[No more of that!
I pr'ythee, do not strive against my vows:
I was compell'd to her]
I know not well what Bertram can mean by entreating Diana _not to
strive against his vows_. Diana has just mentioned his _wife_, so
that the _vows_ seem to relate to his marriage. In this sense not
Diana, but himself, _strives against his vows_. His _vows_ indeed may
mean _vows_ made to Diana; but, in that case, to _strive against_ is
not properly used for to reject, nor does this sense cohere well
with his first exclamation of impatience at the mention of his
wife. _No more of that_! Perhaps we might read,
_I Pr'ythee do not_ drive _against my vows.
Do not_ run _upon that topick; talk of any thing else that I can
bear to hear_.
I have another conceit upon this passage, which I would be
thought to offer without much confidence:
_No more of that_!
_I pr'ythee do not_ strive--_against my_ voice
_I was compell'd to her._
Diana tells him unexpectedly of his wife. He answers with perturbation,
_No more of that! I pr'ythee do not_ play the confessor
--_against my own_ consent _I was compelled to her_.
When a young profligate finds his courtship so gravely repressed
by an admonition of his duty, he very naturally desires the girl
not to take upon her the office of a confessor.
IV.ii.23 (95,6) [What is not holy, that we swear not 'bides] [W: not
'bides] This is an acute and excellent conjecture, and I have done
it the due honour of exalting it to the text; yet, methinks, there
is something yet wanting. The following words, _but take the
High'st to witness_, even though it be understood as an anticipation
or assumption in this sense,--_but_ now suppose that you _take the_
Highest _to witness_,--has not sufficient relation to the antecedent
sentence. I will propose a reading nearer to the surface, and let
it take its chance.
Ber. _How have I sworn_!
Diana. _'Tis not the many oaths, that make the truth,
But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true_.
Ber. _What is not holy, that we swear not by.
But take the High'st to witness_.
Diana. _Then, pray tell me.
If I should swear_, &c.
Bertram means to enforce his suit, by telling her, that he has
bound himself to her, not by the pretty protestations usual among
lovers, but by vows of greater solemnity. She then makes a proper
and rational reply.
IV.ii.25 (96,7) [If I should swear by Jove's great attributes] In the
print of the old folio, it is doubtful whether it be _Jove's_ or
_Love's_, the characters being not distinguishable. If it is read
_Love's_, perhaps it may be something less difficult. I am still at
a loss.
It may be read thus,
--"this has no holding,
"To swear by him whom I _attest_ to love,
"That I will work against him."
There is no consistence in expressing reverence for Jupiter by
calling him to _attest_ my love, and shewing at the same time, by
_working against him_ by a wicked passion, that I have no respect to
the name which I invoke. (1773)
IV.ii.28 (96,8) [To swear by him whom I protest to love, That I will
work against him] This passage likewise appears to me corrupt. She
swears not _by_ him whom she _loves_, but by Jupiter. I believe we may
read, _to swear_ to _him_. There is, says she, no _holding_, no
consistency, in swearing to one that _I love him_, when I swear it
only to _injure_ him.
IV.ii.73 (98,9) [Since Frenchmen are so braid, Marry that will, I'll
live and die a maid] [W: Marry 'em] The passage is very unimportant,
and the old reading reasonable enough. Nothing is more common than
for girls, on such occasions, to say in a pet what they do not
think, or to think for a time what they do not finally resolve.
IV.iii.7 (98,1) [I _Lord_] The later editors have with great liberality
bestowed lordship upon these interlocutors, who, in the original
edition, are called, with more propriety, _capt_. E. and _capt_. G.
It is true that _captain_ E. is in a former scene called _lord_ E. but
the subordination in which they seem to act, and the timorous manner
in which they converse, determines them to be only captains.
Yet as the later readers of Shakespeare have been used to find
them lords, I have not thought it worth while to degrade them in
the margin.
IV.iii.29 (99,2) [he, that in this action contrives against his own
nobility, in his proper stream o'erflows himself] That is, _betrays
his own secrets in his own talk_. The reply shows that this is the
meaning.
IV.iii.38 (100,3) [he might take a measure of his own judgment] This
is a very just and moral reason. Bertram, by finding how erroneously
he has judged, will be less confident, and more easily moved by
admonition.
IV.iii.113 (102,4) [bring forth this counterfeit module] [W: medal]
_Module_ being the _pattern_ of any thing, may be here used in that
sense. Bring forth this fellow, who, by _counterfeit_ virtue pretended
to make himself a _pattern_.
IV.iii.237 (106,8) [Dian. _the Count's a fool, and full of gold_] After
this line there is apparently a line lost, there being no rhime
that corresponds to gold.
IV.iii.254 (106,9) [Half won, is match well made; match, and well
make it] This line has no meaning that I can find. I read, with
a very slight alteration, _Half won is match well made_; watch, _and
well make it_. That is, _a match well made is half won; watch, and
make it well_.
This is, in my opinion, not all the error. The lines are misplaced,
and should be read thus:
_Half won is match well made; watch, and well make it;
when he swears oaths, bid him drop gold, and take it.
After he scores, he never pays the score:
He never pays after-debts, take it before.
And say----_
That is, take his money and leave him to himself. When the players
had lost the second line, they tried to make a connection out
of the rest. Part is apparently in couplets, and the note was
probably uniform.
IV.iii.280 (107,1) [He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister] I
know not that _cloister_, though it may etymologically signify _any_
_thing shut_ is used by our author, otherwise than for a _monastery_,
and therefore I cannot guess whence this hyperbole could take its
original: perhaps it means only this: _He will steal any thing,
however trifling, from any place, however holy_.
IV.iii.307 (108,2) [he's a cat still] That is, throw him how you will,
he lights upon his legs. [Steevens offered another explanation] I
an still of my former opinion. The same speech was applied by king
James to Coke, with respect to his subtilties of law, that throw
him which way we would, he could still like a cat light upon his
legs. (see 1765, III,372,1)
IV.iii.317 (109,3) [Why does he ask him of me?] This is nature. Every
man is on such occasions more willing to hear his neighbour's
character than his own.
IV.iii.332 (109,4) [Only to seem to deserve well, and to beguile the
supposition of that lascivious young boy the Count, have I run into
this danger] That is, _to deceive the opinion_, to make the count
think me a man that _deserves well_.
IV.iv.23 (III,6) [When saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts Defiles
the pitchy night!] [W: When Fancy,] This conjecture is truly ingenious,
but, I believe, the author of it will himself think it unnecessary,
when he recollects that _saucy_ may very properly signify
_luxurious_, and by consequence _lascivious_.