Fal. I would you had but the wit; 'twere better than your
dukedom.—Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth
not love me;—nor a man cannot make him laugh.”
Act ii. sc. 1. Second Carrier's speech:—
... “breeds fleas like a loach.”
Perhaps it is a misprint, or a provincial pronunciation, for “leach,” that is, blood-suckers. Had it [pg 176] been gnats, instead of fleas, there might have been some sense, though small probability, in Warburton's suggestion of the Scottish “loch.” Possibly “loach,” or “lutch,” may be some lost word for dovecote, or poultry-lodge, notorious for breeding fleas. In Stevens's or my reading, it should properly be “loaches,” or “leeches,” in the plural; except that I think I have heard anglers speak of trouts like a salmon.
Act iii. sc. 1.—
“Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.”
This “nay” so to be dwelt on in speaking, as to be equivalent to a dissyllable - u, is characteristic of the solemn Glendower; but the imperfect line
“She bids you