Pol. For what? Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears, As he had seen't, or been an instrument To vice you to't,—that you have touch'd his queen Pol. O, then my best blood turn To an infected jelly; and my name Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best! A savour, that may strike the dullest nostril Cam. Swear his thought over By each particular star in heaven, and 8 Pol. How should this grow? Cam. I know not: but, I am sure, 'tis safer to Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove, Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon Pol. I do believe thee: I saw his heart in's face. Give me thy hand; [7] i. e. To draw, persuade you. The character called the Vice, in the old plays was the tempter to evil. WARBURTON. The vice is an instrument well known; its operation is to hold things together. STEEVENS. [8] This folly which is erected on the foundation of settled belief. STEEVENS. Be pilot to me, and thy places shall Still neighbour mine: My ships are ready, and Is for a precious creature as she's rare, In that be made more bitter. Fear o'er shades me: I will respect thee as a father, if Thou bear'st my life off hence: Let us avoid. The keys of all the posterns: Please your highness ACT II. [Exe. SCENE I.-The same. Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and Hermione. TAKE the boy to you: he so troubles me, 'Tis past enduring. 1 Lady. Come, my gracious lord. Shall I be your play-fellow? Mam. No, I'll none of you. 1 Lady. Why, my sweet lord? Mam. You'll kiss me hard; and speak to me as if I were a baby still.-I love you better. 2 Lady. And why so, my good lord? Mam. Not for because Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say, Too much hair there, but in a semi-circle, Or half-moon made with a pen. 2 Lady. Who taught you this? Mam. I learn'd it out of women's faces.-Pray now What colour are your eye-brows? 1 Lady. Blue, my lord. Mam. Nay, that's a mock: I've seen a lady's nose That has been blue, but not her eye-brows. 2 Lady. Hark ye: The queen, your mother, rounds apace: we shall One of these days; and then you'd wanton with us, 1 Lady. She is spread of late Into a goodly bulk: Good time encounter her! I Her. What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now you again Pray you, sit by us, am for And tell's a tale. Mam. Merry, or sad, shall't be ? Mam. A sad tale's best for winter: I have one of sprites and goblins. Her. Let's have that, sir. Come on, sit down :-Come on, and do your best Her. Nay, come, sit down; then on. Mam. Dwelt by a church-yard;-I will tell it softly; Yon crickets shall not hear it. Her. Come on then, And give't me in mine ear. Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and others. Leo. Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him? 1 Lord. Behind the tuft of pines I met them; never Saw I men scour so on their way: I ey'd them Even to their ships. Leo. How bless'd am I In my just censure ?9 in my true opinion?— [9] Censure, in the time of our author, was generally used (as in this instance,) for judgment, opinion. MALONE. [1] That is, O that my knowledge were less. JOHNSON. [2] That spiders were esteemed venomous appears by the evidence of a person who was examined in Sir T. Overbury's affair: The Countesse wished me to get the strongest poyson I could, &c. Accordingly I bought seven great spiders, 1 and cantharides.". HENDERSON. Th' abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drank, he cracks his gorge, his sides, There is a plot against my life, my crown; All's true that is mistrusted :—that false villain, For them to play at will:-How came the posterns 1 Lord. By his great authority; Which often hath no less prevail'd than so, Leo. I know't too well.— Give me the boy; I am glad, you did not nurse him : Have too much blood in him. Her. What is this? sport? Leo. Bear the boy hence, he shall not come about her: Away with him :-and let her sport herself With that she's big with; for 'tis Polixenes Has made thee swell thus. Her. But I'd say, he had not; And, I'll be sworn, you would believe my saying, Leo. You, my lords, Look on her, mark her well; be but about To say, she is a goodly lady, and, The justice of your hearts will thereto add, 'Tis pity she's not honest, honourable : Praise her but for this her without-door form, (Which, on my faith, deserves high speech,) and straight The shrug, the hum, or ha; these petty brands, That calumny doth use :--O, I am out, That mercy does; for calumny will sear Virtue itself:-these shrugs, these hums, and ha's, Her. Should a villain say so, [3] Hefts are heavings. STEEVENS. The most replenish'd villain in the world, He were as much more villain: you, my lord, Leo. You have mistook, my lady, A federary with her; and one that knows Her. No, by my life, Privy to none of this: How will this grieve you, Leo. No, no; if I mistake In those foundations which I build upon, A school-boy's top.-Away with her to prison: Her. There's some ill planet reigns: [4] Otway had this passage in his thoughts, when he put the following lines into the mouth of Castalio: "Should the bravest man That e'er wore conquering sword but dare to whisper [5] A federary (perhaps a word of our author's coinage) is a confederate, an accomplice. STEEVENS [6] But, which is here used for only, renders this passage somewhat obscure. MALONE. [7] That is, if the proofs which I can offer will not support the opinion I have formed, no foundation can be trusted. JOHNSON. Milton has expressed the same thought in more exalted language: "if this fail, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble." STEEVENS. |