In the Ff. there is no stop after weight, and this pointing is preserved in the Cambridge Shakespeare. Davenant, in his Law Against Lovers, gives the reading in the text, and he has been generally followed. He omits the next two lines altogether. Dr. Roberts, Provost of Eton, conjectured that "The words of heaven" should be "The sword of heaven." Henley, however, explains the passage as it stands, by an apt reference to the words in Romans ix. 15, 18: "For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy;" and "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." 24. Line 133: Like rats that RAVIN down their proper bane.-Compare Macbeth, ii. 4. 28, 29: Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up and Cymbeline, i. 6. 49: “ravining first the lamb." 25. Line 138: the MORALITY of imprisonment.—Ff. have mortality, an obvious misprint, rectified by Davenant, and adopted into the text by Rowe. 26. Line 152: the denunciation.-This word, meaning proclamation or formal declaration ("To denounce or declare," Minsheu, 1617), is only used here by Shakespeare. Dyce quotes from Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, s.v. Denunciation, "This publick and reiterated denunciation of banns before matrimony " (Hall, Cases of Conscience). Boyer (French Dictionary) has "To Denounce, V.A. (or declare) dénoncer, declarer, signifier, faire savoir," and "Denunciation, or Denouncing, S. Dénonciation, déclaration, Signification, l'Action de dénoncer, &c." 27. Line 154: Only for PROPAGATION of a dower.-F. 1 has propogation, corrected to propagation by F. 2. Various emendations have been proposed, e.g. prorogation by Malone, procuration by Jackson, and preservation by Grant White. Surely there is no need for any change in the text. Shakespeare does not use the substantive in any other passage; but he uses the verb to propagate three times, in All's Well, ii. 1. 200; Rom. and Jul. i. 1. 193; Timon, i. 1. 67. In these three passages it certainly seems to have the sense of "to improve" or "to increase." Only once, in Pericles, i. 2. 73: From whence an issue I might propagate, Shakespeare uses the verb in the sense of "to beget." Steevens, in his note, makes the curious statement,apparently on the authority of an article in the Edinburgh Magazine, November, 1786,-that "Propagation being here used to signify payment, must have its root in the Italian word pagare" (Var. Ed. vol. ix. p. 24). Propagate is derived from the Latin pro, before, forward, and pag, the root of pango, to fix. But surely either “increase," or "bring to its maturity," is the sense which best suits this passage; the meaning being that Claudio and Juliet had not declared their marriage because her dower yet remained in the absolute control of her friends; and, till their approval was gained, the two lovers thought it best to hide their love in case she should lose her dower.-F. A. M. 28. Line 162: Whether it be the FAULT AND GLIMPSE of newness. Malone explains this by assuming fault and glimpse to be used, by the figure known as hendiadys, for faulty glimpse. But may not the fault of newness mean simply the result of novelty and inexperience? 29. Line 171: like unscour'd armour.-Compare Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3. 152, 153: Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail 30. Line 172: nineteen zodiacs.-Claudio states here that the law has been in abeyance for nineteen years; in i. 3. 21 the Duke says that he has let it slip for fourteen years. No satisfactory explanation of this disagreement has been found before Dr. Brinsley Nicholson's acute suggestion, recorded in the Old-Spelling Shakspere, that the law was made nineteen years ago, but that the duke has reigned only fourteen years. 31. Line 177: tickle.-Tickle for ticklish is used again by Shakespeare in II. Henry VI. i. 1. 215, 216: the state of Normandy Stands on a tickle point. 32. Line 183: receive her approbation; i.e. enter upon her probation. Compare The Merry Devil of Edmonton, ii. 2. 70: And I must take a twelve months' approbation; and iii. 1. 17, 18: Madam, for a twelve months' approbation 33. Line 185: in my voice; i.e. in my name. Compare As You Like It, ii. 4. 87: And in my voice most welcome shall you be. 34. Line 188: There is a PRONE and speechless dialect.