Iach. All too soon I shall, Unless thou would'st grieve quickly.—This Posthúmus, (Most like a noble lord in love, and one That had a royal lover,) took his hint; And, not dispraising whom we prais'd, (therein His mistress' picture; which by his tongue being made, Were crack'd of kitchen trulls, or his description Сут. Nay, nay, to the purpose. Iach. Your daughter's chastity-there it begins. In suit the place of his bed, and win this ring Than I did truly find her, stakes this ring; Of Phoebus' wheel;1 and might so safely, had it 9 as Dian] i. e. as if Dian. So, in The Winter's Tale: "he utters them as he had eaten ballads." See also, Vol. IX, p. 143, n. 2. Malone. a carbuncle &c.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled "Like Phabue' car." Steevens. Of chamber-hanging, pictures, this her bracelet, Post. Ay, so thou dost, [Coming forward. Italian fiend!-Ah me, most credulous fool, That's due to all the villains past, in being, To come!-O, give me cord, or knife, or poison, That all the abhorred things o' the earth amend, Be villainy less than 'twas!-O Imogen!. Imo. Peace, my lord; hear, hearPost. Shall's have a play of this? Thou scornful page, There lie thy part. 2 Pis. [Striking her: she falls. O, gentlemen, help, help averring notes -] Such marks of the chamber and pictures, as averred or confirmed my report. Johnson. 3 Some upright justicer!] I meet with this antiquated word in The Tragedy of Darius, 1603: this day, "Th' eternal justicer sees through the stars." Again, in Law Tricks, &c. 1608: "No: we must have an upright justicer." Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. X, ch. liv: "Precelling his progenitors, a justicer upright." Steevens. Justicer is used by Shakspeare thrice in King Lear. Henley. The most ancient law books have justicers of the peace, as frequently as justices of the peace. Reed. 4 and she herself.] That is,-She was not only the temple of virtue, but virtue herself. Johnson. Mine, and your mistress:-O, my lord Posthúmus! Сут. Pis. Wake, my mistress! Cym. If this be so, the gods do mean to strike me To death with mortal joy. Pis. How fares my mistress? Imo. O, get thee from my sight; Thou gav'st me poison: dangerous fellow, hence! Cym. Pis. Lady, The tune of Imogen! The gods throw stones of sulphur on me, if Imo. Cor. It poison'd me. O Gods!I left out one thing which the queen confess'd, Which must approve thee honest: If Pisanio Have, said she, given his mistress that confection Which I gave him for a cordial, she is serv'd As I would serve a rat. Cym. What's this, Cornelius? Do their due functions.-Have you ta'en of it? There was our error. My boys, Gui. This is sure, Fidele. 5- these staggers-1 This wild and delirious perturbation. Staggers is the horse's apoplexy. Johnson. Imo. Why did you throw your wedded lady from you? Think, that you are upon a rock;6 and now Throw me again. Post. Till the tree die! Сут. [Embracing him. Hang there like fruit, my soul, What, mak'st thou me a dullard in this act? Imo. How now, my flesh, my child? Your blessing, sir. [Kneeling. [To GUI. and ARV. Bel. Though you did love this youth, I blame ye not; You had a motive for 't. Cym. Thy mother's dead. Imo. I am sorry for 't, my lord. Cym. O, she was naught; and 'long of her it was, That we meet here so strangely: But her son 6 Think, that you are upon a rock;] In this speech, or in the answer, there is little meaning. I suppose, she would say,-Consider such another act as equally fatal to me with precipitation from a rock, and now let me see whether you will repeat it. Johnson. Perhaps only a stage direction is wanting to clear this passage from obscurity. Imogen first upbraids her husband for the violent treatment she had just experienced; then confident of the return of passion which she knew must succeed to the discovery of her innocence, the poet might have meant her to rush into his arms, and while she clung about him fast, to dare him to throw her off a second time, lest that precipitation should prove as fatal to them both, as if the place where they stood had been a rock. To which he replies, hang there, i. e. round my neck, till the frame that now supports you shall decay. Though the speeches that follow are necessary to the complete evolution of our author's plot, the interest of the drama may be said to conclude with the re-union of Posthumus and Imogen: "Fœdus, et intrepidos nox conscia jungit amantes." In defence of this remark, I may subjoin, that both Aristarchus, and Aristophanes the grammarian, were of opinion that the Odyssey should have concluded when Ulysses and Penelope 7 669 6 3 Ασπάσιοι λέκτροιο παλαιό θεσμὸν ἵκοντο.” Steevens. - a dullard — ] In this place means a person stupidly unconcerned. So, in Histriomastix, or the Player whipt, 1610: "What dullard! would'st thou doat in rusty art?" Again, Stanyhurst in his version of the first Book of Virgil, 1582: "We Moores, lyke dullards, are not so wytles abyding." Steevens. Is gone, we know not how, nor where. Pis. My lord, Now fear is from me, I'll speak troth. Lord Cloten, Upon my lady's missing, came to me With his sword drawn; foam'd at the mouth, and swore, 8 I had a feigned letter of my master's I further know not. Gui. I slew him there. Cym. Let me end the story: Marry, the gods forfend! I would not thy good deeds should from my lips Gui. I have spoke it, and I did it. Cym. He was a prince. Gui. A most uncivil one: The wrongs he did me Cym. 8 ·which directed him —] Which led or induced him. 9 I am sorry for thee:] The old copy has I am sorrow for thee. Malone. This obvious error of the press was corrected in the second folio. Malone. |