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Whose towers bore heads so high, they kiss'd the clouds,1
And strangers ne'er beheld, but wonder'd at;
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd,2
Like one another's glass to trim them by :3
Their tables were stor'd full, to glad the sight,
And not so much to feed on, as delight;

present instance, I believe, means—with respect to, with regard to riches. Thus, in Coriolanus:

"Rather our state's defective for requital,

"Than we to stretch it out."

،، Strewd herself," referring to city, is undoubtedly the true reading. Thus, in Timon of Athens:

"Thou 'lt give away thyself in paper shortly." Steevens. Shakspeare generally uses riches as a singular noun. in Othello :

"The riches of the ship is come ashore."

Again, ibid:

"But riches fineless is as poor as winter -" Again, in his 87th Sonnet:

Thus,

"And for that riches where is my deserving?" Malone. I should propose to read richness, instead of riches, which renders the passage not only correct, but much more poetical.

Malone must also prove that he uses riches to express a person, or it will not agree with the word herself, or answer in this place. This last line should be in a parenthesis. M. Mason. bore heads so high, they kiss'd the clouds,] So, in Ham

1

let:

like the herald Mercury,

"New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill.”

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece, 1594:

"Threat'ning cloud-kissing Ilion with annoy.”

Again, more appositely, in Troilus and Cressida :

2

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"Yon towers whose wanton tops do buss the clouds."

Malone.

so jetted and adorn'd,] To jet is to strut, to walk proudly. So, in Twelfth Night: "Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him: how he jets under his advanced plumes!" Steevens.

3 Like one another's glass to trim them by:] The same idea is found in Hamlet: Ophelia, speaking of the prince, says he was: "The glass of fashion, and the mould of form,

"The observ'd of all observers."

Again, in Cymbeline:

"A sample to the youngest; to the more mature
"A glass that feated them."

Again, in The Second Part of King Henry IV:

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He was indeed the glass,

"Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves." Malone

All poverty was scorn'd, and pride so great,
The name of help grew odious to repeat.
Dio. O, 'tis too true.

Cle. But see what heaven can do! By this our change, These mouths, whom but of late, earth, sea, and air, Were all too little to content and please,

Although they gave their creatures in abundance,
As houses are defil'd for want of use,

They are now starv'd for want of exercise:
Those palates, who not yet two summers younger,4
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it;
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,5

Those palates, &c.] The passage is so corrupt in the old copy, that it is difficult even to form a probable conjecture upon it. It reads-who not yet two savers younger. The words [not us'd to hunger's savour] which I have inserted in my text, afford sense, and are not very remote from the traces of the original letters; and savour and hunger might easily have been transposed. We have in a subsequent scene:

"All viands that I eat, do seem unsavoury." "9

I do not, however, propose this emendation with the smallest confidence; but it may remain till some less exceptionable conjecture shall be offered. Malone.

The old reading is evidently erroneous, but the change of a single word, the reading of summers, instead of savers, gives us what certainly the author wrote:

Those palates who not yet two summers younger, &c. That is, "Those palates, who less than two years ago, re quired some new inventions of cookery to delight their taste, would now be glad of plain bread." M. Mason.

I have inserted Mr. M. Mason's emendation in the text. In Romeo and Juliet our author also computes time by the same number of summers:

"Let two more summers wither in their pride," &c.

Steevens.

5 to nousle up their babes,] I would read-nursle. A fondling is still called a nursling. To nouzle, or, as it is now written, nuzzle, is to go with the nose down like a hog. So, Pope: "The blessed benefit, not there confin'd,

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Drops to a third, who nuzzles close behind." Steevens. In an ancient poem entitled The strange Birth, honourable Coronation, and most unhappie Death of famous Arthur, King of Brytaine, 1601, I find the word nuzzle used nearly in the same manner as in the text:

"The first fair sportive night that you shall have,

66

Lying safely nuzled by faire Igrene's side."

Thought nought too curious, are ready now,
To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd.
So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife
Draw lots, who first shall die to lengthen life:
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall,
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.
Is not this true?

Dio. Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it.
Cle. O, let those cities, that of Plenty's cups
And her prosperities so largely taste,

With their superfluous riots, hear these tears!
The misery of Tharsus may be theirs.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Where's the lord governor?

Cle. Here.

Speak out thy sorrows? which thou bring'st, in haste, For comfort is too far for us to expect.

Lord. We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore, A portly sail of ships make hitherward.

Cle. I thought as much.

