Might be a copy to these younger times; Which, follow'd well, would démonstrate them now But goers backward. Ber. His good remembrance, sir, Lies richer in your thoughts, than on his tomb; conviction or discernment: this, however, is not so common; the mean are found more frequently than the great. Johnson. I think the meaning is-Making them proud of receiving such marks of condescension and affability from a person in so elevated a situation, and at the same time lowering or humbling himself, by stooping to accept of the encomiums of mean persons for that humility. The construction seems to be, "he being humbled in their poor praise." Malone. Giving them a better opinion of their own importance, by his condescending manner of behaving to them. M. Mason. So in approof lives not his epitaph, As in your royal speech.] Epitaph for character. Warburton. I should wish to read Approof so lives not in his epitaph, As in your royal speech. Approof is approbation. If I should allow Dr. Warburton's interpretation of epitaph, which is more than can be reasonably expected, I can yet find no sense in the present reading. Johnson. We might, by a slight transposition, read So his approof lives not in epitaph. Approof certainly means approbation. So, in Cynthia's Revenge: "A man so absolute in my approof, "That nature hath reserv'd small dignity "That he enjoys not." Again, in Measure for Measure : "Either of condemnation or approof." Steevens. Perhaps the meaning is this:-His epitaph or inscription on his tomb is not so much in approbation or commendation of him, as is your royal speech. Tollet. There can be no doubt but the word approof is frequently used in the sense of approbation, but this is not always the case; and in this place it signifies proof or confirmation. The meaning of the passage appears to be this: "The truth of his epitaph is in no way so fully proved, as by your royal speech." It is needless to remark, that epitaphs generally contain the character and praises of the deceased. Approof is used in the same sense by Bertram, in the second Act: Laf. But I hope your lordship thinks him not a soldier. "Ber. Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof" M. Mason. Mr. Heath supposes the meaning to be this: "His epitaph or the character he left behind him, is not so well established by King. 'Would, I were with him! He would always say, Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses Since I nor wax, nor honey, can bring home, To give some labourers room. the specimens he exhibited of his worth, as by your royal report in his favour." The passage above quoted from Act II, supports this interpretation. Malone. 5 Thus-] Old copy-This. Corrected by Mr. Pope. 6 whose judgments are Malone. Mere fathers of their garments;] Who have no other use of their faculties, than to invent new modes of dress. Johnson. I have a suspicion that Shakspeare wrote-mere feathers of their garments; i. e. whose judgments are merely parts (and insignificant parts) of their dress, worn and laid aside, as feathers are, from the mere love of novelty and change. He goes on to say, that they are even less constant in their judgments than in their dress: their constancies Expire before their fashions. Tyrwhitt. The reading of the old copy-fathers, is supported by a similar passage in Cymbeline: 66 — some jay of Italy "Whose mother was her painting Again, by another in the same play: وو No, nor thy tailor, rascal, "Who is thy grandfather; he made those clothes, 1:-in the There the garment is said to be the father of the man: text, the judgment, being employed solely in forming or giving birth to new dresses, is called the father of the garment. So, in King Henry IV, P. II: 66 every minute now "Should be the father of some stratagem." Malone. 2 Lord. You are lov'd, sir; They, that least lend it you, shall lack you first. King. I fill a place, I know 't.-How long is 't, count, Since the physician at your father's died? He was much fam'd. Ber. Some six months since, my lord. King. If he were living, I would try him yet;— Lend me an arm;-the rest have worn me out With several applications:-nature and sickness Debate it at their leisure. My son 's no dearer. Ber. Welcome, count; Rousillon. A Room in the Countess's Palace. Enter Countess, Steward, and Clown.8 Count. I will now hear: what say you of this gentlewoman? 