENS.

DIA.

Good my lord,

Afk him upon his oath, if he does think

He had not my virginity.

KING. What fay'st thou to her?

BER.

She's impudent, my lord; And was a common gamefter to the camp.

6

DIA. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so, He might have bought me at a common price: Do not believe him: O, behold this ring, Whose high respect, and rich validity,'

Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that, it to a commoner o'the

He

gave

If I be one.

COUNT.

camp,

8

He blushes, and 'tis it:
Of fix preceding ancestors, that gem
Conferr'd by teftament to the fequent iffue,

6 -a common gamefter to the camp. The following paffage, in an ancient MS. tragedy, entitled The Second Maiden's Tragedy, will fufficiently elucidate the idea once affixed to the termgamefter, when applied to a female:

""Tis to me wondrous how you should fpare the day

"From amorous clips, much lefs the general season
"When all the world's a gamefter."

Again, in Pericles, Lyfimachus afks Marina

"Were you a gamefter at five or at feven ?"

Again, in Troilus and Creffida:

66

daughters of the game." STEEVENS.

Whofe high respect, and rich validity,] Validity means value. So, in K. Lear:

"No less in space, validity, and pleasure."

Again in Twelfth-Night:

8

"Of what validity and pitch foever." STEEVENS.

'tis it:] The old copy has-'tis hit. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. In many of our old chronicles I have found hit printed inftead of it. Hence probably the mistake here. Mr. Pope reads and 'tis his. MALONE.

Hath it been ow'd, and worn.
That ring's a thousand proofs.

KING.

This is his wife;

Methought, you faid,

You faw one here in court could witness it.

DIA. I did, my lord, but loth am to produce So bad an inftrument; his name's Parolles. LAF. I faw the man to-day, if man he be. KING. Find him, and bring him hither. BER.

What of him? He's quoted for a moft perfidious flave,

With all the spots o'the world tax'd and debofh'd;'
Whose nature fickens, but to speak a truth:*
Am I or that, or this, for what he'll utter,
That will speak any thing?

She hath that ring of

KING. yours. BER. I think, fhe has: certain it is, I lik'd her, And boarded her i'the wanton way of youth: She knew her distance, and did angle for me, Madding my eagernefs with her restraint,

9 Methought, you faid,] The poet has here forgot himself. Diana has faid no fuch thing. BLACKSTONE.

He's quoted for a moft perfidious flave,] Quoted has the fame fenfe as noted, or obferved.

So, in Hamlet:

3

"I'm forry that with better heed and judgement

"I had not quoted him." STEEVENS,

debob'd;] See a note on The Tempest, Act III. fc. ii. Vol. III. p. 95. STEEVENS.

4 Whofe nature fickens, but to speak a truth:] Here the modern editors read:

Which nature fickens with:

a moft licentious corruption of the old reading, in which the punctuation only wants to be corrected. We fhould read, as here printed:

Whofe nature fickens, but to speak a truth: i. e. only to fpeak a truth. TYRWHITT,