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Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good.-Is lechery so look'd after?

Claud. Thus stands it with me :-Upon a true contract,

I got possession of Julietta's bed;5

You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation lack
Of outward order: this we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower

Remaining in the coffer of her friends; 6

From whom we thought it meet to hide our love,
Till time had made them for us.

But it chances,

The stealth of our most mutual entertainment,

With character too gross, is writ on Juliet.
Lucio. With child, perhaps?

Claud. Unhappily, even so.

And the new deputy now for the duke,-
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness ;*

5 I got possession of Julietta's bed, &c.] This speech is surely too indelicate to be spoken concerning Juliet, before her face; for she appears to be brought in with the rest, though she has nothing to say. The Clown points her out as they enter; and yet, from Claudio's telling Lucio, that he knows the lady, &c. one would think she was not meant to have made her personal appearance on the scene. Steevens.

The little seeming impropriety there is, will be entirely removed, by supposing that when Claudio stops to speak to Lucio, the Provost's officers depart with Julietta. Ritson.

Claudio may be supposed to speak to Lucio apart. Malone. this we came not to,

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"Only for propagation of a dower

"Remaining in the coffer of her friends;] This singular mode of expression certainly demands some elucidation. The sense appears to be this. "We did not think it proper publicly to celebrate our marriage; for this reason, that there might be no hindrance to the payment of Fulietta's portion which was then in the bands of her friends; from whom, therefore, we judged it expedient to conceal our love till we had gained their favour." Propagation being here used to signify payment, must have its root in the Italian word pagare. Edinburgh Magazine for November, 1786.

I suppose the speaker means-for the sake of getting such a dower as her friends might hereafter bestow on her, when time had reconciled them to her clandestine marriage. Steevens. Perhaps we should read-only for prorogation. Malone.

7 the fault and glimpse of newness;] Fault and glimpse have so little relation to each other, that both can scarcely

Or whether that the body public be

A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur:
Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up,

I stagger in:-But this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties,

8

Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall,
So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,9
And none of them been worn; and, for a name,
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me:'-'tis, surely, for a name.

be right: we may read flash for fault: or, perhaps, we may read, Whether it be the fault or glimpse

That is, whether it be the seeming enormity of the action, or the glare of new authority. Yet the same sense follows in the next lines. Johnson.

Fault, I apprehend, does not refer to any enormous act done by the deputy, (as Dr. Johnson seems to have thought) but to newness. The fault and glimpse is the same as the faulty glimpse. And the meaning seems to be-Whether it be the fault of newness, a fault arising from the mind being dazzled by a novel authority, of which the new governor has yet had only a glimpse,— has yet taken only a basty survey; or whether, &c. Shakspeare has many similar expressions. Malone.

like unscour'd armour,] So, in Troilus and Cressida: "Like rusty mail in monumental mockery." Steevens.

• So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,] The Duke, In the scene immediately following, says:

1

Which for these fourteen years we have let slip. Theobald.

But this new governor

Awakes me all the enrolled penalties

Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall

So long,

Now puts the drowsy and neglected act

Freshly on me:] Lord Stafford, in the conclusion of his Defence in the House of Lords, had, perhaps, these lines in his thoughts:

"It is now full two hundred and forty years since any man was touched for this alledged crime, to this height, before myself.

Let us rest contented with that which our fathers have left us; and not awake those sleeping lions, to our own destruction, by raking up a few musty records, that have lain so many ages by the walls, quite forgotten and neglected." Malone.

Lucio. I warrant, it is: and thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milk-maid, if she be in love may sigh it off. Send after the duke, and appeal to him.

Claud. I have done so, but he's not to be found.
I pr'ythee, Lucio, do me this kind service :
This day my sister should the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation: 3

Acquaint her with the danger of
my state;
Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends
To the strict deputy; bid herself assay him;
I have great hope in that: for in her youth
There is a prone and speechless dialect,*

2

so tickle

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-] i. e. ticklish. This word is frequently used by our old dramatic authors. So, in The true Tragedy of Marius and Scilla, 1594:

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lords of Asia

"Have stood on tickle terms."

Again, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612:

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upon as tickle a pin as the needle of a dial." Steevens. her approbation] i. e. enter on her probation, or noviciate. So again, in this play :

3

"I, in probation of a sisterhood.".

