Leon. She had; and would incense me1 To murder her I married. Paul. I should so: Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark Leon. Stars, very stars, And all eyes else, dead coals!-fear thou no wife, Will you swear Paul. Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Unless another, Good madam, I have done.8 Yet, if my lord will marry,-if you will, sir, was printed in the SECOND APPENDIX to my SUPP. to SHAKSP. 1783, I have observed that the editor of the third folio made the same correction. 4 Malone. incense me-] i. e. instigate me, set me on. King Richard III: So, in Steevens. "Think you, my lord, this little prating York 5 Should rift - i. e. split. So, in The Tempest: 66 rifted Jove's stout oak." Steevens. 6 Stars, very stars,] The word-very, was supplied by Sir T. Hanmer, to assist the metre. So, in Cymbeline: 7 Affront his eye.] To affront, is to meet. Johnson. So, in Cymbeline: "Your preparation can affront no less "Than what you hear of" Steevens. 8 Paul. I have done.] These three words in the old copy make part of the preceding speech. The present regulation, which is clearly right, was suggested by Mr. Steevens. Malone. To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy Leon. My true Paulina, We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us. That Paul. Enter a Gentleman. Gent. One that gives out himself prince Florizel, The fairest I have yet beheld) desires access What with him? he comes not Leon. Gent. And those but mean. Leon. But few, His princess, say you, with him? Gent. Ay; the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the sun shone bright on. Paul. O Hermione, As every present time doth boast itself Above a better, gone; so must thy grave Give way to what 's seen now.9 Sir, you yourself 9 so must thy grave Give way to what's seen now. w.] Thy grave here means-thy beauties, which are buried in the grave; the continent for the contents. Edwards. 1 Sir, you yourself Have said and writ so,] The reader must observe, that so relates not to what precedes, but to what follows; that she had not been-equall'd. Johnson. 2 Is colder than that theme,] i. e. than the lifeless body of Hermione, the theme or subject of your writing. Malone. Pardon, madam: To say, you have seen a better. Gent. The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon) The other, when she has obtain'd your eye, Will have your tongue too. This is such a creature, 3 Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal Of all professors else; make proselytes Of who she but bid follow. Paul. How? not women? Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women. Leon. Go, Cleomenes; Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, Bring them to our embracement.—Still 'tis strange, [Exeunt CLEO. Lords, and Gent. He thus should steal upon us. Paul. Leon. Re-enter CLEOMENES, with FLORIzel, Perdita, and Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince; Your father's image is so hit in you, His very air, that I should call you brother, 3 This is such a creature,] The word such, which is wanting in the old copy, was judiciously supplied by Sir T. Hanmer, for the sake of metre. Steevens. 4 Prythee, no more; thou know'st,] The old copy redundantly reads "Pr'ythee, no more; cease; thou know'st," Cease, I believe, was a mere marginal gloss or explanation of -no more, and, injuriously to the metre, had crept into the text. Steevens. As I did him; and speak of something, wildly Amity too, of your brave father; whom, Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend," (Which waits upon worn times) hath something seiz'd His wish'd ability, he had himself The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his (He bade me say so) more than all the sceptres, O, my brother, Though bearing misery, I desire my life Once more to look on him. Steevens. There are For this incorrectness our author must answer. many others of the same kind to be found in his writings. See p. 206, n. 9. Mr. Theobald, with more accuracy, but without necessity, omitted the word him, and to supply the metre, reads in the next line-" Sir, by his command," &c. in which he has been followed, I think, improperly, by the subsequent editors. Malone. As I suppose this incorrect phraseology to be the mere jargon of the old players, I have omitted-him, and (for the sake of metre) instead of-on, read upon. So, in a former part of the present scene: "I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes —.” Again, p. 323: 6— "Strike all that look upon with marvel." Steevens. that a king, at friend,] Thus the old copy; but having met with no example of such phraseology, I suspect our author wrote-and friend. At has already been printed for and in the play before us. Malone. At friend, perhaps means, at friendship. So, in Hamlet, we have "the wind at help." We might, however, read, omitting only a single letter—a friend. Steevens. (Good gentleman!) the wrongs I have done thee, stir Of my behind-hand slackness!-Welcome hither, (At least, ungentle,) of the dreadful Neptune, Flo. She came from Libya. Leon. Good my lord, Where the warlike Smalus, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Flo. Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence Not only my success in Libya, sir, Leon. whose daughter The blessed gods His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her:] This is very ungrammatical and obscure. We may better read: whose daughter His tears proclaim'd her parting with her. The prince first tells that the lady came from Libya; the King, interrupting him, says, from Smalus? from him, says the Prince, whose tears, at parting, showed her to be his daughter. Johnson. The obscurity arises from want of proper punctuation. By placing a comma after his, I think the sense is cleared. Steevens. 8 The blessed gods -] Unless both the words here and where were employed in the preceding line as dissyllables, the metre is defective. We might read-The ever-blessed gods;-but whether there was any omission, is very doubtful, for the reason already assigned. Malone. I must confess that in this present dissyllabic pronunciation I have not the smallest degree of faith. Such violent attempts to produce metre should at least be countenanced by the shadow of examples. Sir T. Hanmer reads Here, where we happily are. Steevens. |