I know, you would be prouder of the work, POR. I never did repent for doing good, Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit; 'Whose souls do bear an EQUAL yoke, &c.] The folio, 1623, reads-egal, which, I believe, in Shakspeare's time was commonly used for equal. So it was in Chaucer's: 66 I will presume hym so to dignifie "Yet be not egall." Again, in Gorboduc: Prol. to the Remedy of Love. "Sith all as one do bear you egall faith." STEEVENS. 3 Of lineaments, of manners, &c.] The wrong pointing has made this fine sentiment nonsense. As implying that friendship could not only make a similitude of manners, but of faces. The true sense is,-lineaments of manners, i. e. form of the manners, which, says the speaker, must needs be proportionate. WARBURTON. The poet only means to say,—that corresponding proportions of body and mind are necessary for those who spend their time together. So, in King Henry IV. P. II. : "Dol. Why doth the prince love him so then? "Fal. Because their legs are both of a bigness," &c. Every one will allow that the friend of a toper should have a strong head, and the intimate of a sportsman such an athletic constitution as will enable him to acquit himself with reputation in the exercises of the field. The word lineaments was used with great laxity by our ancient writers. In The learned and true Assertion of the Original, Life, &c. of King Arthur, translated from the Latin of John Leland, 1582, it is used for the human frame in general. Speaking of the removal of that prince's bones, -he calls them "Arthur's lineaments three times translated; and again, "all the lineaments of them remaining in that most stately tomb, saving the shin bones of the king and queen," &c. Again, in Greene's Farewell to Follie, 1617: "Nature hath so curiously performed his charge in the lineaments of his body," &c. Again, in Chapman's version of the fifth Iliad: took the weariness of fight "From all his nerves and lineaments,—' Which makes me think, that this Antonio, Only attended by Nerissa here, 5 "Of his illustrious lineaments so out of nature bound, Again, in the twenty-third Iliad: 66 so overlabour'd were "His goodly lineaments with chase of Hector," &c. Again, in the twenty-fourth Iliad : - 66 Those throes that my deliverers were "Of his unhappy lineaments ;—" STEEVENS. 4 - the bosom LOVER of my lord,] In our author's time this term was applied to those of the same sex who had an esteem for each other. Ben Jonson concludes one of his letters to Dr. Donne, by telling him: "he is his true lover." So, in Coriolanus: "I tell thee, fellow, "Thy general is my lover." Many more instances might be added. See our author's Sonnets, passim. MALONE. - HEAR other things.] In former editions: This comes too near the praising of myself; Portia finding the reflections she had made came too near selfpraise, begins to chide herself for it; says, She'll say no more of that sort; but call a new subject. The regulation I have made in the text was likewise prescribed by Dr. Thirlby. THEOBALD. Until her husband and my lord's return: And there we will abide. I do desire you, The which my love, and some necessity, LOR. Madam, with all my heart; I shall obey you in all fair commands. POR. My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jessica In place of lord Bassanio and myself. So fare you well, till we shall meet again. LOR. Fair thoughts, and happy hours, attend on you! JES. I wish your ladyship all heart's content. POR. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica.— [Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO. Now, Balthazar, As I have ever found thee honest, true, So let me find thee still: Take this same letter, In speed to Padua°; see thou render this And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed 6 In speed to PADUA ;] The old copies read-Mantua; and thus all the modern editors implicitly after them. But 'tis evident to any diligent reader, that we must restore, as I have done,— In speed to Padua: for it was there, and not at Mantua, Bellario liv'd. So, afterwards :-" A messenger, with letters from the Doctor, now come from Padua.”—And again : "Came you from Padua, from Bellario?"-And again, "It comes from Padua, from Bellario."-Besides, Padua, not Mantua, is the place of education for the civil law in Italy. THEOBALD. celerity like that of 7 with IMAGIN'D speed-] i. e. with Unto the tranect, to the common ferry Which trades to Venice :-waste no time in words, But get thee gone; I shall be there before thee. BALTH. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit. POR. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand, That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands, Before they think of us. Ner. Shall they see us? POR. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, That they shall think we are accomplished With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager, When we are both accouter'd like young men, I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, And wear my dagger with the braver grace; And speak between the change of man and boy, With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride; and speak of frays, Like a fine bragging youth: and tell quaint lies, How honourable ladies sought my love, Which I denying, they fell sick and died; imagination. So, in the Chorus preceding the third Act of King Henry V.: "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies." Again, in Hamlet: -swift as meditation-" 66 STEEVENS. 8 Unto the TRANECT,] Mr. Rowe reads-traject, which was adopted by all the subsequent editors.-Twenty miles from Padua, on the river Brenta there is a dam or sluice, to prevent the water of that river from mixing with that of the marshes of Venice. Here the passage-boat is drawn out of the river, and lifted over the dam by a crane. From hence to Venice the distance is five miles. Perhaps some novel-writer of Shakspeare's time might have called this dam by the name of the tranect. See Du Cange in v. Trana. MALONE. The old copies concur in this reading, which appears to be derived from tranare, and was probably a word current in the time of our author, though I can produce no example of it. STEEVENS. 9-accouter'd-] So, the earliest quarto, [quarto H.] and the The other quarto [quarto R.]-apparel'd. MALONE. I could not do withal';-then I'll repent, That men shall swear, I have discontinued school NER. Why, shall we turn to men? POR. Fye! what a question's that, If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ? But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device When I am in my coach, which stays for us At the park gate; and therefore haste away, For we must measure twenty miles to-day. SCENE V. The Same. A Garden. Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA. [Exeunt. LAUN. Yes, truly:-for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, I fear you3. I was always plain with you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter: Therefore, be of good cheer; for, truly, I 1 I could not do withal ;] I could not help it. See the meaning of this phrase clearly ascertained and fully illustrated by Mr. Gifford, in a note on Jonson's Silent Woman, p. 470. Boswell. - bragging Jacks,] Jack, in our author's time, seems to have been a term of contempt. See Much Ado About Nothing, Act I. Sc. I. MALONE. 2 3 therefore, I promise you, I FEAR YOU.] I suspect for has been inadvertently omitted; and we should read-I fear for you. MALONE. There is not the slightest need of emendation. The disputed phrase is authorized by a passage in King Richard III. : "The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy, "And his physicians fear him mightily." STEEVENS. |