— Editors are much at variance as to the exact sense of the word prone as here used, some taking it to mean "prompt, ready," and others (as I think with more likelihood) understanding it as "humble, appealing," from the analogy of prone = prostrate, as in supplication. ACT I. SCENE 3. 35. Line 2: DRIBBLING dart.-The sense is evident: a weak and ineffectual missile. But while dribbling may be used figuratively in its modern sense, it is perhaps an allusion to a dribber in archery, i.e., according to Steevens, one who shoots badly. 36. Line 12: stricture; i.e. strictness. Warburton proposes strict ure (ure = use, practice); a word used in Promos and Cassandra, but not anywhere by Shakespeare. 37. Lines 20, 21: The needful bits and curbs to headstrong WEEDS, This, which is the reading of the Ff., is frequently altered by editors (following Theobald) from weeds to steeds, and from slip to sleep. Mr. W. G. Stone writes me on this passage: "Shakespeare was careless in linking metaphors. I think it possible that he combined the idea of a wellbitted horse (literally equivalent to enforcement of law), and the picture of a rank, noisome growth of weeds, suffered to spring up in a fair garden (literally equivalent to relaxation of law). I do not evade the difficulty by accepting Collins s suggestion (quoted in Schmidt's Sh. The Cambridge editors adopt Pope's conjecture and read the rod BECOMES more mock'd. The reading in the text is that adopted by the Old-Spelling editors, on the ground that becomes was not so likely to be overlooked as the inconspicuous 's after rod, which gives the same sense. 39. Line 30: The baby beats the nurse.-"This allusion," says Steevens, "was borrowed from an ancient print, entitled The World turn'd Upside Down, where an infant is thus employed." It may be questioned whether Shakespeare's powers of observation and invention were ever at so low a zero as to oblige him to "borrow from an ancient print" when he wanted to speak of a baby beating its nurse. 43. Line 30: Sir, make me not your story. This admirable expressive phrase, perfectly obvious in meaning ("make me not your jest"), has been oddly misunderstood by some editors, who have altered story to "scorn," and even "sport." Compare Merry Wives, v. 5. 170, where Falstaff, jeered at by his expected dupes, replies: "Well, I am your theme: you have the start of me." 44 Lines 31-33: though 't is my familiar sin With maids to SEEM THE LAPWING and to jest, The allusion here is probably to the lapwing's way of deceiving sportsmen by running along the ground for some distance before taking wing. Compare Comedy of Errors, iv. 2. 27, 28: 47. Line 60: But doth REBATE and blunt his natural edge.-I am indebted to Mr. Stone for the following note on this word: "Cotgrave (ed. 1632) has: 'RABATRE. To abate, deduct, defaulke, diminish, lessen, extenuate; remit, bate; giue or draw backe; also, a horse to rebate his curuet RABATRE: m. uë. f. Rebated, bated, abated, deducted, defaulcated, diminished; giuen, taken, or drawne backe.' Under Rabattre Boyer (ed. 1729) has: 'Cheval qui rabat ses Courbettes de bonne grace, (en Termes de Menage), a Horse that rebates his curvets handsomely, or finely.' Amongst the senses of 'Rabattre, v. a.' Bellows (Fr. Dict. ed. 1877) gives, 'aplatir, to flatten,' and 'Rabattu-e, a. flattened: smoothed.' Bellows's gloss admits of literal application to this line-for an edge flattened is blunted-but I think that Cotgrave's renderings-and you will observe that he uses the English rebate-are near enough; for, if an edge be abated, diminished, or lessened, clearly it is blunted. Compare Greene's Orlando Furioso: And what I dare, let say the Portingale, And Spaniard tell, who, mann'd with mighty fleets, This is the city of great Babylon, Which proud Darius was rebated from. id. p. 101, col. 1. Collier wanted to read rebutted for rebated in both these passages. Dyce says: 'Mr. Collier is greatly mistaken:the old copies are right in both passages. Greene uses rebate in the sense of beat back (which is its proper sense, -Fr. rebattre). So again in the first speech of the next play [a Looking-Glass for London and England, p. 117, col. 1] we find, Great Jewry's God, that foil'd stout Benhadad, Could not rebate the strength that Rasni brought,' &c. I suspect that Rolfe and Dyce are both wrong in connecting Eng. rebate with 'rebattre,' to beat back again. 