Again, in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608:

"Madam, for a twelvemonth's approbation,
"We mean to make the trial of our child."

Malone.

prone and speechless dialect,] I can scarcely tell what signification to give to the word prone. Its primitive and translated senses are well known. The author may, by a prone dialect, mean a dialect which men are prone to regard, or a dialect natural and unforced, as those actions seem to which we are prone. Either of these interpretations is sufficiently strained; but such distortion of words is not uncommon in our author. For the sake of an easier sense, we may read:

in her youth

There is a pow'r and speechless dialect,

Such as moves men:

Or thus:

There is a prompt and speechless dialect. Johnson. Prone, perhaps, may stand for humble, as a prone posture is a posture of supplication.

So, in The Opportunity, by Shirley, 1640:

"You have prostrate language."

The same thought occurs in The Winter's Tale:

"The silence often of pure innocence

"Persuades, when speaking fails."

Such as moves men; beside, she hath prosperous art
When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.

Lucio. I pray, she may: as well for the encouragement of the like, which else would stand under grievous imposition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of ticktack. I'll to her.

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio.
Lucio. Within two hours,

Claud. Come, officer, away.

SCENE IV.

A Monastery.

Enter DUKE, and Friar Thomas.

[Exeunt.

Duke. No; holy father; throw away that thought; Believe not that the dribbling dart of love

Can pierce a cómplete bosom :7 why I desire thee

Sir W. D'Avenant, in his alteration of the play, changes prone to sweet. I mention some of his variations, to shew that what appear difficulties to us, were difficulties to him, who, living nearer the time of Shakspeare, might be supposed to have understood his language more intimately. Steevens.

Prone, I believe, is used here for prompt, significant, expressive (though speechless), as in our author's Rape of Lucrece it means ardent, bead-strong, rushing forward to its object:

"O that prone lust should stain so pure a bed!" Again, in Cymbeline: "Unless a man would marry a gallows, and beget young gibbets, I never saw any one so prone." Malone.

Under grievous imposition;] I once thought it should be inquisition, but the present reading is probably right. The crime would be under grievous penalties imposed. Johnson.

6 lost at a game of tick-tack.] Tick-tack is a game at tables. "Fouer au tric-trac," is used in French, in a wanton sense. Malone.

The same phrase, in Lucio's sportive sense, occurs in Lusty Juventus. Steevens.

7 Believe not that the dribbling dart of love

Can pierce a complete bosom:] Think not that a breast completely armed can be pierced by the dart of love, that comes fluttering without force. Johnson.

To give me secret harbour, hath a purpose

More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends
Of burning youth.

Fri.

May your grace speak of it?

Duke. My holy sir, none better knows than you
How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd;8

And held in idle price to haunt assemblies,
Where youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps.1

I have deliver'd to lord Angelo

(A man of stricture, and firm abstinence)2

9

My absolute power and place here in Vienna,
And he supposes me travell❜d to Poland;
For so I have strew'd it in the common ear,

8 the life remov'd:] i. e. a life of retirement, a life remote, or removed, from the bustle of the world.

So, in the Prologue to Milton's Masque at Ludlow Castle: I mean the MS. copy in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge:

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I was not sent to court your wonder
"With distant worlds, and strange removed climes."

Steevens.

9 witless bravery-] Bravery, in the present instance, signifies showy dress. So, in The Taming of a Shrew: "With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery."

1

Steevens.

keeps.] i. e. dwells, resides. In this sense it is still used at Cambridge, where the students and fellows, referring to their collegiate apartments, always say they keep, i. e. reside there. Reed.

2 (A man of stricture, and firm abstinence,)] Stricture makes no sense in this place. We should read:

A man of strict ure and firm abstinence.

i. e a man of the exactest conduct, and practised in the subdual of his passions. Ure is an old word for use, practice: so enur'd, habituated to. Warburton.

Stricture may easily be used for strictness; ure is indeed an old word, but, I think, always applied to things, never to persons. Johnson. Sir W. D'Avenant, in his alteration of this play, reads, strictUre is sometimes applied to persons, as well as to things. So, in the Old Interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1661:

ness.

"So shall I be sure

"To keep him in ure.”

The same word occurs in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: "The crafty man oft puts these wrongs in ure."

Steevens,

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