Chapter LXV: Act IV

"_Chorus._ To the effects of his fond jealousy, so grieving."

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"If never yet, that Time himself doth say,
He wishes earnestly you never may."

This is evidently one of the cases in which 'that' has taken the place of _than_, _then_. See Introd. p. 68.

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SC. 1. "but I fear the angle, that plucks my son thither."

I adopt Theobald's reading of _and_ for 'but.'

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SC. 2. "Within a mile _of_ where my land and living lies."

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SC. 3. "I should blush
To see you so attired; sworn, I think,
To show myself a glass."

For 'sworn' Theobald, followed by Singer and Dyce, reads _swoon_; but the text is right; 'myself' is simply me:

"Upon my life she finds, although I cannot,
_Myself_ to be a marvellous proper man."
Rich. III. i. 2.

"He will the rather do it when he sees
_Ourselves_ well-sinewed to our defence."
King John, v. 7.

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"Burn hotter than my faith _does_.--Oh! but, sir."

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"One of these two necessities must be."

So also Hanmer read. (See on Temp. ii. 1.) The folio has 'must be necessities.'

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"On his shoulder and _on_ his, her face of fire."

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"As your good flock shall prosper.--Sir, welcome."

A syllable is lost apparently. We might add _hither_ or _to us_ at the end, or, as I have done,'_you're_ welcome.' Malone would read 'welcome, sir,' which sounds rather flat. Mr. Collier observes that "Shakespeare [_i.e._ the printer?] was a better judge of verse than Mr. Malone."

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"From Dis's waggon! daffodils."

An epithet, probably _yellow_, which I have given, has evidently been lost here. All the other flowers, we may see, have epithets. Coleridge also saw the want, and supplied _golden_. How ill-qualified he was for emendatory criticism! Hanmer's _early_ was much better.

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"Nothing but that, _but so_ move still, still so."

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"And the true blood that peeps fairly through it."

Collier's folio makes a natural and obvious correction, reading '_so_ fairly.' The usual reading is that of Steevens, a transposition of 'peeps' and 'fairly,' and I have retained it.

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"Nothing she does or seems
But smacks of something greater than herself."

Here again the same folio makes the correction _says_ for 'seems'; yet it is not very necessary.

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"He tells her something
That makes her blood look on it."

This is probably the genuine text; but '_w_akes her blood. Look on it!' the reading of Collier's folio, is very plausible. It is strange that neither Singer nor Dyce notice this reading. They read with Theobald 'look _out_.'

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"Pray _you_, good shepherd, what fair swain is this,
That dances with your daughter?--
They call him Doricles, and _he_ boasts himself
To have a worthy feeding. I have it but
Upon his own report, and I believe it."

Steevens, quoting passages from Drayton, explains 'feeding' in the sense of pasture, and Mason explains 'worthy' as valuable, substantial; but neither is convincing. I would, with Hanmer, read 'breeding:'

"A gentleman, I do assure myself,
And of a _worthy breeding_, though he hide it."
Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, i. 1.

In reading 'I have it but' for 'but I have it' of the folio, I am supported by Hunter and Singer.

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"Who loves another best."

Hanmer and Mason would read '_the_ other,' and so we should say now; but there is no need of change. It was, in fact, the language of the time; we should still say, "they love one another."

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"Come, buy of me, come _buy_, come buy, come buy!
Buy lads, or else your lasses cry. Come buy!"

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"Clamour your tongues and not a word more."

Grey proposed _Charm_ for 'Clamour,' and in Othello (v. 2) we have the very phrase, "charm your tongue." But, as far as I have observed, _charm_ in this sense is used only by characters of the educated class. Singer says 'clamour' here is a mere corruption of _chamour_, _chaumer_, or _chaumbre_, from the French _chômer_, 'to refrain,' and he adds, "Mr. Hunter has cited a passage from Taylor, the water-poet, in which the word was thus again perverted:--'_Clamour_ the promulgation of your tongue.'" For my own part I think that, except in orthography, the text is right. The real word was probably _clammer_ or _clemmer_, the same as the simple _clam_ or _clem_, to squeeze or press, and the phrase answers to _Hold your tongues_. "To _clam_ a bell," says Johnson, "is to cover the dapper with felt, which drowns the blow and hinders the sound." As for the extract from Taylor, I attach little importance to it, as he probably adopted the word from this very passage. See on Rom. and Jul. iii. 3.

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"Why, sir, they stay at door."

The folio places 'sir' at the end of the speech; but the metre requires the transposition, which also makes the reply run more naturally. I neglected to make it in my Edition.

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"Can he speak? hear?
Know man from man? dispute his own estate?"

In Romeo and Juliet (iii. 3) we have, "Let me dispute with thee of thy estate;" but in Jonson's Fox, iii. 2,

"Read you the principles, argued all the grounds,
Disputed every fitness, every grace."

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"Far than Deucalion off."

'Far' is an old form for _farther_, as _near_ is of _nearer_. (See Rich. II. iii. 2, v. 1.) We need not then read _farther_, nor, with Johnson, 'Far _as_.'

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"Or hoop his body more with thy embraces."

The folio has 'hope,' the orthography of the time.

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"Looks on _it_ alike. Will't please you, sir, begone?"

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"To die upon the bed my father died _on_."

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"And most opportune to our need I have."

For 'our' the folio reads _her_, probably from the preceding line. Theobald made the correction.

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"His welcomes forth; asks thee, the son, forgiveness."

The folio has _there_ for 'the.' The correction was made in the 3rd folio.

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"She is as forward of her breeding as
She's in the rear _of_ our birth."

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"And then your blood had been the dearer by I know _not_ how much
an ounce."

Hanmer added the negative.

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"Besides the King to effect your suits, here is _the_ man shall do."