Pis. To give him welcome. I was going, sir, [Exit Pis. Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, 'beseech you? Iach. Well, madam. Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope, he is. Iach. Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd The Briton reveller.7 Imo. He did incline to sadness; and oft-times Not knowing why. Iach. When he was here, I never saw him sad. There is a Frenchman his companion, one An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves The thick sighs from him; while the jolly Briton By history, report, or his own proof, who knows What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose But must be,will his free hours languish for Strange is again used by our author in his Venus and Adonis, in the sense in which Mr. Steevens supposes it to be used here: "Measure my strangeness by my unripe years." Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "I'll prove more true "Than those that have more cunning to be strange." But I doubt whether the word was intended to bear that sense here. Malone. Johnson's explanation of strange [he is a foreigner] is certainly right. Iachimo uses it again in the latter end of this scene: "And I am something curious, being strange, "To have them in safe stowage." Here also strange evidently means, being a stranger. M. Mason. he is call'd 7 The Briton reveller.] So in Chaucer's Coke's Tale, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit. v. 4369: 8 "That he was cleped Perkin revelour." Steevens. he furnaces The thick sighs from him;] So, in Chapman's preface, to his translation of the Shield of Homer, 1598: "-furnaceth the universall sighes and complaintes of this transposed world.” Steevens. So, in As you Like it: 66 And then the lover, "Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad." Malone. Assured bondage? Will my lord say so? Iach. Ay, madam; with his eyes in flood with laughter. It is a recreation to be by, And hear him mock the Frenchman: but, heavens know, Some men are much to blame. Imo. Not he, I hope. Iach. Not he: But yet heaven's bounty towards him might 9 Be us'd more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much; To pity too. Imo. What do you pity, sir? Iach. Two creatures, heartily. Imo. Am I one, sir? You look on me; What wreck discern you in me, Deserves your pity? Iach. Lamentable! What! To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace I' the dungeon by a snuff? Imo. I was about to say, enjoy your- -But Imo. You do seem to know Something of me, or what concerns me; 'Pray you, 9- In himself, 'tis much;] If he merely regarded his own character, without any consideration of his wife, his conduct would be unpardonable. Malone. 1 count] Old copy-account. Steevens. 2 timely knowing,] Rather-timely known. Johnson. I believe Shakspeare wrote-known, and that the transcriber's ear deceived him here as in many other places. Malone. 3 The remedy then born,] We should read, I think: The remedy's then born. Malone. What both you spur and stop. Iach. 4 What both you spur and stop.] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. Johnson. This kind of ellipsis is common in these plays. What both you spur and stop at, the poet means. See a note on Act II, sc. iii. Malone. The meaning is, what you seem anxious to utter, and yet withhold. M. Mason. The allusion is to horsemanship. So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book I: "She was like a horse desirous to runne, and miserably spurred, but so short-reined, as he cannot stirre forward.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Epigram to the Earl of Newcastle: 5 "Provoke his mettle, and command his force." Steevens. this hand, whose touch, would force the feeler's soul To the oath of loyalty?] There is, I think, here a reference to the manner in which the tenant performed homage to his lord. "The lord sate, while the vassal kneeling on both knees before him, held his hands jointly together between the hands of his lord, and swore to he faithful and loyal." See Coke upon Littleton, sect. 85. Unless this allusion be allowed, how has touching the hand the slightest connection with taking the oath of loyalty? H. White. 6 Fixing it only here:] The old copy has-Fiering. The correction was made in the second folio. Malone. 7 -as common as the stairs That mount the Capitol;] Shakspeare has bestowed some ornament on the proverbial phrase "as common as the highway." 8 I read : Steevens. - join gripes with hands, &c.] The old edition reads: Made hard with hourly falsehood (falsehood as With labour) then by peeping in an eye, &c. then lie peeping Hard with falsehood, is hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. Johnson. Base and unlustrous as the smoky light Imo. My lord, I fear, And himself. Not I, Inclin❜d to this intelligence, pronounce The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces Imo. Let me hear no more Iach. O dearest soul! your cause doth strike my heart With pity, that doth make me sick. A lady So fair, and fasten'd to an empery, Would make the great'st king double! to be partner'd With tomboys,2 hir'd with that self-exhibition 3 Which your own coffers yield! with diseas'd ventures, That play with all infirmities for gold Which rottenness can lend nature! such boil'd stuff,4 9 Base and unlustrous-] Old copy-illustrious. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. That illustrious was not used by our author in the sense of inlustrous or unlustrous, is proved by a passage in the old comedy of Patient Grissell, 1603: " the buttons were illustrious and resplendent diamonds." Malone. it. A "lack-lustre eye" has been already mentioned in As you Like Steevens. 1 to an empery,] Empery is a word signifying sovereign command; now obsolete. Shakspeare uses it in King Richard III: "Your right of birth, your empery, your own." Steevens. 2 With tomboys,] We still call a masculine, a forward girl, a tomboy. So, in Middleton's Game at Chess : "Made threescore year a tomboy, a mere wanton." Verstegan, gives the following etymology of the word tomboy: "Tumbe Te dance. Tumbod, danced; heerof we yet call a wench that skippeth or leapeth lyke a boy, a tomboy: our name also of tumbling cometh from hence." Steevens. 3 -hir'd with that self-exhibition &c.] Gross strumpets, hired with the very pension which you allow your husband. Johnson. such boil'd stuff,] The allusion is to the ancient process of sweating in venereal cases. See Timon of Athens, Act IV, sc. iii. So, in The Old Law, by Massinger: 4 look parboil'd, "As if they came from Cupid's scalding-house." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: "Sodden business! there's a As well might poison poison! Be reveng'd; Imo. Reveng'd! How should I be reveng'd? If this be true, Iach. Should he make me Live like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets;5 In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it. Imo. What ho, Pisanio! Iach. Let me my service tender on your lips. Thee and the devil alike.-What ho, Pisanio!— stew'd phrase indeed." Again, in Timor of Athens: “She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens as you are." All this stuff about boiling, scalding, &c. is a mere play on stew, a word which is afterwards used for a brothel by Imogen. Steevens. 5 Live like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets;] Sir Thomas Hanmer, supposing this to be an inaccurate expression, reads: Live like Diana's priestess 'twixt cold sheets; but the text is as the author wrote it. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, DIANA says: "My temple stands at Ephesus; hie thee thither; Malone. 6 Let me my service tender on your lips.] Perhaps this is an allusion to the ancient custom of swearing servants into noble families. So, in Caltha Poetarum, &c. 1599: 66 she swears him to his good abearing, "Whilst her faire sweet lips were the books of swearing." Steevens. |