How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, Which seasons comfort.] The last words are equivocal; but the meaning is this: Who are beholden only to the seasons for their support and nourishment; so that, if those be kindly, such have no more to care for, or desire. WARBURTON. Line 642, and the rich crop Of sea and land,] The crop of sea and land means only the productions of either element. STEEVENS. Line 657. Should make desire vomit emptiness, Not so allur'd to feed.] Iachimo, in this counterfeited rapture, has shown how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the present mistress of Posthumus, and proceeds to say, that appetite too would give the same suffrage. Desire, says he, when it approached sluttery, and considered it in comparison with such neat excellence, would not only be not so allured to feed, but, seized with a fit of loathing, would vomit emptiness, would feel the convulsions of disgust, though, being unfed, it had no object. Line 668. fretted. Line 704. -he JOHNSON. Is strange and peevish.] He is a foreigner, and easily JOHNSON. In himself, 'tis much ;] If he merely regarded his own character, without any consideration of his wife, his conduct would be unpardonable. MALONE, Line 727. timely knowing,] Rather-timely known. JOHNSON, I believe Shakspeare wrote-known, and that the transcriber's ear deceived him here as in many other places. MALONE.. . Line 729. What both you spur and stop.] What is it that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. JOHNSON, This kind of ellipsis is common in these plays. What both you spur and stop at, the poet means. JOHNSON. Made hard with hourly falsehood-] Hard with falsehood, is, hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. JOHNSON. Line 758.hir'd with that self-exhibition &c.] Gross strumpets, hir'd with the very pension which you allow your husband. JOHNSON. Line 836.being strange,] i. e. being a stranger. STEEVENS. Line 2. ACT II. SCENE I. kissed the jack upon an up-cast,] He is describing The jack is the small bowl at which the others his fate at bowls. are aimed. He who is nearest to it wins. To kiss the jack is a state of great advantage. JOHNSON. Line 17. To have smelt-] A poor quibble on the word rank in the preceding speech. MALONE. Line 25. —with your comb on.] The allusion is to a fool's cap, which hath a comb like a cock's. JOHNSON. Line 28. every companion-] The use of companion was the same as of fellow now. It was a word of contempt. MALONE. ACT II. SCENE II. Line 83. 84. -our Tarquin-] The speaker is an Italian. JOHNS. -Tarquin thus Did softly press the rushes,] It was the custom in the time of our author to strew chambers with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets: the practice is mentioned in Caius de Ephemera Britannica. Line 105. but as a monument, JOHNSON. Thus in a chapel lying!] Shakspeare was here think ing of the recumbent whole-length figures, which in his time were usually placed on the tombs of considerable persons. The head was always reposed upon a pillow. MALONE. I' the bottom of a cowslip:] This simile contains the smallest out of a thousand proofs that Shakspeare was an ob server of nature. STEEVENS. Line 123. you dragons of the night!] The task of drawing the chariot of night was assigned to dragons, on account of their supposed watchfulness. Milton mentions the dragon yoke of night in his Il Penseroso. STEEVENS. Line 125. -that dawning May bare the raven's eye:] The poet means no more than that the light might wake the raven; or, as it is poetically expressed, bare his eye. STEEVENS. Line 127. One, two, three,] Our author is hardly ever exact in his computation of time. Just before Imogen went to sleep, she asked her attendant what hour it was, and was informed by her, it was almost midnight. Iachimo, immediately after she has fallen asleep, comes from the trunk, and the present soliloquy cannot have consumed more than a few minutes: yet we are now told that it is three o'clock. MALONE. ACT II. SCENE III. Line 149. His steeds to water at those springs On chalic'd flowers that lies;] i. e. the morning sun dries up the dew which lies in the cups of flowers. WARB. It may be noted that the cup of a flower is called calix, whence chalice. JOHNSON. Line 192. And towards himself his goodness forespent on us We must extend our notice.] i. e. The good offices WARBURTON. done by him to us heretofore. That is, we must extend towards himself our notice of his goodness heretofore shown to us. Our author has many similar ellipses. Line 246. —one of your great knowing MALONE. Should learn, being taught, forbearance.] i. e. A man who is taught forbearance, should learn it. Line 250. Fools are not mad folks.] This, as Cloten very well understands it, is a covert mode of calling him fool. The meaning implied is this: If I am mad, as you tell me, I am what you can never be, Fools are not mad folks. STEEVENS. Line 256. -so verbal :] is, so verbose, so full of talk. JOHNSON. Line 264. The contract &c.] Here Shakspeare has not preserved, with his common nicety, the uniformity of character. The speech of Cloten is rough and harsh, but certainly not the talk of one "Who can't take two from twenty, for his heart, "And leave eighteen—." His argument is just and well enforced, and its prevalence is allowed throughout all civil nations: ́ as for rudeness, he seems not to be much undermatched. JOHNSON. Line 270. in self-figur'd knot ;] A self-figured knot is a knot formed by yourself. JOHNSON. → Line 274. A hilding for a livery,] A low fellow, only fit to `wear a livery, and serve as a lacquey. MALONE. Hath left mine arm;] That hath accidentally fallen from my arm by my too great negligence. MALONE. MALONE. Line 313. She's my good lady ;] This is said ironically. My good lady is equivalent to—my good friend. ACT II. SCENE IV. Line 346. To their approvers,] i. e. To those who try them. WARBURTON. 407. And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for The press of boats, or pride:] Iachimo's language is such as a skilful villain would naturally use, a mixture of airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shows his seriousness to be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be .without art. JOHNSON. Line 423. So likely to report themselves:] So near to speech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is remarkable, a speaking picture. JOHNSON. Line 424. Was as another nature, dumb;] The meaning is this: The sculpture was as nature, but as nature dumb; he gave every thing that nature gives, but breath and motion. In breath is . included speech. JOHNSON. Let it be granted, you have seen all this, &c.] The expression is ironical. Jachimo relates many particulars, to which Posthumus answers with impatience : "This is her honour!" That is, And the attainment of this knowledge is to pass for the corruption of her honour. JOHNSON. with rage. Line 461. JOHNSON. -The vows of women-] The love vowed by women no more abides with him to whom it is vowed, than women adhere to their virtue. JOHNSON. Line 482. The cognizance-] The badge; the token, the visible proof. ACT III. SCENE I. JOHNSON. Line 33. (Poor ignorant baubles!)] Unacquainted with the nature of our boisterous seas. JOHNSON, Line 37. (0, giglot fortune!)] O false and inconstant fortune! A giglot was a strumpet. So, in Hamlet : Out, out, thou strumpet fortune!" Line 83. MALONE. —keep at utterance ;] i. e. at extreme distance. WARBURTON. More properly in a state of hostile defiance, and deadly opposi tion. Line 83. Macbeth: 66 Line 101. JOHNSON. -I am perfect,] I am well informed. So, in -in your state of honour I am perfect." JOHNS. ACT III. SCENE II. -What false Italian (As poisonous tongue'd, as handed,)] About Shakspeare's time the practice of poisoning was very common in Italy, and the suspicion of Italian poisons yet more common. JOHNSON, Line 106. -take in some virtue.] To take in a town, is conquer it. JOHNSON. Line 120. I am ignorant in what I am commanded.] i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. to STEEVENS. |