part in John Ritwise’s play of Dido before Queen Elizabeth, at Cambridge, in 1564;

and the Queen was so well pleased that she bestowed on him a pension of tsventy pounds a year, which is little more than a shilling a day. — R. G. White (ed. i) : This [sixpence] seems like a jest, but is not one. Sixpence sterling, in Shakespeare’s time, was equal to about eighty-seven and a half cents now — no mean gratuitous addi¬ tion to the daily wages of a weaver during life. See the following extract from a very able little tract on political economy : ‘And ye know xii. d. a day now will not go so far as viii. pence would aforetime. . . . Also where xl. shillings a yere was honest wages for a yeoman afore this time, and xx. pence a week borde wages was suf¬ ficient, now double as much will skante beare their charge.’ — A Conceipi of English Pollicy, 1581, fol. 33 b. [That any ridicule on Preston or on any one else was here cast by Shakespeare is, I think, extremely improbable. It is attributing too much intelligence to Shakespeare’s audience on the one hand, and too little to Shakespeare on the other. — Ed.]
28. couragious] W. A. Wright : It is not worth while to guess what Quince intended to say. He used the first long word that occurred to him, without reference to its meaning ; a practice which is not yet altogether extinct.
30. I am to discourse] For many examples of the various ellipses after is, see Abbott, § 405, where it is noted that * we still retain an ellipsis of under necessity in 'he phrase, “ I am (yet) to learn.” — Mer. of Ven. I, i, 5. But we should not say : “ That ancient Painter who being (under necessity) to represent the griefe of the by¬ standers,” &c. — Montaigne, 3. We should rather translate literally from Montaigne : “Ayant h repr6senter.” So Bottom Says to his fellows : “ I am (ready) to discourse," &c.’
ACT IV, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS D REA ME
199
firings to your beards, new ribbands to your pumps, 36 meete prefently at the Palace , euery man looke ore his part : for the fhort and the long is, our play is preferred :
In any cafe let Thisby haue cleane linnen : and let not him that playes the Lion, paire his nailes, for they fhall hang 40 out for the Lions clawes. And moft deare A no Onions , nor Garlicke ; for wee are to vtter fweete breath, and I doe not doubt but to heare them fay, it is a fweet Comedy. No more words : away, go away.
Exeunt. 45
38. preferred ] preferd Qq. proffer'd Theob. conj. (Nichols, ii, 237).
43. doubt but to] doubt to F3F4, Rowe + .
44. fweet] most sweet Theob. ii, Warb.
Johns.
44. go away] go, away Theob. i et seq. (subs.), go; away Coll. Dyce White.
45. Exeunt.] Om. Qq.
36. strings] Malone : That is, to prevent the false beards, which they were to wear, from falling off.— Steevens : I suspect that the ‘ good strings ’ were ornamental or employed to give an air of novelty to the countenances of the performers. [As the only authority given by Steevens to support his suspicion is where the Duke, in Meas.for Meas. IV, ii, 187, tells the Provost to shave the head of Barnardine, and * tie the beard,’ we may not unreasonably question his interpretation. — Ed.]
38. preferred] Theobald : This word is not to be understood in its most common acceptation here, as if their play was chosen in preference to the others (for that appears afterwards not to be the fact), but means that it was given in among others for the duke s option. So in Jul. Coes. Ill, i, 28 : ‘ Let him go And presently prefer his suit to Caesar.’ — W. A. Wright: That is, offered for acceptance; if Bottom’s words have a meaning, which is not always certain. — F. A. Marshall queries if it has not more probably the sense of ‘ preferred to the dignity (of being acted before the Duke).’ [Assuredly no one can be accused of inordinate self-conceit who asks for an explanation of Bottom’s phrases which were intelligible to Snug, Flute, and Snout. — Ed.]
200
A MIDSOMMER MIGHTS DREAME [act V, sc. L
Aftus Quintus . \Scene /.]
Enter Thefeus , Hippolita , Egeus and his Lords.
Hip. ’Tis flrange my Thefeus , y thefe louers fpeake of.
The. More ftrange then true. I neuer may beleeue 4