SILVIA How tall was she?

JULIA  About my stature; for at Pentecost,

When all our pageants of delight were played,

Our youth got me to play the woman’s part,

And I was trimmed in Madam Julia’s gown,

Which served me as fit, by all men’s judgements,

As if the garment had been made for me;

Therefore I know she is about my height. (4.4.143-150)

This is at least partly a comic set piece which Shakespeare will go on to develop in his later cross-dressing comedies—the woman in disguise discussing her real identity in the third person—but here it’s also the occasion for a poignant nostalgia, as Julia remembers her former life as if it had been lived by someone else. How tall was she? asks Silvia, a slightly odd question, mostly just to occasion Julia’s reply. Julia was about my stature—my height, give or take—says Julia… And how do I know this? Well, at Pentecost—the Whitsun holiday, often associated with revels and entertainments—when all our pageants of delight were played, our youth got me to play the woman’s part. I had to dress up and perform as a woman, the other boys made me! And I was trimmed in Madam Julia’s gown, that was what they dressed me up in, her very own. It fitted perfectly, everyone said so, served me as fit, by all men’s judgements, as if the garment had been made for me. A little vignette of a more innocent, playful time—presumably, rather than inventing it, Julia is remembering that she played the part herself, in her own dress, with her friends. Dressing up then was a playful game, rather than a matter of betrayal, risk, and perhaps life and death. A slightly bathetic conclusion: therefore I know she is about my height. But there’s more to come…