Poft. The gods protect you, And bless the good remainders of the court! I am gone. Imo. There cannot be a pinch in death More sharp than this is. Cym. O difloyal thing! That shouldft repair my youth, 4 thou heapest Imo. I befeech you, Sir, [Exit. Harm not yourself with your vexation; I thou heapest A year's age on me.] Dr. WARBURTON reads, It seems to me, even from SKINNER, whom he cites, that yare is ufed only as a perfonal quality. Nor is the authority of Skinner fufficient, without fome example, to juftify the alteration. HANMER's reading is better, but rather too far from the original copy: I read, thou heapeft many A year's age on me. thou heap'ft Years, ages on me. JOHNSON. I would receive Dr. Johnson's emendation: he is however mistaken when he fays that yare is ufed only as a perfonal quality. See Anthony and Cleopatra: Their fhips are yare, yours heavy. Yare, however, will by no means apply to Dr. Warburton's fenfe. STEEVENS. 5 a touch more rare Subdues all pangs, all fears.] Rare is ufed often for eminently good; but I do not remember any paffage in which it ftands for eminently bad. May we read, a touch more near. Cura deam propior luctufque domefticus angit. Ovid. Shall we try again, a touch more rear. Crudum vulnus. But of this I know not any example. There is yet another interpretation, which perhaps will remove the difficulty. A touch more rare, may mean a nobler passion. JOHNS. Cym. Cym. Paft grace? obedience? Imo. Paft hope, and in despair; that way, past grace. Cym. Thou might'ft have had the fole fon of my queen. Imo. O, bleft, that I might not! I chofe an eagle, And did avoid a 6 puttock. Cym. Thou took'ft a beggar; wouldft have made my throne A feat for baseness. Imo. No; I rather added A luftre to it. Cym. O thou vile one! Imo. Sir. It is your fault that I have lov'd Pofthumus Cym. What!-art thou mad? Imo. Almoft, Sir: heaven reftore me! Would I were A neat-herd's daughter, and my Leonatus Our neighbour-fhepherd's fon! Re-enter Queen. Cym. Thou foolish thing! They were again together: you have done [To the queen. Not after our command. Away with her, Queen. Befeech your patience.-Peace, your VOL. IX. beft advice. a puttock.] A kite. JOHNSON. L Cym, Cym. Nay, let her languish A drop of blood a-day; and, being aged, Die of this folly! Enter Pifanio. Queen. Fie! you must give way: [Exit Here is your fervant. How now, Sir? What news? No harm, I trust, is done? Pif. There might have been, But that my mafter rather play'd, than fought, Queen. I am very glad on't. Imo. Your fon's my father's friend; he takes his part. To draw upon an exile! O brave Sir!I would they were in Africk both together, Myfelf by with a needle, that I might prick The goer back. Why came you from your mafter? Pif. On his command. He would not fuffer me To bring him to the haven; left these notes Of what commands I fhould be subject to, When it pleas'd you to employ me. Queen. This hath been Your faithful fervant: I dare lay mine honour Pif. I humbly thank your highness. Queen. Pray, walk a while. Imo. About fome half hour hence, pray you, speak with me: You fhall, at least, go fee my lord aboard. For this time leave me. [Exeunt SCENE SCENE III. Enter Cloten and two Lords. 1 Lord. Sir, I would advise you to fhift a fhirt; the violence of action hath made you reek as a facrifice. Where air comes out, air comes in: there's none abroad fo wholesome as that you vent. Clot. If my fhirt were bloody, then to fhift itHave I hurt him? 2 Lord. No, faith: not fo much as his patience. [Afide. 1 Lord. Hurt him? his body's a paffable carcafs, if he be not hurt. It is a thorough-fare for fteel, if it be not hurt. 2 Lord. His fteel was in debt, it went o' the backfide the town. Clot. The villain would not ftand me. [Afide. 2 Lord. No, but he fled forward, ftill toward face. your [Afide. 1 Lord. Stand you? you have land enough of your own; but he added to your having; gave you fome ground. 2 Lord. As many inches as you have oceans, puppies! [Afide. Clot. I would they had not come between us. 2 Lord. So would I, till you had meafur'd how long a fool you were upon the ground. [Afide. Clot. And that the fhould love this fellow, and refufe me! 2 Lord. If it be a fin to make a true election, fhe's damn'd. [Afide. I 1 Lord. Sir, as I told you always, 'her beauty and her beauty and her brain, &c.] I believe the lord means to fpeak a sentence, "Sir, as I told you always, beauty and "brain go not together." JOHNSON. her brain go not together. 2 She's a good fign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit. 2 Lord. She shines not upon fools, left the reflection fhould hurt her. [Afide. Clot. Come, I'll to my chamber. 'Would there had been fome hurt done! [Afide. 2 Lord. I wish not fo; unless it had been the fall of an afs, which is no great hurt. Clot. You'll go with us? 1 Lord. I'll attend your lordship. Clot. Nay, come, let's go together, 2 Lord. Well, my lord. SCENE IV. Imogen's apartments. Enter Imogen and Pifanio. [Exeunt. Imo. I would thou grew'ft unto the fhores o' the haven, And question'dft every fail: if he should write, And I not have it, 'twere a paper loft As offer'd mercy is. What was the laft 2 -She's a good fign,-] If fign be the true reading, the poet means by it conftellation, and by reflection is meant influence. But I rather think, from the anfwer, that he wrote fine. So in his Venus aud Adonis, "As if, from thence, they borrowed all their fine." WARBURTON. There is acuteness enough in this note, yet I believe the poet meant nothing by fign, but fair outward fhew. JOHNSON. 'tavere a paper loft As offer'd mercy is. i. e. "Should one of his letters "mifcarry, the lofs would be as great as that of offer'd "But the Oxford Editor amends it thus, 'twere a paper loft, mercy. With offer'd mercy in it. WARBURTON. I believe the poet's meaning is, that the lofs of that paper would prove as fatal to me, as the lofs of a pardon to a condemn'd criminal. STEEVENS. |