7 8 nature and sickness Debate it -] So, in Macbeth: "Death and nature do contend about them." Steevens. Steward, and Clown.] A Clown in Shakspeare is commonly taken for a licensed jester, or domestick fool. We are not to wonder that we find this character often in his plays, since fools were at that time maintained in all great families, to keep up merriment in the house. In the picture of Sir Thomas More's family, by Hans Holbein, the only servant represented is Patison the fool. This is a proof of the familiarity to which they were admitted, not by the great only, but the wise. In some plays, a servant, or a rustic, of a remarkable petulance and freedom of speech, is likewise called a clown. Johnson. Cardinal Wolsey, after his disgrace, wishing to show King Henry VIII a mark of his respect, sent him his fool Patch, as a present; whom, says Stowe, "the King received very gladly." Malone. This dialogue, or that in Twelfth Night, between Olivia and the Clown, seems to have been particularly censured by Cartwright, in one of the copies of verses prefixed to the works of Beaumont and Fletcher: "Shakspeare to thee was dull, whose best jest lies Stew. Madam, the care I have had to even your content, I wish might be found in the calendar of my past endeavours; for then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them.1 Count. What does this knave here? Get you gone, sirrah: The complaints, I have heard of you, I do not all believe; 'tis my slowness, that I do not; for, I know you lack not folly to commit them, and have ability enough to make such knaveries yours.2 "Old fashion'd wit, which walk'd from town to town "In trunk-hose, which our fathers call'd the Clown." In the MS. Register of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, treasurer of the chamber to King James I, from 1613 to 1616, are the following entries: "Tom Derry, his majesty's fool, at 28. per diem,-1615: Paid John Mawe for the diet and lodging of Thomas Derrie, her majesty's jester, for 13 weeks, 107. 18s. 6d.-1616." Steevens. The following lines in The Careless Shepherdess, a comedy, 1656, exhibit probably a faithful portrait of this once admired character: "Why, I would have the fool in every act, "To see him hold out his chin, hang down his hands, "About him but breaks jests. "I'd rather hear him leap, or laugh, or cry, "I never saw READE peeping through the curtain, Malone. 9 — to even your content,] To act up to your desires. Johnson. when of ourselves we publish them.] So, in Troilus and 1 Cressida: 2 "The worthiness of praise distains his worth, "If he that's prais'd, himself brings the praise forth." Malone. • you lack not folly to commit them, and have ability enough to make such knaveries yours.] After premising that the accusative, them refers to the precedent word, complaints, and that this, by a metonymy of the effect for the cause, stands for the freaks which occasioned those complaints, the sense will be extremely clear: “You are fool enough to commit those irregularities you are charged with, and yet not so much fool neither, as to discredit the accusation by any defect in your ability." Heath Clo. 'Tis not unknown to you, madam, I am a poor fellow. Count. Well, sir. Clo. No, madam, 'tis not so well, that I am poor; though many of the rich are damned:3 But, if I may have your ladyship's good will to go to the world,“ Isbel the woman and I will do as we may. Count. Wilt thou needs be a beggar? Clo. I do beg your good-will in this case. Clo. In Isbel's case, and mine own. Service is no heritage: and, I think, I shall never have the blessing of God, till I have issue of my body; for, they say, bearns are blessings. Count. Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry. Clo. My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go, that the devil drives. Count. Is this all your worship's reason? Clo. Faith madam, I have other holy reasons such as they are. Count. May the world know them? Clo. I have been, madam, a wicked creature, as you and all flesh and blood are; and, indeed, I do marry, that I may repent. Count. Thy marriage, sooner than thy wickedness. Clo. I am out of friends, madam; and I hope to "have friends for my wife's sake. It appears to me that the accusative them refers to knaveries, and the natural sense of the passage seems to be this: "You have folly enough to desire to commit these knaveries, and ability enough to accomplish them." M. Mason. 3 - are damned:] See S. Mark, x, 25; S. Luke, xviii, 25. Grey. to go to the world,] This phrase has already occurred in Much Ado about Nothing, and signifies to be married: and thus, in As you Like it, Audrey says: 66 - it is no dishonest desire, to desire to be a woman of the world." Steevens. 5- and I-] I, which was inadvertently omitted in the first copy, was supplied by the editor of the second folio. Malone. 6 Service is no heritage:] This is a proverbial expression. Needs must when the devil drives, is another. Ritson. |