Chapter CXXVIII: Act IV

SC. 1. "Enough to fetch him in. See it _be_ done."

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"Thou,--and thou,--and thou.--You have _all_ serv'd me well."

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SC. 2. "Haply you shall not see me more, or, if
_You do_, a mangled shadow."

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SC. 4. "Come, _my_ good fellow, put mine iron on."

The folio has _thine_ for 'mine'; Rowe also added _my_.

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SC. 6. "Alexas did revolt, and went to Jewry
On affairs of Antony's; there did dissuade
Great Herod to incline himself to Cæsar."

Malone has shown from North's Plutarch that _persuade_, not 'dissuade,' was the poet's word. In the first line for 'and' I read _He_, which may have been written _A_'.

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SC. 7. "Cæsar himself has work, and our oppression
Exceeds what we expected."

The right word is 'opposition,' also the reading of Hanmer and Warburton.

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"And let the Queen know of our guests."

He had no guests. Theobald read _gests_, which must be right, though Shakespeare uses it nowhere else.

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"Each man's like me; you have shown _yourselves_ all Hectors."

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SC. 9. "Hark! the drums
Demurely wake the sleepers."

It is rather remarkable that Mr. Dyce and I should have simultaneously conjectured _Do merrily_, of which I think there can be little doubt. See Introd. p. 67.

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SC. 10. "_And_ they have put forth the haven * *"

Rowe proposed _Further on_; Capell _Hie we on_; Tyrwhitt _Let us go_; and Malone _Let's seek a spot_. I read "_We'll take our stand_."

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"But being charg'd we will be still by land."

Here both 'But' and 'still' may cause some difficulty. The former is to be taken in its original and proper sense, except, unless; the latter in the sense of quiet.

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"The hearts
That spaniel'd me at heels."

The folio has _pannell'd_; Hanmer made the correction.

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"Oh! this false soul of Egypt! this grave charme."

In my Edition, yielding to an impulse I could not resist, I have added a final _r_ to 'charme' both here and a few lines before; thus making it accord with 'witch' and 'gypsy,' as he also calls her. But he likewise terms her 'spell,' and Perdita (W. T. iv. 3) is called 'enchantment,' both, however, in the vocative. It is also rather improbable that the last letter of the same word should have been effaced in two places; but this may be explained by supposing an effacement of the ends of many of the lines in a page of the MS.; and while the others were restored, 'charme,' as making sense, was not supposed to have been injured. By 'Egypt' is meant the Queen, so styled elsewhere also. 'Grave' is heavy, powerful, oppressive; as in the _gravibus Persis_ of Horace, Carm. iii. 5. 4.

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"And hoist thee up _un_to the shouting plebeians."

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SC. 12. "That which is now a horse, even with a thought
The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct."

It might be better to read _dislimbs_.

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"Pack'd cards with Cæsar['s]."

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"Unarm _me_, Eros; the long day's work is done."

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"The courage of a woman; less noble-mind_ed_."

It is evident that the final syllable had been effaced.

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SC. 13. "His death's upon him, but _he is_ not dead."

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"Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in! darkling stand _on_."

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"No more, but e'en a woman."

The folio has _in_ for 'e'en'; the correction is Johnson's.