'Rabattre seems to be nearer the sense required." Compare Massinger, The Roman Actor, iv. 2: Esop. Only, sir, a foil, The point and edge rebated, when you act, To do the murder where the Quarto reads rebutted. 48. Line 88: Soon at night; i.e. "this very night." Compare Merry Wives, ii. 2. 295 and 298: "Come to me soon at night;" II. Henry IV. v. 5 96: "I shall be sent for soon at night," &c. Better still, compare Othello, iii. 4. 198. Bianca asks Cassio if she shall see him "soon at night." Returning shortly afterwards she says-with evident reference to this invitation: "An you'll come to supper tonight, you may," &c. (iv. 1. 166). ACT II. SCENE 1. [The Provost, according to Ff., is not on at the beginning of this scene, but is made to enter at line 32, just before Angelo says, "Where is the Provost?" This is very absurd; and it is much better that he should go on at the beginning of the scene, as marked by Capell and in the stage-directions of the Acting Edition. In the arrangement of the play as acted at Drury Lane, 1824, under Macready's management, this act is thus rearranged for stage purposes. Scene 1 consists of the first part of Scene 1 as far as line 37, after which Escalus goes off; and the rest of the scene includes Scene 2 in the text, commencing with the Provost's speech, line 7, to the end of scene. Scene 2 is the scene in the street, and contains nearly all that part of Scene 1 in the text from line 41 to line 279 inclusive. Elbow enters with his halbert and two constables having hold of Pompey and Froth; Escalus enters with two apparitors immediately after Elbow's speech; and the scene continues much as in the text, with a few omissions, including the part of the Justice, which is of course unnecessary. Scene 3 is omitted altogether; the third scene being identical with Scene 4 of the text.F. A. M.] 49. Line 2: to fear; ie. to affright. Used transitively several times in Shakespeare, e.g. Merchant of Venice, ii. 1. 8, 9: I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 50. Line 8: Let but your honour KNOW.-Jolinson remarks: "To know is here to examine, to take cognizance. So in A Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 1. 67, 68: Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires; 51. Line 12: OUR blood.-So Ff. It is quite possible that this reading may be right, our meaning "our common blood," and so I let it stand; but few emendations seem more reasonable and self-justified than that of Davenant's, adopted by Rowe, and followed by most editors -your. Mr. Stone suggests that "by exchanging your for our, when using a word which might have a general application to human frailty, Escalus avoided a too personal reference in a supposititious case." 52. Line 22: what knows the law, &c.—Ff. what knowes the Lawes. 53. Line 23: 'Tis very PREGNANT. - Compare Cymbeline, iv. 2. 325: "O, 'tis pregnant, pregnant!" That is, "it is clearly evident." Some run from BREAKS of ice, and answer none; Ff. read brakes. This, following the Old-Spelling editors, I take to be merely a variant of breaks. The following is their note, given at the end of the play: "The thought uppermost in Escalus's mind is the capricious manner in which punishment is inflicted. He compares this, apparently, to the luck which enables some to clear dangerous ground in the ice, but his metaphor is abruptly abandoned with the words and answer none, &c. The form brakes occurs in the epilogue of Marston and Webster's Malcontent, 1604, where brakes evidently means breaks, flaws; not, as Steevens supposed, brake-fern which grows on uncultivated ground: Then let not too severe an eye peruse The slighter brakes of our reformed Muse, [This is one of the most difficult passages in the play, and marked with a dagger by the Globe edd. Steevens has a long and very interesting note, in the first part of which he explains the text thus: "Some run away from danger, and stay to answer none of their faults, whilst others are condemned only on account of a single frailty" (Var. Ed. vol. ix. p. 43), taking breaks to have the same meaning as that given above; but in the subsequent part of his note he produces very strong instances of the use of the word break in the sense of "a machine for torture,” and if it has that meaning, we must adopt the emendation first given by Rowe and read "brakes of rice." This was adopted also by Malone, who followed Rowe chiefly on the ground that the words answer