That makes thee ftare thus? Wherefore breaks that

figh

From the inward of thee? One, but painted thus,
Would be interprèted a thing perplex'd
Beyond felf-explication: Put thyfelf

Into a haviour of lefs fear, ere wildness
Vanquish my ftaider fenfes. What's the matter?
Why tender'ft thou that paper to me, with
A look untender? If it be fummer news,
Sinile to't before: if winterly, thou need'st
But keep that countenance ftill. My husband's
hand!

4

That drug-damn'd'Italy hath out-crafted him, And he's at fome hard point.--Speak, man; thy tongue

May take off fome extremity, which to read
Would be even mortal to me.

Pif. Please you, read; ~.

And you fhall find me, wretched man, a thing
The most difdain'd of fortune.

found the name of Paladour, Arviragus is introduced, with the fame neglect of quantity as in this play:

2

Windfor, a caftle of exceeding ftrength,

First built by Arviragus, Britaine's king."

MALONE.

haviour] This word, as often as it occurs in Shakfpeare, fhould not be printed as an abbreviation of behaviour. Haviour was a word commonly used in his time. See Spenfer, Eglogue 9:

"Their ill baviour garres men miffay." STEEVENS.

-if it be fummer news,

Smile to't before:] So, in our author's 98th Sonnet:
"Yet not the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
"Of different flowers in odour and in hue,

Could make me any summer's fory tell." MALONE. -drug-damn'd] This is another allufion to Italian poifons. JOHNSON.

That drug-dam'd Italy hath out-crafted him,] Folio:

-out-craftied. MALONE.

7

Imogen

Imogen reads.

Thy mistress, Pifanio, hath play'd the ftrumpet in my bed; the teftimonies whereof lie bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak furmifes; but from proof as ftrong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. That part, thou, Pifanio, must act for me, if thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers. Let thine own hands take away her life: Ifhall give thee opportunity at Milford-Haven: fhe bath my letter for the purpose: Where, if thou fear to ftrike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pandar to her dishonour, and equally to me difloyal.

Pif. What fhall I need to draw my fword? the

paper

Hath cut her throat already.- No, 'tis flander;
Whose edge is sharper than the fword; whose tongue
Out-venoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the pofting winds, and doth belye
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the fecrets of the grave
This viperous flander enters.-What cheer, madam?
Imo. Falfe to his bed! What is it, to be falfe?

6

To lie in watch there, and to think on him?
To weep 'twixt clock and clock? if fleep charge

nature,

To break it with a fearful dream of him,

And cry myself awake? that's falfe to his bed?
Is it?

Pif. Alas, good lady!

Imo. I falfe? Thy confcience witness :-Iachimo, Thou didst accufe him of incontinency;

worms of Nile ;- -] Serpents and dragons by the old writers were called worms. Of this, feveral inftances are given in the last act of Antony and Cleopatra. STEEVENS.

ftates,] Perfons of highest rank. JOHNSON.

VOL. IX.

T

Thou

8

Thou then look'dst like a villain; now, methinks,
Thy favour's good enough. Some jay of Italy,
* Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him:
"Poor I am ftale, a garment out of fashion;
And, for I am richer than to hang by the walls,
I must be ript:-to pieces with me!-O,
Men's vows are women's traitors! All good feeming,
By thy revolt, O, husband, fhall be thought
Put on for villainy; not born, where't grows;
But worn, a bait for ladies.

Pif. Good madam, hear me.

7-Some jay of Italy,] There is a prettinefs in this expreffion; putta, in Italian, fignifying both a jay and a whore: I fuppofe from the gay feathers of that bird. WARBURTON.

So, in the Merry Wives, &c. " teach him to know turtles from jays." STEEVENS.

Whofe mother was her painting,-] This puzzles Mr. Theobald much: he thinks it may fignify, whofe mother was a bird of the fame feather; or that it fhould be read, whofe mother was her planting. What all this means I know not. In Mr. Rowe's edition, the M in mother happening to be reversed at the prefs, it came out Wother. And what was very ridiculous, Gildon employed himfelf (properly enough indeed) in finding a meaning for it. In fhort, the true word is meether, a north coun try word, fignifying beauty. So that the fenfe of, ber meether was her painting, is, that he had only an appearance of beauty, for which she was beholden to her paint. WARBURTON.

