I was about to say, enjoy your-But
It is an office of the gods to venge it,
Not mine to speak on't.

Imo. You do feem to know

Something of me, or what concerns me; Pray you, (Since doubting things go ill, often hurts more Than to be fure they do: For certainties Either are paft remedies; or, timely knowing, 5 The remedy then born) difcover to me What both you fpur and ftop.

Iach. Had I this cheek

To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whofe touch
Whofe every touch, would force the feeler's foul
To the oath of loyalty; this object, which
Takes prifoner the wild motion of mine eye,
7 Fixing it only here: fhould I (damn'd then)
Slaver with lips as common as the stairs

That mount the Capitol; 'join gripes with hands

Made

A timely knowing,] Rather timely known. JOHNSON. The remedy then born] We should read, I think:

The remedy's then born- MALONE.

• What both you fpur and stop.] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and reftrains you from it. JOHNSON.

What both you fpur and fiop.] I think Imogen means to enquire what is that news, that intelligence, or information, you profefs to bring, and yet with-hold: at least I think Dr. Johnfon's explanation a miftaken one, for Imogen's request supposes Iachimo an agent, not a patient. Sir J. HAWKINS.

I think my explanation true. JoHNSON.

7 Fixing it only here:] The folio, 1623, reads-fering. The reading of the text is that of the fecond folio. MALONE. As common as the stairs

That mount the Capitol;] Shakspeare has beftowed fome ornament on the proverbial phrafe as common as the highway." STEEVENS.

9 join gripes with hands, &c.] The old edition reads, join gripes with hands

Made hard with hourly falihood (falfhood as
With labour) then by peeping in an eye, &c.

I read,

Made hard with hourly falfhood (falfhood, as
With labour) then lie peeping in an eye,
Bafe and unluftrous as the fmoky light
That's fed with ftinking tallow; it were fit,
That all the plagues of hell fhould at one time
Encounter fuch revolt.

Imo. My lord, I fear,
Has forgot Britain.

Iach. And himfelf. Not I,

Inclin'd to this intelligence, pronounce

The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces That, from my muteft confcience, to my tongue, Charms this report out.

Imo. Let me hear no more.

Iach. O dearest foul! your caufe doth ftrike my
heart

With pity, that doth make me fick. A lady
So fair, and faften'd to an empery',

Would make the greateft king double! to be

partner'd

With tomboys, 3 hir'd with that felf-exhibition.

I read,

-then lye peeping

Which

The author of the prefent regulation of the text I do not know, but have fuffered it to ftand, though not right. Hard with falfhood is, hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. JOHNSON.

join gripes with hands

Made bourly hard by falfhood, as by labour;

Then glad myself with peeping in an eye,] Mr. Rowe first regulated the paffage thus, as it has been handed down by fucceeding editors; but the repetition which they wished to avoid, is now restored, for if it be not abfolute nonfenfe, why should we refufe to follow the old copy? STEEVENS.

to an empery,] Empery is a word fignifying fovereign command; now obfolete. Shakspeare uses it in another play: Your right of birth, your empery, your own." STEEVENS.

2 With tomboys,] We ftill call a mafculine, a forward girl, a tamboy. So in Middleton's Game at Chefs: Made threefcore year a tomboy, a mere wanton."

Which your own coffers yield! with difeas'd ventures,
That play with all infirmities for gold

Which rottennefs can lend nature! fuch boil'd ftuff*,
As well might poifon poison! Be reveng'd;
Or fhe, that bore you, was no queen, and you
Recoil from your great stock.

Imo. Reveng'd!

How should I be reveng'd? If this be true,

Again, in Lylly's Midas, 1592: "If thou should'ft rigg up and down in our jackets, thou wouldst be thought a very tomboy." Again, in Lady Alimony:

"What humourous tomboys be these?

"The only gallant Meffalinas of our age."

It appears, from feveral of the old plays and ballads, that the ladies of pleasure, in the time of Shakspeare, often wore the habits of young men. So in an ancient bl. 1. ballad, entitled The Stout Criple of Cornwall:

"And therefore kept them fecretlie

66

"To feede his fowle defire,

Apparell'd all like gallant youthes
"In Page's trim attyre.

