He's beat from his beft ward. Leon. Well faid, Hermione. Her. To tell, he longs to fee his fon, were strong: But let him fwear fo, and he shall not stay, Yet of your royal prefence [to Polix.] I'll adventure You take my lord, I'll give him my commiffion, Prefix'd for his parting: yet, good-deed, Leontes, What lady the her lord.-You'll stay? Pol. No, madam. Her. Nay, but you will? Pol. I may not, verily. You put me off with limber vows: But I, Though you would seek to unsphere the ftars with oaths, Should yet fay, Sir, no going. Verily, 9- I'll give him my commiffion, To let bim there a month,] “I'll give him my licence of abfence, so as to obftruct or retard his departure for a month," &c. To let him, however, may be used as many other reflective verbs are by Shakspeare, for to let or hinder bimfelf: then the meaning will be, "I'll give him my permiffion to tarry for a month," &c. Dr. Warburton and the fubfequent editors read, I think, without neceffity,-I'll give you my commiflion, &c. MALONE. 1-bebind the geft] Gefts, or rather gifts, from the Fr. gifte, (which fignifies both a bed, and a lodging-place,) were the names of the houses or towns where the king or prince intended to lie every night during his PROGRESS. They were written in a scroll, and probably each of the royal attendants was furnished with a copy. MALONE. 2 - good-deed,] fignifies indeed, in very deed, as Shakspeare in another place expreffes it. Good-deed is ufed in the fame fenfe by the earl of Surry, Sir John Hayward, and Gafcoigne. STEEVENS. 3 - a jar o`the clock-] A jar is, I believe, a fingle repetition of the noife made by the pendulum of a clock; what children call the ticking of it. STEEVENS. A jar perhaps means a minute, for I do not fuppofe that the ancient clocks ticked or noticed the feconds. See Holinfhed's Defcription of England, p. 241. TOLLET. So, in the Spanish Tragedy, 1610 :-" the owle fhrieking, the toades croaking, the minutes jerring, and the clocke striking twelve." MALONE. You You fhall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet? Not like a gueft; fo you fhall pay your fees, How fay you? Pol. Your gueft then, madam: To be your prifoner, fhould import offending; Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hottefs. Come, I'll queftion you 4 Pol. We were, fair queen, Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, And to be boy eternal. Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o'the two? Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i'the fun, And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd, Was innocence for innocence; we knew not The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd That any did: Had we purfued that life, And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd With ftronger blood, we fhould have anfwer'd heaven Her. By this we gather, 4lordings] This diminutive of lord is often ufed by Chaucer. STEEVENS. 5 The doctrine of ill doing, nor dream'd] Doctrine is here used as a trifyllable. So children, tickling, and many others. The editor of the fecond folio inferted the word "no, to fupply a fuppofed defect in the metre, no, nor dream'd] and the interpolation was adopted in all the fubfequent editions. MALONE. 6 - the impofition clear'd, Hereditary ours.] i. e. fetting afide original fin; bating the impofition from the offence of our firft parents, we might have boldly protefted our innocence to heaven. WARBURTON. You You have tripp'd fince. Pol. O my most facred lady, Temptations have fince then been born to us: for Her. Grace to boot! Of this make no conclufion; left you fay, Leon. Is he won yet? Her. He'll ftay, my lord. Leon. At my requeit, he would not. Hermione, my deareft, thou never spok'st To better purpose. Her. Never? Leon. Never, but once. Her. What, have I twice faid well? when was't before? I pr'ythee, tell me : Cram us with praife, and make us As fat as tame things: One good deed, dying tonguclefs, Slaughters a thoufand, waiting upon that, Our praises are our wages: You may ride us 7 Grace to boot! Of this make no conclufion; left you say, Your queen and I are devils :] She calls for Heaven's grace, to purify and vindicate her own character, and that of the wife of Polixenes, which might feem to be fullied by a fpecies of argument that made them appear to have led their husbands into temptation. Grace or Heaven belp me!-Do not argue in that manner; do not draw any conclufion or inference from your, and your friend's, having, fince thofe days of childhood and innocence, become acquainted with your queen and me; for, as you have faid that in the period between childhood and the prefent time temptations have been born to you, and as in that interval you have become acquainted with us, the inference or infinuation would be ftrong against us, as your corrupters, and, "by that kind of chafe," your queen and I would be devils. MALONE. With With fpur we heat an acre. 8 But to the goal 3 ; My laft good deed was, to entreat his stay; What was my first? it has an elder fifter, Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace! Leo. Why, that was when Three crabbed months had four'd themselves to death, Her. It is Grace, indeed'. Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice: The other, for fome while a friend. [giving her hand to Pol. To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me :-my heart dances; [Afide. But to the goal;] means, I think, but to come to an end or conclufion of this matter. MALONE. 9 And clap thyfelf my love;] She open'd her hand, to clap the palm of it into his, as people do when they confirm a bargain. Hence the phrafe to clap up a bargain, i. e. make one with no other ceremony than the junction of hands. So, in Ram-alley or Merry Tricks, 1611: << - Speak, widow, is't a match? "Shall we clap it up ?" Again, in King Henry V: and fo clap hands, and a bargain." STEEVENS. This was a regular part of the ceremony of troth plighting, to which Shakspeare often alludes. So, in Meafure for Measure: "This is the band, which with a vow'd contract "Was faft belock'd in thine." Again, in King John: "Phil. It likes us well. Young princes, clofe your bands. "Auft. And your lips too, for I am well affur'd, "That I did fo, when I was first aflur'd." So alfo, in No Wit like a Woman's, a Com. by Middleton, 1657: "There these young lovers fhall clap bands together." See Vol. I. p. 52, n. 9.-I should not have given fo many inftances of this custom, but that I know Mr. Pope's reading-" And clepe thyfelf my love," has many favourers. The old copy has-A clap &c. The correction was made by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE. It is Grace, indeed!] Referring to what he had juft faid- O, would her name were Grace!" MALONE. But But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment Mam. Ay, my good lord. Leon. I'fecks? Why, that's my bawcock. What, haft fmutch'd thy nofe? Are all call'd, neat.-Still virginalling" [obferving Polixenes and Hermione. Upon his palm ?-How now, you wanton calf? Art thou my calf? Mam. Yes, if you will, my lord. Leon. Thou want'ft a rough pash, and the shoots that I have 7, Το 2 - from bounty, fertile bofom,] I fuppofe that a letter dropped out at the prefs, and would read-from bounty's fertile bofom. MALONE. 3 The mort o'the deer ;] A leffon upon the horn at the death of the deer. THEOBALD. 4 Why, that's my bawcock.] Perhaps from beau and coq. It is ftill faid in vulgar language that fuch a one is a jolly cock, a cock of the game. The word has already occurred in Twelfth Night, and is one of the titles by which Pistol speaks of K. Henry the Fifth. STEEVENS. 5 We must be neat ;-] Leontes, feeing his fon's nofe fmutch'd, cries, we must be neat; then recollecting that neat is the ancient term for borned cattle, he fays, not neat, but cleanly. JOHNSON. 6 - Still virginalling] Still playing with her fingers, as a girl playing on the virginals. JOHNSON. A virginal, as I am informed, is a very small kind of fpinnet. Queen Elizabeth's virginal book is yet in being, and many of the leffons in it have proved fo difficult, as to baffle our most expert players on the harpfichord. STEEVENS. A virginal was ftrung like a spinnet, and shaped like a piano forte. MALONE. 7 Thou want'ft a rough path, and the fhoots that I have,] Not hav VOL. IV. K ing |