Some jay of Italy, made by art the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this fenfe painting may be not improperly termed her mother. JOHNSON.

I met with a fimilar expreffion in one of the old comedies, but forgot to note the date or name of the piece:

"" parcel of conceited feather-caps, whofe fathers were their garments." STEEVENS.

In All's Well that ends Well, we have:

whofe judgments are

"Mere fathers of their garments." MALONE.

• Poor I am fiale, a garment out of fashion ;] This image occurs in Weftward for Smelts, 1620, immediately at the conclufion of the tale on which our play is founded: " But (faid the Brainford fish-wife) I like her as a garment out of fashion."

STEEVENS.

Imo. True honeft men being heard, like falfe

Æneas,

Were, in his time, thought falfe and Sinon's

weeping

Did fcandal many a holy tear; took pity
From most true wretchednefs:

humus,

So, thou, Poft

Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men;

Goodly, and gallant, fhall be falfe, and perjur'd,
From thy great fail.-Come, fellow, be thou honest:
Do thou thy master's bidding: When thou fee'ft him,
A little witness my obedience: Look!

I draw the fword myfelf: take it; and hit
The innocent manfion of my love, my heart:
Fear not; 'tis empty of all things, but grief:
Thy master is not there; who was, indeed,
The riches of it: Do his bidding; ftrike.
Thou may'st be valiant in a better cause;
But now thou seem'st a coward.

Pif. Hence, vile inftrument!
Thou shalt not damn my hand.
Imo. Why, I muft die;

And if I do not by thy hand, thou art

So, thou, Pofthumus,

Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men ;] When Pofthumus thought his wife falfe, he unjuftiy fcandalized the whole fex. His wife here, under the fame impreffions of his infidelity, attended with more provoking circumftances, acquits his fex, and lays the fault where it is due. The poet paints from nature. This is life and manners. The man thinks it a dishonour to the fuperiority of his understanding to be jilted, and therefore flatters his vanity into a conceit that the difgrace was inevitable from the general infidelity of the fex. The woman, on the contrary, not imagining her credit to be at all affected in the matter, never feeks out for fo extravagant a confolation; but at once eafes her malice and her grief, by laying the crime and damage at the door of fome obnoxious coquet. WARBURTON.

Hanmer reads:

lay the level

without any neceflity. JOHNSON.

Ta

Νο

No fervant of thy master's: Against felf-flaughter There is a prohibition fo divine,

2

That cravens my weak hand. Come, here's my

heart;

Something's afore't:-Soft, foft; we'll no defence; Obedient as the fcabbard.--What is here?

3 The fcriptures of the loyal Leonatus,

All turn'd to herefy? Away, away,

Corrupters of my faith! you fhall no more
Be ftomachers to my heart! Thus may poor fools
Believe false teachers: Though those that are be-
tray'd

Do feel the treafon fharply, yet the traitor
Stands in worfe cafe of woe.

And thou, Pofthumus, that diddeft set up
My disobedience 'gainst the king my father,
And mad'ft me put into contempt the fuits
Of.princely fellows, fhalt hereafter find
It is no act of common paffage, but
A ftrain of rarenefs: and I grieve myself,
To think, when thou fhalt be dif-edg'd by her
*That now thou tir'ft on, how thy memory

Will then be pang'd by me.--Pr'ythee, difpatch:
The lamb entreats the butcher: Where's thy knife?
Thou art too flow to do thy mafter's bidding,
When I defire it too.

Pif. O gracious lady!

Since I receiv'd command to do this business,

I have not slept one wink.

Imo. Do't, and to bed then.

Something's afore't] The old copy reads:

Something's a-foot

JOHNSON.

3 The fcriptures] So Ben Jonson, in The fad Shepherd: The lover's fcriptures, Heliodore's, or Tatius'," Shakspeare, however, means in this place, an opposition between fcripture, in its common fignification, and berely. STEEVENS. 4 That now thou tir'ft on,-] A hawk is faid to tire upon that which he pecks; from tirer, French. JOHNSON.

Pif.