One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir,
That may succeed as his inheritor ;8-

And so in ours: some neighbouring nation,
Taking advantage of our misery,

Again, more appositely, ibidem:

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Being nuzzled in effeminate delights

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I have therefore retained the reading of the old copy. Malone.

6 O, let those cities, that of Plenty's cup-] A kindred thought is found in King Lear:

Take physick pomp!

"Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,

"That thou may'st shake the superflux to them,
"And show the heavens more just."

Again, ibidem:

"Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man," &c. Malone.

7 thy sorrows] Perhaps the sorrows.

$ One sorrow never comes, but brings an heir,

Steevens.

That may succeed as his inheritor;] So, in Hamlet:

sorrows never come as single spies,

66 But in battalions." Steevens.

Again, ibidem:

"One woe doth tread upon another's heels,
"So fast they follow." Malone.

Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power,?
To beat us down, the which are down already;
And make a conquest of unhappy me,1
Whereas no glory 's got to overcome.

Lord. That's the least fear; for, by the semblance Of their white flags display'd, they bring us peace, And come to us as favourers, not as foes.

Cle. Thou speak'st like him 's untutor❜d to repeat,1 Who makes the fairest show, means most deceit.

9 Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power,] [Old copy-the- The quarto, 1609, reads-That stuff'd &c. The context clearly shows that we ought to read Hath instead of That.-By power is meant forces. The word is frequently used in that sense by our ancient writers. So, in King Lear: from France there comes a power

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"Into this scatter'd kingdom." Malone.

I read :

Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels &c.

Hollow, applied to ships, is a Homeric epithet. See Iliad I, V. 26. Steevens.

1 And make a conquest of unhappy me,] I believe a letter was dropped at the press, and would read:

of unhappy men, &c. Malone.

Perhaps the m is only a w reversed, and the author designed us to read, however improperly and ungrammatically-of unhappy we.

So, in Coriolanus:

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and to poor we,

"Thine enmity 's most capital." Steevens.

2 Whereas no glory's-] Whereas, it has been already observed, was anciently used for where. Malone.

3 That's the last fear; for, by the semblance] It should be remembered, that semblance was pronounced as a trisyllablesemble-ance. So, our author in The Comedy of Errors: "And these two Dromios, one in semblance."

So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, resembleth is a quadrisyllable:

"O how this spring of love resembleth

--

Malone.

Thou speak'st like him 's untutor'd to repeat,] The quarto, 1609, reads like himnes untutor'd to repeat. I suppose the author wrote-him is—an expression which, however elliptical, is not more so than many others in this play. Malone.

Perhaps we should read-him who is, and regulate the metre as follows:

Thou speak'st

Like him who is untutor'd to repeat, &c.

The sense is-Deluded by the pacifick appearance of this navy, you talk like one, who has never learned the common adage, “that the fairest outsides are most to be suspected." Steevens.

But bring they what they will, what need we fear?5
The ground's the low'st, and we are half way there.
Go tell their general, we attend him here,

To know for what he comes, and whence he comes,
And what he craves.

Lord. I go, my lord.

Cle. Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist; If wars, we are unable to resist.

Enter PERICLES, with Attendants.

Per. Lord governor, for so we hear you are,
Let not our ships and number of our men,
Be, like a beacon fir'd, to amaze your eyes.
We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre,
And seen the desolation of your streets:
Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears,
But to relieve them of their heavy load;
And these our ships you happily may think
Are, like the Trojan horse, war-stuff'd within,
With bloody views, expecting overthrow,7

5.

[Exit.

What need we fear? &c.] The earliest copy reads and points thus:

What need we leave our grounds the lowest ?

The reading which is inserted in the text, is that of the second quarto, printed in 1619. Malone.

But bring they what they will, and what they can,

What need we fear?

The ground's the lowest, and we are half way there.] The redundancy of the metre leads me to suspect this passage of interpolation. I therefore read:

But bring they what they will, what need we fear?
The ground's the low'st, and we are half way there.

Are the words omitted-and what they can-of any value? Steevens.

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tin sense.

if he on peace consist;] If he stands on peace.

Malone.

7 And these our ships you happily may think

Are, like the Trojan horse, war-stuff"d within,

A La

With bloody views, expecting overthrow,] i. e. which you happily, &c. The old copy reads:

And these our ships you happily may think,

Are like the Trojan horse, was stuff'd within

With bloody veines, &c.

For the emendation of this corrupted passage the reader is indebted to Mr. Steevens. So, as he has observed, in a former

scene:

"Hath stuff"dthe hollow vessels with their power." Malone,

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