CLAUD. What, but to speak of would offend again. CLAUD. No. LUCIO. Lechery? CLAUD. Call it fo. PROV. Away, fir; you muft go. with you. CLAUD. One word, good friend :-Lucio, a word [Takes him afide, LUCIO. A hundred, if they'll do you any good.— Is lechery fo look'd after? CLAUD. Thus ftands it with me:-Upon a true contract, I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed;" "I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed, &c.] This fpeech is furely too indelicate to be fpoken concerning Juliet, before her face; for the appears to be brought in with the reft, though she has nothing to fay. 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 perfonal appearance on the fcene. STEEVENS. The little feeming impropriety there is, will be entirely removed, by fuppofing that when Claudio ftops to fpeak to Lucio, the Provoft's officers depart with Julietta. RITSON. Claudio may be fuppofed to speak to Lucio apart. MALONE. this we came not to, " "Only for propagation of a dower Remaining in the coffer of her friends;] This fingular mode of expreffion certainly demands fome elucidation. The fenfe appears to be this. "We did not think it proper publickly to celebrate our marriage; for this reafon, that there might be no hindrance to the payment of Julietta's portim which was then in the hands of her friends; from whom, therefore, we judged it expedient to conceal our 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 grofs, is writ on Juliet. LUCIO. With child, perhaps? CLAUD. Unhappily, even fo. And the new deputy now for the duke,— A horfe whereon the governor doth ride, love till we had gained their favour." Propagation being here used to fignify payment, muft have its root in the Italian word pagare. Edinburgh Magazine for November, 1786. I fuppofe the fpeaker means-for the fake of getting fuch a dower as her friends might hereafter beftow on her, when time had reconciled them to her clandeftine marriage. STEEVENS. Perhaps we should read-only for prorogation. MALONE. 9 the fault and glimpse of newness;] Fault and glimpfe have fo little relation to each other, that both can scarcely be right: we may read flash for fault: or, perhaps, we may read, Whether it be the fault or glimpfe That is, whether it be the feeming enormity of the action, or the glare of new authority. Yet the fame fenfe follows in the next lines. JOHNSON. Fault, I apprehend, does not refer to any enormous act done by the deputy, (as Dr. Johnfon feems to have thought,) but to newnefs. The fault and glimpfe is the fame as the faulty glimpfe. And the meaning feems to be-Whether it be the fault of newness, a fault arifing from the mind being dazzled by a novel authority, of which the new governor has yet had only a glimpfe,—has yet taken only a hasty furvey; or whether, &c. Shakspeare has many fimilar expreffions. MALONE. Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,' And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act Freshly on me:-'tis, furely, for a name. LUCIO. I warrant, it is: and thy head stands fo tickle' on thy shoulders, that a milk-maid, if she be in love, may figh it off. Send after the duke, and appeal to him. CLAUD. I have done fo, but he's not to be found. I pr'ythee, Lucio, do me this kind service: 2 like unfcour'd armour,] So, in Troilus and Creffida: "Like rufty mail in monumental mockery." STEEVENS, 3 So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,] The Duke, in the scene immediately following, fays: Which for thefe fourteen years we have let flip. But this new governor Awakes me all the enrolled penalties THEOBALD Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall So long, Now puts the drowfy and neglected act Freshly on me:] Lord Strafford, in the conclufion of his Defence in the Houfe of Lords, had, perhaps, these lines in his thoughts: "It is now full two hundred and forty years fince any man was touched for this alledged crime, to this height, before myself. Let us reft contented with that which our fathers have left us; and not awake those sleeping lions, to our own deftruction, by raking up a few mufty records, that have lain fo many ages by the walls, quite forgotten and neglected." MALONE. 5 —fo tickle-] i. e. ticklish. This word is frequently used by our old dramatic authors. So, in The true Tragedy of Marius and Scilla, 1594: lords of Afia "Have flood on tickle terms." Again, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612: 66 upon as tickle a pin as the needle of a dial,” STEEVENS. This day my fifter fhould the cloister enter, her approbation:] i. e. enter on her probation, or noviciate. So again, in this play: "I, in probation of a fifterhood.". Again, in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608: "Madam, for a twelvemonth's approbation, "We mean to make the trial of our child." MALONE. 7-prone and speechless dialect,] I can fcarcely tell what fignification to give to the word prone. Its primitive and translated fenfes 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 feem to which we are prone. Either of these interpretations is fufficiently ftrained; but fuch diftortion of words is not uncommon in our author. For the fake of an easier fenfe, we may read : in her youth There is a pow'r, and speechless diale&, Such as moves men; Or thus: There is a prompt and Speechless dialect. JOHNSON. Prone, perhaps, may ftand for humble, as a prone pofture is a pofture of fupplication. So, in The Opportunity, by Shirley, 1640: "You have proftrate language." The fame thought occurs in The Winter's Tale: "The filence often of pure innocence "Persuades, when speaking fails." Sir W. D'Avenant, in his alteration of the play, changes prone to fweet. I mention fome of his variations, to fhew that what appear difficulties to us, were difficulties to him, who, living nearer the time of Shakspeare, might be fuppofed to have underftood his language more intimately. STEEVENS. Prone, I believe, is ufed here for prompt, fignificant, expressive (though fpeechlefs), as in our author's Rape of Lucrece it means ardent, head-ftrong, rufhing forward to its object: "O that prone luft should stain so pure a bed!" Such as moves men; befide, fhe hath profperous art 8 LUCIO. I pray, the may: as well for the encouragement of the like, which elfe would ftand under grievous impofition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her. CLAUD. I thank you, good friend Lucio. CLAUD. Come, officer, away. SCENE IV. A Monaftery. 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 complete bofom: why I defire thee Again, in Cymbeline: "Unless a man would marry a gallows, and beget young gibbets, I never faw any one fo prone.' MALONE. & Under grievous impofition;] I once thought it fhould be inquifition, but the prefent reading is probably right. The crime would be under grievous penalties impofed. JOHNSON. 9 loft at a game of tick-tack.] Tick-tack is a game at tables. "Jouer au tric-trac," is ufed in French, in a wanton fenfe. MALONE. The fame phrafe, in Lucio's fportive fenfe, occurs in Lufty Juventus. STEEVENS. Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bofom] Think not that a breast compleatly armed can be pierced by the dart of love, that comes fluttering without force. JOHNSON. |