Cambrian, 1623: "He goes to the fcrivener's fhop, VOL. IV., where fodainly and unawares he finds him faying his praiers, TWELFTH while he was withal croffe-gartering of himselfe; and had he NIGHT. not knowne him better by his craffe-garters than by his praiers, questionless he had loft his labour." STEEVENS. 228. After the laft enchantment you did hear.] I have not the leaft doubt that Dr. Warburton's conjecture is right.Throughout the firft edition of our author's Rape of Lucrece, which was probably printed under his own infpection, the word that we now fpell here, is conftantly written heare. So alfo in many other ancient books. Viola had not fimply heard that a ring had been fent; she had feen and talked with the meffenger. Befides, "after the last enchantment you did hear," is fo aukward an expreflion, that it is very unlikely to have been Shakspeare's. MALONE. 233. Add to my note ] So, in a Dialogue of the Phonix, &c. by R. Chester, 1601: The little wren that many young ones brings." STEEVENS: Again, in Sir Philip Sidney's Ourania, a poem, by N. B. 1606 : "The titmoufe, and the multiplying wren." 234. And thanks and ever: oft good turns Are fouffled off &c.] MALONE. In the fecond folio, whether by accident or defign, thefe two lines are omitted. MALONE. 235. 'gainst the duke his gallies] The only authentick copy of this play reads: the count his gallies. There is no need of change. Orfino is called count throughout this play, as often as duke. MALONE. 236. what beflow of him?] Surely of is an error of the prefs, in the old copy, for on. MALONE. 239.be opposite with a kinfman] Oppofite, here, as in many other places, means-adverfe, hoftile. MALONE. 251.0'er-flourish'd by the devil.] To follow Steevens's note.-Again, in his 60th Sonnet: "Time doth transfix the flourish fet on youth." The following lines in K. Richard II. as exhibited in England's Parnaffus, 1600, confirm Mr. Steevens's obferva tion: "The purest treasure mortal times afford VOL. IV. "Is fpotlefs reputation ;that away, "Men are but gilded trunks, or painted clay." MALONE. 259. After Smith's note] Mr. Smith is, I believe, right. It appears from a paffage in Decker's Honeft Whore, 1615, that the Italian proverb had been adopted in English: "O my lord, these cloaks are not for this rain." MALONE. 268. Though I confefs on bafe and ground enough,] I once thought that thefe words were tranfpofed at the prefs, and wished to read: Though I confefs, and on base ground enough, But the old copy is right; bafe is here a substantive. MALONE. 271. A contract of eternal bond of love.] I fufpect the poet wrote: A contract and eternal bond of love. MALONE. 272. Add to my note.] This expreffion occurs again in Antony and Cleopatra: "The cafe of that huge fpirit now is cold." MALONE. 277.where lie my maid's weeds.] The old copy reads: Where lie my maiden weeds. The metre is rather hurt than improved by this unneceffary change. MALONE. 278. A most extracting frenzy of mine own.] Since I wrote my former note, I have met with a paffage in the Hyflorie of Hamblet, bl. 1. 1608. Sig. C 2. that feems to fupport the reading of the old copy: " to try if men of great account be extract out of their wits." MALONE. Ibid. To follow Steevens's note.] I rather think the meaning is If you would have it read in character, as fuch a mad epifle ought to be read, you must permit me to affume a frantick tone. MALONE. 279. So much against the mettal of your fex] The old copy reads, I think rightly: So much against the mettle of your sex. i. e. fo much against the natural difpofition of your fex. So, in Macbeth: "thy undaunted mettle fhould compofe "Nothing but males." The reading which has been fubftituted, affords, in my apprehenfion, no meaning. Mettle is here, as in many other places, ufed for fpirit, or rather for timidity, or deficiency of Spirit. Our Our author has taken the fame licence in All's Well that VOL. IV. ends Well: ""Tis only title thou difdain'ft in her i. e. the want of title. Again, in K. Rich. III : "The forfeit, fovereign, of my fervant's life." i. e. the remiffion of the forfeit. MALONE. 281. Then cam'ft in fmiling.] This paffage, as it now ftands, is ungrammatical. I fuppofe we may fafely read: Thou cam'ft in fmiling. MALONE. TWELFTH THE WINTER's TALE. 297. And clap thyself my love-] After Steevens's WINTER'S note.