none, i.e. “are not called to account by their conscience," show that the "brakes of vice" evidently here mean "engines of torture." Brake originally meant a kind of severe bit, used for refractory horses, and also a contrivance, used by farriers to confine the legs of horses while they were being shod. I confess that to me the reading of the text is eminently unsatisfactory, though, no doubt, the explanation quoted above makes some sense of it. I cannot see the slightest connection between the idea of running from a dangerous place on ice, and the words answer none; nor does the ice metaphor seem to me to fit in at all with the rest of the passage. It may be that we should regard these two lines as being merely the sketch of some speech which Shakespeare intended to write; but against that theory we must set the fact that the two lines are supposed to form part of a rhyming quatrain, such as we come across occasionally in blank verse scenes (e.g. in Much Ado, iv. 1. 253-256). Such passages generally contain some very sententious expressions. It is worth noting that line 38 is printed in F. 1 in italics, as if it were a quotation, which very possibly it is. In the Quarto of Hamlet, 1603, many of the lines of the speech of Corambis (Polonius) to Laertes in act i. sc. 3 are printed with inverted commas before them; and, in the Quarto of 1604, though none of the lines in the speech of Polonius to Laertes are so marked, three of the lines in the speech to Ophelia are. This rhymed quatrain, spoken by Escalus, was probably meant to embody some well-known apophthegms; and therefore the reading "brakes of vice" seems to me more suitable to the context; especially as Rowe's emendation involves such a very slight alteration of the text, and the misprint of ice for vice is one very likely to have occurred. I should take brakes to mean here not so much "engines of torture" as "means for restraint of vice," the general sense of the line being, "some escape from all restraints of vice and yet have to answer for none," while some are condemned for a single fault. We might have expected, in line 40, "for one fault alone;" but the author seems to have purposely avoided that because one would have rhymed to none at the end of the preceding line.-F. A. M.] 56 Line 54: precise villains.-Rolfe well remarks on this: "He means of course that they are precisely or literally villains; but, as Clarke notes, the word gives the impression of 'strict, severely moral,' as in i. 3. 50 above: 'Lord Angelo is precise."" 57. Line 61: he's out at elbow.-This, as Clarke observes, is "a hit at the constable's threadbare coat, and at his being startled and put out by Angelo's peremptory repetition of his name. " 58 Line 63: PARCEL-bawd.-Parcel for part is again used by Shakespeare in II. Henry IV. ii. 1. 94: "Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet." It is met with not unfrequently in the dramatic literature of the period. Compare Day, Humour out of Breath, i. 1. 58-60: Hip. My sister would make a rare beggar. Fram True, she's parcel poet, parcel fiddler already; and they Commonly sing three parts in one. 59 Lines 69 and 75: detest.-The same blundering use of detest for protest or attest is given to Mrs. Quickly in Merry Wives, i. 4. 160: "but, I detest, an honest maid as ever broke bread." 60. Line 92: stew'd prunes.-A dish proverbial in Elizabethan literature for its prevalence in brothels. It is referred to by Shakespeare in Merry Wives, i. 1. 296; I. Henry IV. iii. 3. 128; and II. Henry IV. ii. 4. 159. 61. Line 97: China dishes.-"A China dish, in the age of Shakespeare, must have been such an uncommon thing, that the Clown's exemption of it, as no utensil in use in a common brothel, is a striking circumstance in his absurd and tautological deposition" (Steevens). 62. Line 133: the Bunch of Grapes.-The practice of giving names to particular rooms in an inn seems to have been common. Compare I. Henry IV. ii. 4. 30: "Score a pint of bastard in the Half-moon;" and see the London Prodigal, i. 2, where Sir Lancelot, stopping at the George, and entering, says: "This room shall serve;" and having given his order to the drawer for a pint of sack, the drawer recapitulates, "A quart of sack in the Three Tuns" (ed. Tanchnitz, p. 229). According to the Return of a Jury VOL. V. to a Writ of Elegit, 7 May, 43 Eliz., there was, in the Tabard, Southwark, "una alia camera vocata the flower de Luce" (Hall's Society in the Elizabethan Age, 2nd ed. appendix, p. 162). 