Profess myself the winner of her honour, By both your wills. Post. If you can make 't apparent Iach. Sir, my circumstances, Post. Iach. Proceed. First, her bed-chamber, In workmanship, and value; which, I wonder'd, 9 7 Had that was well worth watching,] i. e. that which was well worth watching, or lying awake for. See p. 57, n. 5. Malone. 8 And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for The press of boats, or pride: Iachimo's language is such as a skilful villain would naturally use, a mixture of airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shows his seriousness to be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be without art. Johnson. 9 which, I wonder'd, Could be so rarely and exactly wrought, Since the true life on 't was —] This passage is nonsense as it stands, and therefore the editors have supposed to be an imperfect sentence. But I believe we should amend it by reading Such the true life on 't was, instead of since. We frequently say the life of a picture, or of a statue; and without alteration the sentence is not complete. M. Mason. This is true;1 Post. And this you might have heard of here, by me, Or by some other. Iach. Must justify my knowledge. Post. More particulars So they must, The chimney Or do your honour injury. Iach. Post. This is a thing, Which you might from relation likewise reap; Iach. The roof o' the chamber With golden cherubins is fretted:4 Her andirons (I had forgot them) were two winking cupids Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely 1 This is true;] The present deficiency in the metre, shows that some word has been accidentally omitted in this or in the preceding hemistich. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads: 2 So likely to report themselves:] So near to speech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is remarkable, a speaking picture. Johnson. 3 Was as another nature, dumb;] The meaning is this: The sculptor was as nature, but as nature dumb; he gave every thing that nature gives, but breath and motion. In breath is included speech Johnson. 4 With golden cherubins is fretted:] The same tawdry image occurs again in King Henry VIII: 66 their dwarfish pages were "As cherubins, all gilt." The sole recommendation of this Gothick idea, which is triti. cally repeated by modern artists, seems to be, that it occupies but little room on canvas or marble; for chubby, unmeaning faces, with ducks' wings tucked under them, are all the circumstances that enter into the composition of such infantine and absurd representatives of the choirs of heaven. Steevens. -fretted:] So again, in Hamlet: "this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire." So, Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. II, ch.ix: "In a long purple pall, whose skirt with gold "Was fretted all about, she was array'd." Malone. Depending on their brands.5 Post. This is her honour! Let it be granted, you have seen all this,7 (and praise The wager you have laid. Iach. Be pale; I beg but leave to air this jewel: See!- To that your diamond; I'll keep them. 5 Post. nicely Jove! Depending on their brands.] I am not sure that I understand this passage. Perhaps Shakspeare meant that the figures of the Cupids were nicely poized on their inverted torches, one of the legs of each being taken off the ground, which might render such a support necessary. Steevens. I have equal difficulty with Mr. Steevens in explaining this passage. Here seems to be a kind of tautology. I take brands to be a part of the andirons, on which the wood for the fire was supported, as the upper part, in which was a kind of rack to carry a spit, is more properly termed the andiron. These irons, on which the wood lies across, generally called dogs, are here termed brands. Whalley. It should seem from a passage in The Black Book, a pamphlet published in 1604, that andirons in our author's time were sometimes formed in the shape of human figures: "-ever and anon turning about to the chimney, where he sawe a paire of corpulent gigantick andirons, that stood like two burgomasters at both corners." Instead of these corpulent burgomasters, Imogen had Cupids. The author of the pamphlet might, however, only have meant that the andirons he describes were uncommonly large. Malone. 6 Let it be granted, &c.] Surely, for the sake of metre, we should read, with some former editor: Be it granted, &c. Steevens. 7 This is her honour! Let it be granted, you have seen all this, &c.] The expression is ironical. Iachimo relates many particulars, to which Posthumus answers with impatience: "This is her honour!". That is, And the attainment of this knowledge is to pass for the corruption of her honour. Johnson. 8 if you can, Be pale;] If you can forbear to flush your cheek with rage. Johnson. Once more let me behold it: Is it that Iach. Sir, (I thank her) that: She stripp'd it from her arm; I see her yet; Her pretty action did outsell her gift, And yet enrich'd it too: She gave it me, and said, Post. To send it me. Iach. May be, she pluck'd it off, She writes so to you? doth she? Post. O, no, no, no; 'tis true. Here, take this too; [Gives the Ring. It is a basilisk unto mine eye, Kills me to look on 't:-Let there be no honour, Phi. Have patience, sir, And take your ring again; 'tis not yet won: It may be probable, she lost it; or, Who knows if one of her women,2 being corrupted, Post. Very true; And so, I hope, he came by 't:-Back my ring;- Iach. By Jupiter, I had it from her arm. Post. Hark you, he swears; by Jupiter he swears. 'Tis true;-nay, keep the ring-'tis true: I am sure, 9 And yet enrich'd it too:] The adverb-too, which hurts the me tre, might safely be omitted, the expression being sufficiently forcible without it. Steevens. 1 The vows of women -] The love vowed by women no more abides with him to whom it is vowed, than women adhere to their virtue. Johnson. 2 if one of her women,] Of was supplied by the editor of the second folio. Malone. 3 Hath stolen it from her ] Sir Thomas Hanmer (for some werd's are here deficient) has perfected the metre by reading: Might not have stolen it from her. Steevens. She would not lose it: her attendants are All sworn, and honourable:4-They induc'd to steal it! And by a stranger?-No; he hath enjoy'd her: The cognizances of her incontinency Is this, she hath bought the name of whore thus dearly. There, take thy hire; and all the fiends of hell Divide themselves between you! Phi. This is not strong enough to be believ'd Post. She hath been colted by him. Iach. Sir, be patient: Never talk on 't: If you seek For further satisfying, under her breast (Worthy the pressing) lies a mole, right proud Of that most delicate lodging: By my life, I kiss'd it; and it gave me present hunger her attendants are All sworn, and honourable:] It was anciently the custom for the attendants on our nobility and other great personages (as it is now for the servants of the king) to take an oath of fidelity, on their entrance into office. In the household book of the 5th Earl of Northumberland (compiled A. D. 1512) it is expressly ordered [p. 49] that "what person soever he be that commyth to my Lordes service, that incontynent after he be intred in the chequyrroull [check-roll] that he be sworn in the countynge-hous by a gentillman-usher or yeman-usher in the presence of the hede officers; and on theire absence before the clerke of the kechynge either by such an oath as is in the Book of Othes, yff any such [oath] be, or ells by such an oth as thei shall seyme beste by their discretion." Even now every servant of the king's, at his first appointment is sworn in, before a gentleman usher, at the lord chamberlain's office. Percy. 5 The cognizance-] The badge; the token; the visible proof. Johnson. So, in King Henry VI, P. I: "As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate." Steevens. 6 (Worthy the pressing)] Thus the modern editions. The old folio reads: (Worthy her pressing) -. Johnson. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The compositor was probably thinking of the word her in the preceding line, which he had just composed. Malone. |