-Again, in No Wit like a Woman's, a comedy, by TALE. Middleton, 1657: 66 -The hour draws on, "At the new-married widow's; there we are look'd for ; "There will be entertainments, fports and banquets ; "There these young lovers fhall clap hands together." MALONE. 308. wishing clocks more fwift.] There fhould be a note of interrogation after fwift. MALONE. 309. Why be that wears her like her medal-] I fufpect the poet wrote:like a medal-So, in K. Henry VIII. a loss of her, "That like a jewel has hung twenty years The word her having occurred juft before in the line, the compofitor probably repeated it inadvertently. MALONE. 312. If I could find example &c.] An allufion to the death of the queen of Scots. The play therefore was written in king James's time. E. 317. Part of his theme &c.] Add to my note.-We meet a fimilar phrafeology in Twelfth Night: "Do me this courteous office as to know of the knight what my offence to him is; it is fomething of my negligence, nothing of my purpose." MALONE. 323. But VOL. IV. 323. But with her moft vile principal—] In my note, for WINTER'S alone read only. Add-It has the fame fignification again in this fcene: TALE. "He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty, Ibid. He who fhall speak for her, is, afar off guilty, To follow Johnfon's note.-Dr. Johnfon is certainly "The dauphin's meaning ?" MALONE. 326. The fecond and the third nine, and fome five.] This line appears obfcure, because the word nine feems to refer to both the fecond and the third." But it is fufficiently clear, referendo fingula fingulis. The fecond is of the age of nine, and the third is fome five years old. The fame expreffion, as Theobald has remarked, is found in K. Lear: "For that I am, fome twelve or fourteen moonshines, "Lag of a brother." MALONE. 328. do push on this proceeding.] The old copy reads: doth pufh &c. which is more accurate than what hath been filently fubftituted in its place: -Camillo's flight, "Added to their familiarity, 66 -doth push on this proceeding." MALONE. 344. To follow Johnfon's note] It is frequently used in the former fenfe in Othello, Act V. "He fays, thou told'st him that his wife was false.” Again: 66 -Thou art rafh as fire "To fay that fhe was falfe." MALONE. 345. With what encounter &c.] To strain, I believe, here fignifies to fwerve. The word occurs again nearly in the fame fenfe in Romeo and Juliet: "Nor aught fo good but flrain'd from that fair use, A bed-fwerver has already occured in this play. MALONE. 351. Thou would't have poifon'd good Camillo's honour.] How fhould Paulina know this? No one had charged the king with this crime except himfelf, while Paulina was abfent, attending on Hermione. The poet feems to have forgot this circumftance. MALONE. 360. And 360. And leave the growth untry'd-] To follow VOL. IV. Johnfon's note 3.] Dr. Johnfon's explanation of growth is WINTER'S confirmed by a fubfequent paffage : "I turn my glafs, and give my scene such growing, So, in Pericles, 16c9: "Now to Marina bend your mind, "Whom our faft-growing scene muft find." MALONE. 364. Millingly noted.] The fenfe is, I think, improved by Sir T. Hanmer's conjecture, which I believe to be right. "I have musingly noted," means, I have viewed with admiratin. So, in Holinfhed's Chron. p. 921. "It made all the noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen, to mufe what it fhould mean." Again, in our author's Macbeth: Mufe not, my worthy friends." "MALONE. 379. In my note, for 1608, read 1613. And add-Again, in The Two Noble Kinfmen, by Shakspeare and Fletcher, 1634: what a brow, "Of what a fpacious majesty he carries, Spenfer, as well as our author, has attributed beauty to the eye-lid: "Upon her eye-lids many graces fate, Faery Queen, B. II. c. iii. ft. 25. MALONE. 390. To follow Steevens's note.] Again, in FitzJeoffery's Satires and Satirical Epigrams, 1617: "O Venus, how a'-life I favour it !" MALONE. 391. and was turn'd into a cold fish, for fhe &c.] For has has here the fignification of becaufe. So, in Othello: -or for I am declin'd Again : "Into the vale of years." Haply for I am black." MALONE. 398. Looks on alike.] This is fenfe; but I fufpect that a word was omitted at the prefs, and that the poet wrote: Looks on both alike. MALONE. VOL. I. L 404. Your TALE. |