[So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awak'd them]
[W: no contempt or] The original edition reads the first line thus,
_So like a courtier, contempt_ nor _bitterness._
The sense is the same. _Nor_ was used without reduplication. So
in _Measure for Measure,_
_More_ nor _less to others paying,
Than by self-offences weighing._
The old text needs to be explained. He was so like a courtier,
that there was in _his dignity of manner nothing contemptuous,_ and
I.ii.41 (19, 5) [His tongue obey'd his hand] We should read,
_His tongue obeyed_ the _hand._
That is, the _hand_ of _his honour's clock,_ shewing _the true minute
when exceptions bad him speak._
I.ii.44 (19, 7) [Making then proud of his humility, In their poor
praise he humbled] [W: proud; and his] Every man has seen the
_mean_ too often _proud_ of the _humility_ of the great, and perhaps
the great may sometimes be _humbled in the praises_ of the mean,
of those who commend them without conviction or discernment:
this, however is not so common; the _mean_ are found more frequently
than the _great._