Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,
Should make desire vomit emptiness,
Not so allur'd to feed]
[i.e. that appetite, which is not allured to feed on such excellence,
can have no stomach at all; but, though empty, must nauseate every
thing. WARB.] I explain this passage in a sense almost contrary.
Iachimo, in this counterfeited rapture, has shewn 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 nothing to eject. [Tyrwhitt: vomit,
emptiness ... allure] This is not ill conceived; but I think my own
explanation right. _To vomit emptiness_ is, in the language of poetry,
to feel the convulsions of eructation without plenitude. (1773)
I.vi.54 (182,4) He's strange, and peevish] He is a foreigner, easily
fretted.
I.vi.97 (184,5) timely knowing] Rather timely _known_.
I.vi.99 (184,6) What both you spur and stop] What it is that at once
incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. [I think Imogen means
to enquire what is that news, that intelligence, or information, you
profess to bring, and yet with-hold: at least, I think Dr. JOHNSON's
explanation a mistaken one, for Imogen's request supposes Iachimo an
agent, not a patient. HAWKINS.] I think my explanation true. (see 1765,
VII, 286, 7)