Which your own coffers yield! with difeas'd ven

tures,

That play with all infirmities for gold

Which rottennefs can lend nature! fuch boil'd stuff,1 As well might poifon poifon! Be reveng'd;

Or fhe, that bore you, was no queen, and you Recoil from your great flock.

IMO.

Reveng'd!
How should I be reveng'd? If this be true,
(As I have fuch a heart, that both mine ears
Muft not in hafte abuse,) if it be true,

How should I be reveng'd?

IACH.

Should he make me

Live like Diana's prieft, betwixt cold fheets;9
Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,

In your defpite, upon your purse? Revenge it.

8

-fuch boil'd fluff,] The allufion is to the ancient process of fweating in venereal cafes. See Vol. XVII. p. 135. n. 5. So, in The Old Law, by Maffinger:

look parboil'd,

"As if they came from Cupid's fcalding-houfe." Again, in Troilus and Creffida: "Sodden bufinefs! there's a few'd phrafe indeed." Again, in Timon of Athens: fetting on water to fcald fuch chickens as you are.

"She's e'en All this fuff

about boiling, fcalding, &c. is a mere play on few, a word which is afterwards ufed for a brothel by Imogen. STEVENS.

The words may mean,-fuch corrupted Atuff; from the fubftantive boil. So, in Coriolanus:

66

boils and plagues

"Plafter you o'er!"

But, I believe, Mr. Steevens's interpretation is the true one.

MALONE.

9 Live like Diana's prieft, betwixt cold Sheets; ] Sir Thomas Hanmer, fuppofing this to be an inaccurate expreffion, reads: Live like Diana's prieftefs 'twixt cold fheets; but the text is as the author wrote it.

Tyre, DIANA fays:

So, in Pericles, Prince of

"My temple ftands at Ephefus; hie thee thither;
"There, when my maiden priests are met together," &c.

MALONE.

I dedicate myfelf to your fweet pleafure;
More noble than that runagate to your bed;
And will continue faft to your affection,
Still clofe, as fure.

IACH. Let me my fervice tender on your lips.*
IMO. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that
have

So long attended thee.If thou wert honourable,
Thou would't have told this tale for virtue, not
For fuch an end thou feek'ft; as bafe, as flrange.
Thou wrong'ft a gentleman, who is as far
From thy report, as thou from honour; and
Solicit'ft here a lady, that difdains

Thee and the devil alike. What ho, Pifanio!—
The king my father fhall be made acquainted
Of thy affault: if he fhall think it fit,

A faucy ftranger, in his court, to mart
As in a Romilh flew, and to expound

Let me my fervice tender on your lips. ] Ferhaps this is an allufion to the ancient cuftom of fwearing fervants into noble families. So, in Caltha Poetarum, &c. 1599:

the fwears him to his good abearing,

"Whilft her faire fweet lips were the books of fwearing."

STEEVENS.

3 As in a Romih flew, ] Romish was in the time of Shakspeare ufed inftead of Roman. There were fews at Rome in the time of Auguftus. The fame phrafe occurs in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

my mother deem'd me chang'd,

"Poor woman! in the loathfome Romish fewes:" and the author of this piece feems to have been a scholar. Again, in Wit in a Constable, by Glapthorne, 1640:

“A Romish cirque, or Grecian hippodrome."

Again, in Thomas Drant's tranflation of the first epiftle of the fecond book of Horace, 1567:

"The Romishe people wife in this, in this point only juft."

STEEVENS.

His beaftly mind to us; he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter whom 4
He not refpects at all. What ho, Pifanio!
IACH. O happy Leonatus! I may fay;
The credit, that thy lady hath of thee,
Deferves thy truft; and thy most perfect goodness
Her affur'd credit!-Bleffed live you long!
A lady to the worthieft fir, that ever

Country call'd his! and you his miftrefs, only
For the moft worthieft fit! Give me your pardon.
I have spoke this, to know if your affiance
Were deeply rooted; and fhall make your lord,
That which he is, new o'er: And he is one
The trueft manner'd; fuch a holy witch,

That he enchants focieties unto him:5

Half all men's hearts are his.

IMO.

You make amends.

IACH. He fits 'mongt men, like a defcended
6
god:

He hath a kind of honour fets him off,
More than a mortal feeming. Be not angry,
Moft mighty princefs, that I have adventur'd

4

and a daughter whom Old copy-who. Corre&ed in the fecond folio. MALONE.

That he enchants focieties unto him:] So, in our author's Lover's Complaint:

he did in the general bofom reign

"Of young and old, and fexes both enchanted

"Confents bewitch'd, ere he defire, have granted."

E like a defcended god: So, in Hamlet: a ftation like the herald Mercury,

"New lighted on a heaven-kiffing hill."

MALONE.

The old copy has defended. The correction was made by the editor of the second folio. Defend is again printed for defcend, in the laft feene of Timon of Athens. MALONE.

6

To try your taking a falfe report; which hath Honour'd with confirmation your great judgement In the election of a fir fo rare,

Which you know, cannot err: The love I bear him Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made you, Unlike all others, chafflefs. Pray, your pardon.

IMO. All's well, fir: Take my power i' the court for yours.

IACH. My humble thanks. I had almoft forgot To entreat your grace but in a small request, And yet of moment too, for it concerns Your lord; myself, and other noble friends, Are partners in the business.

IMO.

Pray, what is't? IACH. Some dozen Romans of us, and your lord, (The best feather of our wing) have mingled fums, To buy a prefent for the emperor;

Which I, the factor for the reft, have done

8

In France: 'Tis plate, of rare device; and jewels,
Of rich and exquifite form; their values great;
And I am something curious, being strange,
To have them in fafe ftowage; May it please you
To take them in protection?

IMO.

Willingly;
And pawn mine honour for their fafety: fince
My lord hath intereft in them, I will keep them
In my bed-chamber.

taking a

] Old copy, vulgarly and unmetrically,

taking of a. STEEVENS.

7 best feather of our wing-] So, in Churchyard's Warning 30 Wanderers abroad, 1593:

"You are fo great you would faine march in fielde,
"That world fhould judge you feathers of one wing."

- being strange,] i. e. being a ftranger. STEEVENS.

STEEVENS,

IACH.
Attended by my men:
To fend them to you,

They are in a trunk.
I will make bold
only for this night;

I must aboard to-morrow.

IMO.

O, no, no.

JACH. Yes, I befeech; or I fhall fhort my word, By length'ning my return.

From Gallia

I crofs'd the feas on purpose, and on promife
To fee your grace.

IMO.

I thank you for your pains;

But not away to-morrow?

IACH.

O, I muft, madam:
Therefore, I fhall befeech you, if you please
To greet your lord with writing, do't to-night:
I have outstood my time; which is material
To the tender of our prefent.

IMO.
I will write.
Send your trunk to me; it fhall fafe be kept,
And truly yielded you: You are very welcome.

[Exeunt