very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duel-
list; a gentleman of the very first house, of the
first and second cause. Ah! the immortal
passado! the punto reverso! the hay! 28
Ben. The what?
Mer. The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting
fantasticoes, these new tuners of accents!—'By
Jesu, a very good blade!—a very tall man! a very
good whore.'—Why, is not this a lamentable
thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted
with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers,
these pardonnez-mois, who stand so much on
the new form that they cannot sit at ease on
the old bench? O, their bons, their bons! 38
Enter Romeo.
Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo.
Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring.
O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! Now is he
for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura
to his lady was a kitchen-wench; marry,
she had a better love to be-rime her; Dido a
dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy; Helen and Hero
hildings and harlots; Thisbe, a grey eye or so,
but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon
jour! there's a French salutation to your French
slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last
night.
25 silk button; cf. n.
26 house: school of fencing
27 cause: formal reason for a duel (?)
28 passado . . . hay: technical fencing terms: forward thrust, backhanded thrust, home thrust
30 the pox of: 'plague take'
31 fantasticoes: absurd persons
accents: language
32 tall: valiant
34 grandsire; cf. n.
35 flies: worthless persons
36 pardonnez-mois; cf. n.
40 roe; cf. n.
41 flesh: human nature
42 Petrarch; cf. n.
46 hildings: baggages
49 slop: loose breeches
counterfeit: counterfeit coins were called slips