"He gave them for their cognizance
"A purple bleeding heart,

"In which two filver arrowes feem'd
"The fame in twaine to part.
"Thus fecret were his wanton sports,
"Thus private was his pleasure;
"Thus harlots in the shape of men

"Did waft away his treasure."

Verftegan, however, gives the following etymology of the word tomboy. "Tumbe. To dance. Tumbod, danced; heerof wee yet call a wench that skippeth or leapeth lyke a boy, a tomboy our name alfo of tumbling cometh from hence."

:

STEEVENS.

hir'd with that self-exhibition] Gross frumpets, hired with the very penfion which you allow your husband. JOHNSON. -fuch boil'd stuff,] So in the Old Law by Maflinger:

look parboil'd,

"As if they came from Cupid's fcalding-house."

STEEVENS.

I believe the meaning is,-fuch corrupted ftuff; from the fubftantive boil. So, in Coriglanus:

boils and plagues

"Plaifter you o'er!"

MALONE.

(As

(As I have fuch a heart, that both mine ears
Muft not in hafte abuse) if it be true,
How should I be reveng'd?

Iach. Should he make me

Live like Diana's prieft, betwixt cold sheets;
Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,

In your defpight, upon your purfe? Revenge it.
I dedicate myself to your fweet pleasure;
More noble than that runagate to your bed;
And will continue faft to your affection,
Still close, as fure.

Imo. What ho, Pifanio!

Iach. Let me my fervice tender on your lips.
Imo. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that have
So long attended thee.-If thou wert honourable,
Thou would't have told this tale for virtue, not
For fuch an end thou feek'ft; as bafe, as ftrange.
Thou wrong'ft a gentleman, who is as far
From thy report, as thou from honour; and
Solicit'ft here a lady, that difdains

Thee and the devil alike :-What ho, Pifanio!-
The king my father shall be made acquainted
Of thy affault: if he shall think it fit,
A faucy ftranger, in his court, to mart
As in a Romish ftew, and to expound

His

Let me my fervice tender on your lips.] Perhaps this is an alluLon to the ancient custom of fwearing fervants into noble families. So in Caltha Poetarum, &c. 1599:

-the fwears him to his good abearing,

" Whilst her faire sweet lips were the books of fwearing." STEEVENS.

'As in a Romish ftew,-] Romish was in the time of Shakspeare used instead of Roman. There were ftews at Rome in the time of Auguftus. The fame phrase occurs in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

-my mother deem'd me chang'd, "Poor woman! in the loathfome Romish fewes:” and the author of this piece seems to have been a scholar. VOL. IX.

Again,

His beatly mind to us; he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter whom
He not refpects at all. What ho, Pifanio!
Iach. O happy Leonatus! I may say;

The credit, that thy lady hath of thee,

Deferves thy truft; and thy moft perfect goodness Her affur'd credit!-Bleffed live you long!

A lady to the worthieft fir, that ever

Country call'd his! and you his mistress, only
For the moft worthieft fit! Give me your pardon.
I have fpoke this, to know if your affiance

Were deeply rooted; and shall make
your lord,
That which he is, new o'er: And he is one
The trueft manner'd; fuch a holy witch,
That he enchants focieties unto him:
Half all men's hearts are his.

Imo. You make amends.

Iach. He fits 'mongst men, like a defcended god:

He hath a kind of honour fets him off,

More than a mortal feeming. Be not angry,
Moft mighty princess, that I have adventur'd
To try your taking of a falfe report; which hath
Honour'd with confirmation your great judgment
In the election of a fir fo rare,

Which you know, cannot err: The love I bear him

Again, in Wit in a Conftable, by Glapthorne, 1640:

"A Romish cirque, or Grecian hippodrome." Again, in Tho. Drant's tranflation of the first epistle of the fecond book of Horace, 1567:

"The Romishe people wife in this, in this point only just.”

STEEVENS.

He fits 'mongst men, like a defcended god:] The reading of the text, which was furnished by the fecond folio, is fupported by a paffage in Hamlet:

A ftation like the herald Mercury, "New lighted on a heaven-kifling hill."

The first folio reads:

like a defended god.

MALONE.

Made