-- And try if they can gain your liberty.- Puc. Chang'd to a worser shape thou canst not be. YORK. O, Charles the Dauphin is a proper man; No fhape but his can please your dainty eye. Puc. A plaguing mischief light on Charles, and thee! And may ye both be fuddenly furpriz'd YORK. Fell, banning hag !4 enchantress, hold thy tongue. Puc. I pr'ythee, give me leave to curfe a while. YORK. Curfe, mifcreant, when thou comeft to the [Exeunt. stake. Alarums. Enter SUFFOLK, leading in Lady MARGARET. SUF. Be what thou wilt, thou art my prifoner. [Gazes on her. O faireft beauty, do not fear, nor fly; For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, I kifs these fingers [Kissing her hand.] for eternal peace :5 4 As if, with Circe, &c.] So, in The Comedy of Errors: "I think, you all have drank of Circe's cup." STEEVENS. Fell, banning hag!] To ban is to curfe. So, in The Jew of Malta, 1633: "I ban their fouls to everlasting pains." STEEVENS. 5 I kifs thefe fingers for eternal peace:] In the old copy these lines are thus, arranged and pointed: Who art thou? fay, that I may honour thee. MAR. Margaret my name; and daughter to a king, The king of Naples, whofoe'er thou art. SUF. An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd. Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me: Go, and be free again as Suffolk's friend. [She turns away as going. O, ftay!-I have no power to let her pass; "For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, "I kiss these fingers for eternal peace, "And lay them gently on thy tender fide." by which Suffolk is made to kifs his own fingers, a symbol of peace of which, there is, I believe, no example. The tranfpofition was made, I think, rightly, by Mr. Capell. In the old edition, as here, there is only a comma after "hands,” which feems to countenance the regulation now made. To obtain fomething like fenfe, the modern editors were obliged to put a full point at the end of that line. In confirmation of the tranfpofition here made, let it be remembered that two lines are in like manner misplaced in Troilus and Creffida, A& I. fol. 1623 : "Or like a ftar dif-orb'd; nay, if we talk of reason, Again, in King Richard III. A& IV. fc. iv: 7 "That reigns in galled eyes of weeping fouls, "That excellent grand tyrant of the earth." MALONE. her wings] Old copy-his. This manifeft errror I only mention, because it supports a note in Vol. VIII. p.184, n. 4, and juftifies the change there made. Her was formerly spelt hir; hence it was often confounded with his. MALONE. 8 My hand would free her, but my heart fays-no.] Thus, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : As plays the fun upon the glaffy streams,9 Haft not a tongue? is the not here thy prisoner ?2 Confounds the tongue, and makes the fenfes rough.3 MAR. Say, earl of Suffolk,-if thy name be fo, my heart accords thereto, "And yet a thousand times it anfwers-no." STEEVENS. 9 As plays the fun upon the glaffy Streams, &c.] This comparifon, made between things which feem fufficiently unlike, is intended to exprefs the foftnefs and delicacy of Lady Margaret's beauty, which delighted, but did not dazzle; which was bright, but gave no pain by its luftre. JOHNSON. Thus, Taffo: "Qual raggio in onda, le fcintilla unrifo 66 Negli umidi occhi tremulo-." HENLEY. Sidney, in his Aftrophel and Stella, ferves to support Dr. Johnson's explanation: "Left if no vaile these brave gleames did disguise, STEEVENS. -difable not thyfelf;] Do not represent thyfelf fo weak. To difable the judgment of another was, in that age, the fame as to deftroy its credit or authority. JOHNSON. So, in As you like it, A& V: " If again, it was not well cut, he difabled my judgment." STEEVENS. 2 Haft not a tongue? is he not here thy prifoner?] The words-thy prifoner, which are wanting in the first folio, are found in the fecond. STEEVENS. 3 and makes the fenfes rough.] The meaning of this word is not very obvious. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-crouch. MALONE. What ransome must I pay before I país? SUF. How canft thou tell, fhe will deny thy fuit, Before thou make a trial of her love? [Afde. MAR. Why speak'ft thou not? what ransome must I pay? SUF. She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman; therefore to be won.4 [Afide. MAR. Wilt thou accept of ranfome, yea, or no? SUF. Fond man! remember, that thou haft a wife; Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? [Afide. MAR. I were best leave him, for he will not hear. SUF. There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling card.5 MAR. He talks at random; fure, the man is mad. SUF. And yet a dispensation may be had. MAR. And yet I would that you would answer me. SUF. I'll win this lady Margaret. For whom? Why, for my king: Tufh! that's a wooden thing." • She is a woman; therefore to be won.] This feems to be a proverbial line, and occurs in Greene's Planetomachia, 1585. STEEVENS. S a cooling card.] So, in Marius and Sylla, 1594: "I'll have a prefent cooling card for you.' STEEVENS. 6 a wooden thing.] Is an aukward business, an undertaking not likely to fucceed. So, in Lyly's Galathea, 1592: "Would I were out of these woods, for I fhall have but wooden luck." Again, in Sidney's Aftrophel and Stella: Or, feeing, have fo woodden wits as not that worth to know." Again, in The Knave of Spades, &c. no date: "To make an end of that fame wooden phrafe." STEEVENS. MAR. He talks of wood: It is fome carpenter. [Afide. MAR. What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight, And will not any way dishonour me. [Afide. SUF. Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say. MAR. Perhaps, I fhall be refcu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy. [Afide. SUF. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a causeMAR. Tufh! women have been captivate ere now. [Afide. SUF. Lady, wherefore talk you fo? MAR. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. SUF. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose Your bondage happy, to be made a queen ? MAR. To be a queen in bondage, is more vile, Than is a flave in bafe fervility; For princes fhould be free. SUF. And fo fhall you, 7my fancy-] i. e. my love. So, in A MidsummerNight's Dream: "Fair Helena in fancy following me." See Vol. IV. p. 454, n. 6. STEEVENS. |