therefore, throughout this play, we are to understand prince reg nant. See Act II. sc. iv. and the epitaph in Act III. sc. iii. Mal. Line 51. For the embracements even of Jove himself; At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,) Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence, &c.] I think the construction of these lines is, "at whose conception the senate-house of planets all did sit," &c. and that the words, "till Lucina reign'd, Nature," &c. are parenthetical. MALONE. Line 62. —and testy wrath Could never be her mild companion.] This is a bold expression :-testy wrath could not well be a mild companion to any one; but by her mild companion, Shakspeare means the com. panion of her mildness. M. MASON. Line 78. —all thy whole heap must die,] i. e. thy whole mass must be destroyed. MALONE. Line 94. Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe, &c.] The meaning may be—I will act as sick men do; who having had experience of the pleasures of the world, and only a visionary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the latter for the former; but at length feeling themselves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity. MALONE. Line 119. As you will live, resolve it you.] This duplication is common enough to ancient writers. So, in King Henry IV. Part I: "I'll drink no more, for no man's pleasure I." MALONE. Line 127. For he's no man on whom perfections wait,] Means no more than-he's no honest man, that knowing, &c. MAL. Line 130. -to make man— -] i. e. to produce for man, &c. 151. 197. Copp'd hills-] i. e. in form of a cone. from falling on you. MALONE. to keep you clear,] To prevent any suspicion MALONE. Line 211. Partakes her private actions-] Our author in The Winter's Tale uses the word purtake in an active sense, for parti ACT I. SCENE II. Line 281. To which that breath &c.] i. e. the breath of flattery. MALONE. Line 285. When signior Sooth-] A near kinsman of this gentleman is mentioned in The Winter's Tale: "—and his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by sir Smile, his neighbour." MALONE. Line 308. That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid!] Heaven forbid, that kings should stop their ears, and so prevent them from hearing their secret faults!-To let formerly signified to hinder. MALONE. Line 321. From whence an issue-] From whence I might propagate an issue, that are arms, &c. MALONE. Line 326. Seem'd not to strike, but smooth :] To smooth formerly signified to flatter. MALONE. Line 351. I thought it princely charity to grieve them.] That is, to lament their fate. MALONE. ACT I. SCENE IV. Line 444. For riches, strew'd herself even in the streets;] Shakspeare generally uses riches as a singular noun. Thus, in Othello: "The riches of the ship is come ashore." MALONE. Line 476. O, let those cities, that of plenty's cup-] A kindred thought is found in King Lear: "Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man," &c. MALONE. Line 495. And make a conquest of unhappy me,] I believe a letter was dropped at the press, and would read: of unhappy men, &c. MALONE. Line 496. Whereas no glory's-] Whereas, it has been already observed, was anciently used for where. Line 508. A Latin sense. VOL. X. MALONE. -if he on peace consist;] If he stands on peace. MALONE. SS ACT II. . Line 7. I'll show you those &c.] I will now exhibit to you persons, who, after suffering small and temporary evils, will at length be blessed with happiness. MALONE. Line 12. Thinks all is writ he spoken can:] Pays as much respect to whatever Pericles says, as if it were holy writ." As true as the gospel," is still common language. Line 25. MALONE. -was not best—] The construction is, And that for him to make his rest longer in Tharsus, was not best; i. e. his best course. MALONE. ACT II. SCENE I. Line 65. when I saw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled?] The rising of porpuses near a vessel at sea, has long been considered by the superstition of sailors, as the fore-runner of a storm. So, in The Duchess of Malfy, by Webster, 1623: "He lifts up his nose like a foul porpus before a storm.” MALONE. Line 101.—to cast thee in our way!] He is playing on the word cast, which anciently was used both in the sense of to throw, and to comit. MALONE. 66 Line 128. flap-jacks;] i. e. pancakes. 160. —and what a man cannot get, &c.] This passage, in its present state, is to me unintelligible. We might read:O, sir, things must be as they may; and what a man cannot get, he may not lawfully deal for ;-his wife's soul." MALONE. Line 165. bots on't,] The bots are the worms that breed in horses. This comick execration was formerly used in the room of one less decent. It occurs in King Henry IV. and in many other old plays. MALONE. Line 211. - a pair of bases,] Bases signified the housings of a horse, and may have been used in that sense here. So, in Fairfax's translation of Tasso's Godfrey of Bulloigne : "And with his streaming blood his bases dide." MALONE. ACT II. SCENE II. Line 239. The word, Lux tua vita mihi.] What we now call the motto, was sometimes termed the word or mot, by our old writers. Le mot, French. So, in Marston's Satires, 1599: "Fabius' perpetual golden coat, "Which might have semper idem for a mot.” These Latin mottos may perhaps be urged as a proof of the learning of Shakspeare, or as an argument to show that he was not the author of this play; but tournaments were so fashionable and frequent an entertainment in the time of queen Elizabeth, that he might easily have been furnished with these shreds of literature. MALONE. Line 245. Piu per dulçura que per fuerça.] That is, more by sweetness than by force. The author should have written Mas por dulçura, &c. Più in Italian signifies more; but, I believe, there is no such Spanish word. MALONE. Line 257. What is the fourth?] i. e. What is the fourth device? MALONE. 281. The outward habit by the inward man.] i. e. that makes us scan the inward man by the outward habit. MALONE. ACT II. SCENE III. Line 320. wishing him my meat!] I am afraid a jingle is here intended between meat and mate. The two words were, I believe, in our author's time, generally, and are at this day in Warwickshire, pronounced alike. The address to Juno countenances this supposition. MALONE. Line 334. Where now his son's a glow-worm in the night,] Where is, I suppose, here, as in many other places, used for whereas. The peculiar property of the glow-worm, on which the poet has here employed a line, he has in Hamlet happily described by a single word: "The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, Line 395. I will not have excuse, with saying, this MALONE. Loud musick is too harsh―] i. e. the loud noise made by the clashing of their armour. ACT II. SCENE IV. MALONE. Line 456. And be resolv'd, he lives to govern us,] Resolv'd is satisfied, free from doubt. So, in a subsequent scene: "Resolve your angry father, if my tongue," &c. MAL. Line 459. Whose death's, indeed, the strongest in our censure:] censure, i. e. opinion. Line 469. Take I your wish, I leap into the seas, Where's hourly trouble, &c.] Thus the old copy. STEEVENS. On ship-board the pain and pleasure may be in the proportion here stated; but the troubles of him who plunges into the sea, (unless he happens to be an expert swimmer,) are seldom of an hour's duration. ACT II. SCENE V. MALONE. Line 586. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it.] Even as my life loves my blood that supports it. ACT III. Line 9. Hymen hath brought the bride to bed, Where, by the loss of maidenhead, MALONE. A babe is moulded:] Thus, in Twine's translation: "The bride was brought to bed, and Apollonius tarried not long from her, where he accomplished the duties of marriage, and faire Lucina conceived with childe the same night." Line 13. With your fine fancies quaintly eche ;] i. e. eké out. MALONE. ∙15. By many a dearn and painful perch, &c.] Dearn is direful, dismal. MALONE. Line 17. By the four opposing coignes,] By the four opposite corner-stones that unite and bind together the great fabric of the world. MALONE. Hath their keel cut;] They have made half their voyage with a favourable wind. MALONE. |