63. Line 180: Justice or Iniquity?- Escalus is of course referring to Elbow and Pompey. Ritson thinks that by Iniquity is meant the old Vice of the Moralities. Compare Richard III. iii. 1. 82, 83: Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity, and see note 305 to that play. 64. Line 200: thou art to continue.-Steevens suggests that Elbow, misinterpreting the language of Escalus, supposes that the Clown is to continue in confinement. 65. Line 215: they will draw you." Draw has here a cluster of senses. As it refers to the tapster, it signifies to drain, to empty; as it is related to hang ['they will draw you, Master Froth, and you will hang them'], it means to be conveyed to execution on a hurdle" (Johnson). In Froth's reply, drawn in is probably equivalent to "taken in." 66. Line 228: the greatest thing about you.—An allusion, it is generally supposed, to the "monstrous hose," as an old ballad calls them, or ridiculously large breeches, which were worn in the early part of Elizabeth's reign. See the lengthy note in the Variorum Shakespeare on this passage; and compare Romeo and Juliet, note 89. 67. Line 256: a bay. -Usually taken to mean the architectural term bay; i.e., according to Johnson, "the space between the main beams of the roof;" according to Dyce, a term used "in reference to the frontage." Boyer, in his French Dictionary, has "Bay or empty Place in Masonry for a Door or Window." Coles (Lat. Dict.) has "A bay of building, Mensura viginti quatuor pedum.'” Furnivall and Stone suggest "a partitioned space, box." [Pope's most obvious emendation day for bay may be noticed, only because it is so obvious, and because Pompey, cæteris paribus, would be more likely to talk about "three pence a day" for a house than "three pence a bay," even were it, as Jonson says, a common term in many parts of England. It certainly would be more satisfactory if the commentators could have found any instance of bay being used distinctly as part of a house, and not, as in the only passage quoted by Steevens, as a term of measurement. If one could come across such an expression, for instance, as "a house with many bays in it" in any work of Shakespeare's time; or if we could discover any evidence of such a phrase so used in the vernacular, it would relieve one of the doubt which every editor must now feel that such an extremely common misprint of b for d may be really the only ground for admitting into the text what is a highly characteristic expression, and one which we certainly should not wish to get rid of for the sake of so ordinary a phrase as "three pence a day." Perhaps Pompey here only means by bay a room.--F. A. M.] 68. Line 275: YOUR readiness. -Ff. THE readinesse; an evident misprint of the common contraction y (your), which was taken for y' (the). The emendation is Pope's. 225 127 69. Lines 291, 292: Just. Eleven, sir. Escal. I pray you home to dinner with me. Rolfe cites Harrison's Description of England, ed. Furnivall, p. 166: "With vs the nobilitie, gentrie, and students, doo ordinarilie go to dinner at eleuen before noone, and to supper at fiue, or between fiue and six at afternoone. The merchants dine and sup seldome before twelue at noone, and six at night especiallie in London. The husbandmen dine also at high noone as they call it, and sup at seuen or eight: but out of the tearme in our vniuersities the scholars dine at ten.' " ACT II. SCENE 2. 70. Line 4: He hath but as offended in a dream!-Grant White reads, He hath offended but as in a dream-that being of course the sense; but why change? The beauty of the line is gone, and I scarcely see that it is even made appreciably clearer. 71. Line 40: To FINE the faults whose FINE stands in record.-Fine, both as verb and noun, is several times used by Shakespeare in the sense of general, not necessarily of pecuniary, punishment. It is used again in iii. 1. 114, 115: Why would he for the momentary trick Compare Coriolanus, v. 6. 64, 65: What faults he made before the last, I think Might have found easy fines. 72. Line 53: But might you do't.