Leon. The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; [Aside] Too hot, too hot! Leon. Ay, my good lord. I' fecks! IIO 115 120 Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast smutch'd thy nose? Upon his palm!-How now, you wanton calf! 108. [Giving her hand to Pol.] Capell. 125 112. derive] F 1; derives Ff 2, 3, 4. 113. bounty, fertile bosom] bounty's fertile bosom, Hanmer; bounty:-fertile become, Jackson. 114. well] F 1; we'l Ff 2, 4; wee'l F 3. becomes Rowe. 114. 't may] it may Steevens. 117. looking-glass] glass 121. hast] Capell; has 't Ff. Walker. 114. become] Humour, I. iii.: "By my fackins; Middleton, A Quiet Life, II. ii.: “By my facks, Sir.' 121. bawcock] fine fellow. French beau coq. 123. neat] Johnson adds the following ingenious comment on Leontes' use of this word: " 'Leontes, seeing his son's nose smutch'd, cries, 'We must be neat;' then recollecting that 'neat is the ancient term for horned cattle,' he says, 'not neat but cleanly'." 125. virginalling] playing with her fingers upon his hand like a musician upon the virginals. "The virginals (probably so called because chiefly played upon by young girls) resembled in shape the 'square' pianoforte of the present day, as the harpsichord did the grand'" (Chappell's Popular Music, i. 103). Mam. Yes, if you will, my lord. Art thou my calf? Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have, To be full like me: yet they say we are 130 No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true To say this boy were like me. Come, sir page, 135 Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain! Most dear'st! my collop! Can thy dam?-may 't be ?— Thou dost make possible things not so held, Communicatest with dreams;-how can this be?— 140 And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent Thou mayest co-join with something; and thou dost, 129. full like] full, like Ff. 128. pash] bush Becket. 132. o'er-dyed] o're-dy'd Ff 1, 2, 3; o're did F 4. 134. bourn] Capell; borne Ff 1, 2; born Ff 3, 4. 135. were] is Hanmer. 137. dam?-] Camb. Edd.; dam, Ff; dam? Rowe. 137-8. may 't be?-Affection! centre] may 't be Affection?.. centre Ff. 139. not so] F 1; not be so Ff 2, 140. dreams;-how can this be?—] Dreams (how can this be?) Ff. 141. With what's unreal] Rann; With what's unreal: Ff 1, 2; With what's unreal, Ff 3, 4; With what's unreal? 3, 4. 134. bourn] boundary. 136. welkin eye] an eye as blue as the azure sky. 137. collop] a collop is properly a slice of meat cut off from a joint. The curious application of the word to a child is well illustrated by 1 Henry VI. v. iv. 18: "God knows thou art a collop of my flesh." 138. Affection. centre] This is a difficult line and many attempts to explain it have been made. It is probable that the word affection is used here, as so frequently by Shakespeare, Pope. in the sense of sexual love, and that 140. how can this be?] This parenthetical question must be taken with those which go before-" Can thy dam? may 't be?" 141-3. With what's something] The meaning seems to be that love is so powerful that it may associate itself with unrealities and pursue its course without having a definite object in view; and if such is possible, it is all the more natural to believe that its power will not be lessened when it has such a definite object in view. Pol. And that beyond commission, and I find it, Her. He something seems unsettled. Pol. 145 What means Sicilia ? How, my lord! What cheer? how is 't with you, best brother? Her. You look Leon. As if you held a brow of much distraction: No, in good earnest. 150 155 As ornaments oft do, too dangerous: How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend, 160 147-8. How, my lord! ... brother?] Rann; How? my Lord? Leo. What brother? Ff; Now my lord? What . brother? Capell; How is 't, my lord? What .. brother? Long MS.; How now, my lord? Leo. What brother? Singer MS.; Ho, my lord! What . brother? Dyce. 148. is 't] is it Rowe (2). best] my best Rowe (2). 150. Are you] Are not you Theobald; Are you not Hanmer. 150. earnest] earnest, no.- Capell. 154. methoughts] F 4; me thoughts Ff 1, 2, 3; my thoughts Collier; methought Staunton. recoil] recall Grey. 158. ornaments do] Rowe; ornaments . . . do's Ff (does F 4); ornament . . . does Capell. 161. eggs] ayes Becket. ... 144. beyond commission] beyond what is authorised and lawful. 