d hollydayes."]

[Note 9: /You./ On 'you' as distinct from 'thou,' see Abbott,
Sect. 232.]

[Page 4]

COBBLER. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
as you would say, a cobbler. 11

MARULLUS. But what trade art thou? answer me directly.

COBBLER. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. 15

FLAVIUS. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what
trade?

COBBLER. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 18

MARULLUS. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy
fellow?

COBBLER. Why, sir, cobble you.

FLAVIUS. Thou art a cobbler, art thou? 22

[Note 10: COBBLER | Cobl. Ff | Sec. Com. Camb.]

[Note 15: /soles/ | soules F1 F2 | soals F4.]

[Note 16: FLAVIUS | Fla. Ff | Mur. Capell | Mar. Globe Camb.]

[Note 19: MARULLUS | Mur. Ff.]

[Note 10: /in respect of/: in comparison with. So in _The
Psalter_ (Book of Common Prayer), xxxix, 6. Cf. _Hamlet_, V,
ii, 120.]

[Note 11: /cobbler/. This word was used of a coarse workman,
or a bungler, in any mechanical trade. So the Cobbler's answer
does not give the information required, though it contains a
quibble.]

[Note 12: /directly/: in a straightforward manner, without
evasion.]

[Note 15: /soles/. The First Folio spelling, 'soules,' brings
out the pun. This 'immemorial quibble,' as Craik calls it, is
found also in _The Merchant of Venice_, IV, i, 123: "Not on
thy sole, but on thy soul."]

[Note 16: Modern editors give this speech to Marullus, but the
Folio arrangement is more natural and dramatic, the two
Tribunes alternately rating the people, as Knight puts it,
like two smiths smiting on the same anvil.]

[Note 17-18: A quibble upon two common meanings of 'out'--(1)
'at variance,' as in "Launcelot and I are out," _The Merchant
of Venice_, III, v, 34; and (2) as in 'out at heels,' or 'out
at toes.']

[Page 5]

COBBLER. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's
matters, but withal I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old
shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As
proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon
my handiwork. 28

FLAVIUS. But wherefore art not in thy