His woful queen leave at Ephesus, Whom our fast-growing scene must find2 In musick, letters; who hath gain'd Which makes her both the heart and place That monster envy, oft the wrack MALOne. 1 Unto Diana there a votaress.] The old copies read—there's a votaress. I am answerable for the correction. "His woful queen leave at EPHESS, "To Dian there a votaress." Old copy-we leave at Ephesus; but Ephesus is a rhyme so ill corresponding with votaress, that I suspect our author wrote Ephese or Ephess; as he often contracts his proper names to suit his metre. Thus Pont for Pontus, Mede for Media, Comagene for Comagena, Sicils for Sicilies, &c. Gower, in the story on which this play is founded, has Dionyze for Dionyza, and Tharse for Tharsus. STEEVENS. 2 Whom our FAST-GROWING SCENE must find -] The same expression occurs in the chorus to The Winter's Tale: 66 your patience this allowing, "I turn my glass, and give my scene such growing, 3 In musick, letters ;] The old copy reads, I think corruptly, -In musicks letters. The corresponding passage in Gower's Confessio Amantis, confirms the emendation now made: Again: 66 My doughter Thaise by your leve "I thynke shall with you be leve 66 she dwelleth "In Tharse, as the Cronike telleth ; "She was well taught, she was well boked; "So well she sped hir in hir youth, "That she of every wysedome couth-." MALONE. Of earned praise 5, Marina's life One daughter, and a wench full grown, 4 Which makes HER both the HEART and place Of general wonder." Such an education as rendered her the center and situation of general wonder. We still use the heart of oak for the central part of it, and the heart of the land in much such another sense. Shakspeare in Coriolanus says, that one of his ladies is—" the spire and top of praise." STEEVENS. So, in Twelfth-Night: "I will on with my speech in your praise, and then show you the heart of my message." " Again, in Antony and Cleopatra : 66 the very heart of loss." Again, in The Rape of Lucrece: "On her bare breast, the heart of all her land." Place here signifies residence. So, in A Lover's Complaint: "Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place." In this sense it was that Shakspeare, when he purchased his house at Stratford, called it The New Place. MALONE. · oft the wrack OF EARNED praise,] Praise that has been well deserved. The same expression is found in the following lines, which our author has imitated in his Romeo and Juliet : "How durst thou once attempt to touch the honor of his name? "Whose deadly foes do yeld him dew and earned praise." Tragicall Hystorie of Romeus and Juliet, 1562. So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream: "If we have unearned luck-." MALONE. 6 And in this kind HATH OUR CLEON One daughter, and a WENCH FULL GROWN,] The old copy reads: "And in this kind our Cleon hath "One daughter, and a full grown wench.” The present regulation is Mr. Steevens's. MALONE. 7 Even RIPE for marriage FIGHT;] The first quarto reads: "Even right for marriage sight-." For certain in our story, she Would ever with Marina be: 9 8 1 Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk She sung, and made the night-bird mute, The quarto 1619, and all the subsequent editions, have- Sight was clearly misprinted for fight. We had before in this play Cupid's wars. MALONE. I would read: "Even ripe for marriage rites." PERCY. Read-fight; i. e. the combats of Venus, or night, which needs no explanation. "Let heroes in the dusty field delight, "Those limbs were fashion'd for a softer fight." Dryden's Version of Ovid's Epistle from Helen to Paris. STEEVENS. Be't when SHE weav'd the SLEIDED silk-] The old copies read: "Be it when they weav'd," &c. But the context shows that she was the author's word. To have praised even the hands of Philoten would have been inconsistent with the general scheme of the present chorus. In all the other members of this sentence we find Marina alone mentioned: "Or when she would, &c. 66 or when to the lute Sleided silk is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley or slay. PERCY. 9 With fingers, long, small, white, &c.] So, in Twine's translation: " beautified with a white hand, and fingers long and slender." STEEVENS. Or when she would with sharp NEELD wound-] All the copies read-" with sharp needle wound;" but the metre shows that we ought to read neeld. In a subsequent passage, in the first quarto, the word is abbreviated: “and with her neele composes—.” So, in Stanyhurst's Virgil, 1582: 66 -on neeld-wrought carpets." See also vol. xv. p. 353, n. 9, MALONE. That still records with moan 2; or when She sung, and made the night-BIRD mute, That still RECORDS WITH MOAN ;] The first quarto reads: the night-bed mute, 66 "That still records with moan; for which in all the subsequent editions we find 66 and made the night-bed mute, "That still records within one." There can, I think, be no doubt, that the author wrote-nightbird. Shakspeare has frequent allusions, in his works, to the nightingale. So, in his 101st Sonnet : "As Philomel in summer's front doth sing, "Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night," &c. Again, in his Rape of Lucrece, 1594: 66 And for, poor bird, thou sing'st not in the day, "As shaming anie eye should thee behold-.' So, Milton's Paradise Lost, book iv.: "Were slunk; all but the wakeful nightingale ; To record anciently signified to sing. So, in Sir Philip Sydney's Ourania, by N. B. [Nicholas Breton] 1606: 66 Recording songs unto the Deitie-." See vol. iv. p. 126, n. 7.—“ A bird (I am informed) is said to record, when he sings at first low to himself, before he becomes master of his song and ventures to sing out. The word is in constant use with bird-fanciers at this day." MALOne. 3 with rich and constant pen VAIL to her mistress Dian;] To vail is to bow, to do homage. The author seems to mean- When she would compose supplicatory hymns to Diana, or verses expressive of her gratitude to Dionyza.' We might indeed read-Hail to her mistress Dian; i. e. salute her in verse. STEEVENS. I strongly suspect that vail is a misprint. We might read: "Wail to her mistress Dian." i. e. compose elegies on the death of her mother, of which she had been apprized by her nurse, Lychorida. With absolute Marina: so With the dove of Paphos might the crow All praises, which are paid as debts, That Dian, i. e. Diana, is the true reading, may, I think, be inferred from a passage in The Merchant of Venice; which may at the same time perhaps afford the best comment on that before us: "Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn; "With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear, Again, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream: Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon." MALONE. 4 With ABSOLUTE Marina:] i. e. highly accomplished, perfect. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: Again, in Greene's Tu Quoque, 1614: “ from an absolute and most complete gentleman, to a most absurd, ridiculous, and fond lover." MALONE. 5 VIE feathers white.] See note on The Taming of a Shrew, vol. v. p. 427, n. 4. STEEVENs. Old copy: The sense requires a transposition of these words, and that we should read: "With the dove of Paphos might the crow "Vie feathers white." M. MASON. I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's judicious arrangement. STEEVENS. In Philoten all graceful marks,] So, in Coriolanus : 66 and their blaze "Shall darken him for ever." Again, ibidem: 66 You are darken'd in this action, sir, "Even by your own." MALONE. |