148. What cheer... brother] It is probable that Hanmer was right in transferring this line from Leontes to Polixenes. The words seem out of place on the lips of the King of Sicily, unless we accept the somewhat strained view of Halliwell that they imply an attempt on his part to "hide the agony of his thought by an assumption of cheerfulness." But Hermione's words which follow seem to imply that Leontes, so far from attempting to assume cheerfulness, is pacing the stage in a mood of deep perplexity. 154. methoughts] An Elizabethan variant of methought, aparently formed on analogy with methinks. 154. 160. squash] literally, an unripe peapod. Compare Twelfth Night, i. v. 167: "Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod 161. Will you take money] A proverbial expression of unknown origin, the meaning of which is, will you take promises for payment, will you let yourself be imposed upon. We meet with the phrase in Campion's History of Ireland (1633): "My brother of Ossory, who, notwithstanding his high promises is glad to take eggs for his money"; compare Rowley, A Match at Midnight (1633): "I shall have eggs for my money; I must hang myself." See also Lean's Collectanea, iii. 313. ... Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight. Leon. You will! why, happy man be's dole! My brother, Pol. Leon. Her. If at home, sir, 165 170 So stands this squire Next to thyself and my young rover, he's. If you would seek us, 175 We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you there? Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found, Be you beneath the sky. [Aside] I am angling now, 180 Though you perceive me not how I give line. Go to, go to! How she holds up the neb, the bill to him! 162. my lord] omit Hanmer. 163. will!] Rowe; will: Ff. 171. would] F1; should Ff 2, 3, 4. 171. thick] think F 4. 177. would] will Theobald. 163. happy man be 's dole] This is another proverbial expression, the meaning of which is, may good fortune be his lot. Compare 1 Henry IV. II. ii. 84: "Now, my masters, happy man be his dole, say I, every man to his business.' See also Merry Wives of Windsor, III. iv. 68, Taming of the Shrew, I. i. 143. 170. childness] childishness. 171. thick my blood] Furness quotes a passage from Batman uppon Bartholome, lib. iv. cap. 11, page 33, in which reference is made to a "kindly melancholy" that "needeth that it be meddeled with bloude to make the bloude apte and covenable to feede the melancholye members; for it thickeneth the bloude, that it fleete not from digestion, by cleernesse and thinnesse." 171-2. So stands . . . with me] Such is the function of this youth towards me. 177. Apparent to my heart] heir apparent to my heart's affections. 178. shall's] shall us, for "shall we." 183. neb] The original meaning of this word seems to have been the beak of a bird; thence, already in Old English, it came to be used for the nose and the whole face. In this passage it seems as though Shakespeare used the word in the sense of nose, and recognising that the word was somewhat unfamiliar, explains its meaning by adding the words, "the bill." It does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare, but is found in Painter's Palace of Pleasure (1566) and in Two Maids of Moreclacke (1609). It is a common dialect word at the present time. To her allowing husband! [Exeunt Polixenes, Hermione, and Attendants. Gone already! 185 Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd one! Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I Play too; but so disgraced a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play. There have been, 191 195 And many a man there is, even at this present, Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it, It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage: many thousand on's Mam. I am like you, they say. Leon. What, Camillo there? Cam. Ay, my good lord. How now, boy! 205 Why, that's some comfort. 210 Leon. Go play, Mamillius; thou 'rt an honest man. 185. [Exeunt .] Rowe. garded as spurious by Hanmer. [Exit Mamillius. 202-6. and 'tis powerful... baggage] Re202-3. powerful, think it, From south] This is Capell's punctuation. The Ff read: powrefull: thinke it: From . . . south. 203-6. From east baggage] Omitted as spurious by Warburton. 206. many thousand on 's] Ff 1, 2, 3; many a thousand one's F 4; many a thousand of 's Rowe. 208. they] Ff 2, 3, 4; omit F 1. 209. What] What? is Hanmer. 211. Mamillius] Mamillus, Rowe. 211. Exit M.] Rowe. ... |