—Might you may be merely a transposition of you might, perhaps for the sake of euphony. [In the Cambridge Shakespeare the passage is printed with a full stop at the end of the speech; but Ff. all agree in printing the sentence with a note of interrogation at the end after him. Walker (Critical Examination, &c., vol. ii. p. 250) suggested the emendation: "But you might do 't," which the Cambridge editors should certainly have adopted if they altered the punctuation of the Ff. If the line is to be spoken as printed in the text it must be spoken as a question, or it would not be intelligible to the audience. I cannot see any reason why the author should not have written "But you might do't," if he did not mean Isabella to ask a question. The fact that this sentence begins, like that above in line 51, with But makes it probable that, like that also, it is intended to be interrogative. On the other hand Dyce, who adopts Walker's emendation and does away with the note of interrogation, points to Isabella's speech above (line 49): --F. A. M.] Yes; I do think that you might pardon him. 73. Line 58: May call it BACK again. Well, believe this. -F. 1 reads may call it againe;-back, which improves alike metre and sense, was added in F. 2. Well, believe this, the reading of the F., is altered by Theobald to Well believe this (i.e. "be thoroughly assured of this"), and the reading is adopted by some editors. It is a very good reading, but the F. is, to say the least, quite as good, and I think better. 74. Line 76: If He, which is the TOP OF JUDGMENT.Dyce quotes from Dante, Purgatorio, vi. 37: Che cima di giudicio non s avalla; precisely the same phrase, top of judgment. The word top is often used by Shakespeare to express the highest point: compare the Tempest, iii. 1. 38: "the top of admiration;" King John, iv. 3. 45-47: This is the very top, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, Of murder's arms. 75. Line 79: Like man new made; i.e. in Johnson's common-sense phrase, "You would be quite another man." I think the references made by some commentators to Adam (as the man new made) are rather far-fetched. [Most certainly I cannot see what Adam has to do with it; but may not new made here have the scriptural sense of "regenerated?" Shakespeare is in a decidedly theological vein of mind in this speech, and it is natural, having just spoken of the effect of the Redemption, he should have in his mind "regeneration," such as our Lord explained to Nicodemus (John iii. 3-8).-F. A. M.] 76. Line 90: The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.-Holt White compares the maxim in law, Dormiunt aliquando leges, moriuntur nunquam. 77. Line 92: If the first that did the edict infringe Several emendations of this line have been proposed, where none is needed. It is one of those lines, so frequent in Shakespeare, and so ruthlessly handled by his editors, where the first unaccented half of the first foot is wanting. If we remember this-making sufficient pause on the first word to make it accentually equal to two syllables-and lay the accent of edict on the second syllable (as Shakespeare does whenever the measure requires it), we shall see that the line is strictly rhythmical and very expressive in its solemn slowness. [This is all quite true as far as the study is concerned, but no actor could speak the line, as it stands, with any effect. Of the various emendations suggested, the best perhaps is that of Capell's: "If he the first," and Grant White's: "If but the first." Davenant altered the line to "If he who first." Shakespeare is very fond of the phrase "If that," and it is quite possible that he first wrote "If that the first;" but, seeing he had too many thats in the sentence, struck out the that after If. Certainly, for stage purposes, the words If and first require to be emphasized. The emendation that would transpose the position of the last three words and read "infringe the édict," making the line end with a trochee, are, I think, much less probable. Out of eight passages in verse in which Shakespeare uses the word edict, including this one, it is accented five times on the second syllable.-F. A. M.] 78. Lines 94, 95: Looks in a glass. and, like a prophet, An allusion to the beryl-stone, in which it was supposed that the future might be seen, and the absent brought before the eyes. This picturesque superstition has been often utilized in romances and poems; the latest and greatest instance being Rossetti's ballad, "Rose Mary." 79. Line 99: But, ERE they live, to end.-Ff. print here, |