Leon.

The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;
The other for some while a friend.

[Aside] Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;
But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment
May a free face put on, derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent; 't may, I grant;
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practised smiles,
As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?
Mam.

Leon.

Ay, my good lord.

I' fecks!

IIO

115

120

Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast smutch'd thy nose?
They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:
And yet the steer, the heifer and the calf
Are all call'd neat.-Still virginalling

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
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: but were they false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, false
As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes

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 ?—
Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:

Thou dost make possible things not so held,

Communicatest with dreams;-how can this be?— 140
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent

Thou mayest co-join with something; and thou dost,

129. full like] full, like Ff.
132. wind] winds Rowe.

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
intension has the force of "intensity."
We may accordingly interpret the line
as follows: Love! the intensity of thy
ardour penetrates to the inmost recesses
of the heart. With this use of intention
for intensity, compare Merry Wives
of Windsor, I. iii. 72:
"She did so
course o'er my exteriors, with such a
greedy intention, that the appetite of
the eye did seem to scorch me up like
a burning glass."

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,
And that to the infection of my brains
And hardening of my brows.

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:
Are you moved, my lord?

No, in good earnest.
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil
Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,

150

155

As ornaments oft do, too dangerous:

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,

This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend,
Will you take eggs for money?

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,
Are you so fond of your young prince, as we
Do seem to be of ours?

If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December;
And with his varying childness cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

So stands this squire
Officed with me: we too will walk, my lord,
And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione,
How thou lovest us, show in our brother's welcome;
Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap:

Next to thyself and my young rover, he's.
Apparent to my heart.

If you would seek us,

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.

How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife

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.

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,
Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;

191

195

And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluiced in 's absence
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in 't,
Whiles other men have gates and those gates open'd,
As mine, against their will. Should all despair
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for 't there is none; 200
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
From east, west, north and south: be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know 't;

It will let in and out the enemy

With bag and baggage: many thousand on's
Have the disease, and feel 't not.

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.

...