Report should render him hourly to your ear, O, for such means! IMO. PIS. Well then, here's the point: 3 You must forget to be a woman; change 2 THOUGH peril to my modesty,] I read-Through peril. "I would for such means adventure through peril of modesty; I would risque every thing but real dishonour. JOHNSON. 3 to -] Old copies, unmetrically, into. STEEVENS. 4 As quarrellous as the WEASEL:] So, in King Henry IV. Part I.: "A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen "As you are toss'd with." This character of the weasel is not warranted by naturalists. Weasels, however, were formerly kept in houses instead of cats, for the purpose of killing vermin. So, Phædrus, iv. i. 10: Mustela, quum annis et senecta debilis, Mures veloces non valeret adsequi. Again, lib. iv. 5. 3. Quum victi mures mustelarum exercitu- Our poet, therefore, while a boy, might have had frequent opportunities to ascertain their disposition. In Congreve's Love for Love, (the scene of which is in London,) old Foresight talks of having" met a weasel." It would now be difficult to find one at liberty throughout the whole county of Middlesex. "Frivola hæc fortassis cuipiam et nimis levia esse videantur, sed curiositas nihil recusat." Vopiscus in Vita Aureliani, c. x. STEEVENS. 5 Exposing it (but, O, the harder HEART! Alack, no remedy!)] I think it very natural to reflect in this distress on the cruelty of Posthumus. Dr. Warburton proposes to read: Of common-kissing Titan ; and forget IMO. I see into thy end, and am almost A man already. PIS. Nay, be brief: First, make yourself but like one. Fore-thinking this, I have already fit, ('Tis in my cloak-bag,) doublet, hat, hose, all That answer to them: Would you, in their serving, And with what imitation you can borrow From youth of such a season, 'fore noble Lucius If that his head have ear in musick,) doubtless, 6 COMMON-KISSING Titan ;] Thou art all the comfort Thus, in Othello: "The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets Again, in Sidney's Arcadia, lib. iii.: "and beautifull might have been, if they had not suffered greedy Phœbus, over-often and hard, to kisse them." STEEVENS. 7 Wherein you are HAPPY,] i. e. wherein you are accomplished. 8 STEEVENS. which YOU'LL make him KNOW,] This is Sir T. Hanmer's reading. The common books have it : Mr. Theobald, in one of his long notes, endeavours to prove that it should be: 66 which will make him so He is followed by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON. The words were probably written at length in the manuscript, you will, and you omitted at the press or will was printed for we'll. MALONE. 9. 66 Your means abroad: &c.] As for your subsistence abroad, you may rely on me. So, in Sc. V.: thou should'st neither want my means for thy relief, nor my voice for thy preferment." MALONE. The gods will diet me with1. Pr'ythee, away: There's more to be consider'd; but we'll even All that good time will give us': This attempt I'm soldier to 3, and will abide it with A prince's courage. Away, I pr'ythee. PIS. Well, madam, we must take a short farewell: Lest, being miss'd, I be suspected of Your carriage from the court. My noble mistress, Here is a box: I had it from the queen *; What's in't is precious; if you are sick at sea, Or stomach-qualm'd at land, a dram of this Will drive away distemper.-To some shade, And fit you to your manhood:-May the gods Direct you to the best! I IMO. Amen I thank thee. DIET me with.] Mr. Steevens has a note on this passage, which is, if possible, more disgustingly absurd than that of Mr. Whalley's, mentioned p. 90. He says Imogen is alluding to the spare regimen prescribed in some diseases. This interpretation is at once gross and nonsensical. If any doubt could be entertained as to so common a metaphor, it might be easily supported. One instance shall suffice. When lago (vol. ix. p. 315,) talks of dieting his revenge, he certainly does not mean putting it on a spare regimen. BosWELL. 2 We'll EVEN All that good time will give us :] We'll make our work even with our time; we'll do what time will allow. JOHNSON. I'm soldier to,] i. e. I have inlisted and bound myself to it. WARBURTON. Rather, I think, I am equal to this attempt; I have enough or ardour to undertake it. MALONE. Mr. Malone's explanation is undoubtedly just. "I'm soldier to," is equivalent to the modern cant phrase- I am up to it,' i. e. I have ability for it. STEEVENS. 4 Here is a Box; I had it from the queen ;] Instead of this box, the modern editors have in a former scene made the Queen give Pisanio a vial, which is dropped on the stage, without being broken. See Act I. Sc. VI. In Pericles, Cerimon, in order to recover Thaisa, calls for all the boxes in his closet. So, in the description of the Apothecary, in Romeo and Juliet: "A beggarly account of empty boxes." MALONE. 66 SCENE V. A Room in CYMBELINE's Palace. Enter CYMBELINE, Queen, CLOTEN, LUCIUS, and Lords. CYM. Thus far; and so farewell. Luc. Thanks, royal sir. My emperor hath wrote; I must from hence; And am right sorry, that I must report ye My master's enemy. CYM. Our subjects, sir, Will not endure his yoke; and for ourself To show less sovereignty than they, must needs Luc. So, sir, I desire of you A conduct over land, to Milford-Haven. Madam, all joy befal your grace, and you! 5 CYM. My lords, you are appointed for that office; The due of honour in no point omit : So, farewell, noble Lucius. Your hand, my lord. Luc. CLO. Receive it friendly; but from this time forth I wear it as your enemy. Luc. Sir, the event Is yet to name the winner: Fare you well. CYM. Leave not the worthy Lucius, good my lords, 5 So, sir, I desire OF YOU] The two last words are, in my opinion, very properly omitted by Sir Thomas Hanmer, as they serve to derange the metre. STEEVENS. only all joy befal YOUR grace, and you!] I think we should read-his grace, and you. MALONE. your grace, and yours!" i. e, your relatives. So, in Macbeth: "And beggar'd yours for ever." STEEVENS. Till he have cross'd the Severn.-Happiness! [Exeunt LUCIUS and Lords. QUEEN. He goes hence frowning: but it honours us, That we have given him cause. CLO. 'Tis all the better; Your valiant Britons have their wishes in it. CYM. Lucius hath wrote already to the emperor How it goes here. It fits us therefore, ripely, Our chariots and our horsemen be in readiness: The powers that he already hath in Gallia Will soon be drawn to head, from whence he moves His war for Britain. QUEEN. CYм. Our expectation that it would be thus, [Exit an Attendant. Royal sir, QUEEN. CYM. Re-enter an Attendant. Where is she, sir? How Please you, sir, Can her contempt be answer'd? ATTEN. VOL. XIII. Her chambers are all lock'd; and there's no answer K |