mon in these plays; but there is, here, no ellipsis, though somewhat of a transposition from the natural structure of the sentence:what, at the same time, you urge and restrain; what you seem, at once, desirous and reluctant to reveal.

456. "

Not I,

"Inclin'd to this intelligence, pronounce "The beggary of his change," &c.

"I not do" has been noted as vicious, though not uncommon idiom :-this is still worse, "not I pronounce," as admitting a sense different from what is designed—not I, but some other does pronounce, &c.

459. "For such an end thou seek'st."

This is imperfectly expressed; it should be: "For such end as thou seek'st."

461. "To try your taking of a false report; which hath."

How Mr. Steevens meant to repair the metre here, we can only guess, for this is his note;"Old copy, vulgarly, and unmetrically, "taking of a."-I suppose he designed to eject" of;" but that alone would only make bad much worse. I would adopt Mr. Capel's reading:

"To try you by a false report, which hath." Or may we read, "taking off a false report," i. e. confuting the accusation.

"In the election of a sir so rare,

IVhich you know, cannot err."

i. e. His venturing to try her by a false report hath had the effect of shewing, confirmed, her great judgement, in the election of a sir, &c. which (i. e. who) cannot err. The construction is very

perverse.

466.

ACT II. SCENE II.

"I have read three hours then: mine eyes are weak."

"Hours," in this line, may be either a monosyllable or a dissyllable; but I rather think it is the latter:

"I have read three howers then: mine eyes are weak."

467. "

-Fresh lily!

"And whiter than the sheets !"

Lee's fancy reversed this image of the white sheets in The Massacre of Paris:

"Her bed, her covering, nay, her sarcenet sheets "Were black; and, for the weather's heat, "Were roll'd beneath the beauties of her breast."

468.

66 White and azure, lac'd
"With blue of heaven's own tinct.”

White and azure refers to the general complexion of the object-white, with a mixture of azure, white, laced with blue, &c.

i. e, But to my design or purpose, the business

for which I came hither, namely, to note the ticulars of the chamber.

par

"The adornment of her bed:-The arras, figures,

Why, such, and such.”

This should be the language of a person who was giving directions to another to take notes of what he himself at present could not see.-Iachimo, on the spot, and in the act of noting, would have named the express things. There is here, I think, manifest corruption.

470.

This will witness outwardly, As strongly as the conscience does within, "To the madding of her lord."

Conscience, here, implies apprehension, internal persuasion.

472. " One, two, three.”

We must either suppose that Iachimo was four hours in the trunk, or that the clock was wrong, or the maid mistaken, who told her mistress, at the beginning of the scene, that it was not yet midnight.

SCENE III.

477. "Unpaved eunuch."

This is a very whimsical expression.

479.

66

His goodness forespent on us "We must extend our notice."

i. e. His goodness, having been forespent or paid of old; he now, indeed, seems as an enemy,

but he was once a friend: the sentence is paren

thetic.

480.

The thanks I give,

"Is telling you that I am poor of thanks, "And scarce can spare them."

Hamlet expresses himself in similar terms: "Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks."

66

482. Though it be allow'd in meaner parties, To knit their souls In self-figur'd knot;

66

"Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by

"The consequence o'the crown.'

Thus, too, in Hamlet, Laertes argues with Ophelia :

His will is not his own,

"For he himself is subject to his birth; "He may not, as unvalued persons do,

"Carve for himself; for on his choice depends "The safety and the health of the whole state."

'Shrew me

If I would lose it for a révenue.”

The word "revenue" is differently accentuated in these works, to suit the metre.-In Hamlet we find the accent on the second syllable :

"That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits," &c.

484. "She's my good lady; and will conceive, I

Imogen may mean, she hopes the

queen will

consider her not to be worse than she is; but I

rather think she speaks here with a loftier spirit, and to challenge the queen's hatred, as if she had said, I wish your mother to think as unfavourably of me as she can.

SCENE IV.

485. Philario's House.-Enter Posthumus and Philario.

According to Mr. Eccles's regulation, this Scene should begin the 3d Act.

"Your sword, or mine; or masterless leaves both

"To who shall find them."

i. e. To him who shall find them :-the ellipsis is unwarrantable; I would propose:

"To him, shall find them."

My circumstances,

"Must first induce you so believe: whose strength

"I will confirm with oath.”

We should, perhaps, more properly read, "Induce you to belief, whose strength," &c. 492. "This is her honour !"

Dr. Johnson says, this is ironically uttered; but I rather interpret it, the earnest abruption of impatience, to bring Iachimo to the point,-this is a question about HER HONOUR; have done with idle circumstances, and confine yourself to that particular object.