--then _lye_ peeping--
The author of the present regulation of the text I do not know, but have
suffered it to stand, though not right. _Hard with falshood_ is, hard by
being often griped with frequent change of hands.
I.vi.122 (185,8) With tomboys, hir'd with that self-exhibition/Which
your own coffers yield!] _Gross strumpets_, hired with the _very
pension_ which you allow your husband.
I.vi.152 (186,9) As in a Romish stew] The stews of Rome are deservedly
censured by the reformed. This is one of many instances in which
Shakespeare has mingled in the manners of distant ages in this play.
II.i.2 (188,1) kiss'd the jack upon an up-cast] He is describing his
fate at bowls. The _jack_ is the small bowl at which the others are
aimed. He who is nearest to it wins. _To kiss the jack_ is a state of
great advantage. (1773)
II.i.15 (189,2) 2 _Lord_. No, my lord; nor crop the ears of them.
[_Aside_.] This, I believe, should stand thus:
1 _Lord_. No, my lord.
2 _Lord_. Nor crop the ears of them, [_Aside_.
II.i.26 (189,3) you crow, cock, with your comb on] The allusion is to a
fool's cap, which hath a _comb_ like a cock's.
II.i.29 (189,4) every companion] The use of _companion_ was the same as
of _fellow_ now. It was a word of contempt.
II.ii.12 (191,1) our Tarquin] The speaker is an Italian.
II.ii.13 (191,2) Did softly press the rushes] It was the custom in the
time of our author to strew chambers with rushes, as we now cover them
with carpets. The practice is mentioned in _Caius de Ephemera
Britannica_.
II.iii.24 (194,2) _His steeds to water at those springs On chalic'd
flowers that lies_]
Hanmer reads,
Each _chalic'd_ flower supplies;
to escape a false concord: but correctness must not be obtained by such
licentious alterations. It may be noted, that the _cup_ of a flower is
called _calix_, whence _chalice_.
II.iii.28 (195,3) _With, every thing that pretty bin_] is very properly
restored by Hanmer, for _pretty is_; but he too grammatically reads,
With _all the things_ that pretty _bin_.
II.iii.102 (197,5) one of your great knowing/Should learn, being taught,
forbearance] i.e. A man _who is taught forbearance should learn it_.
II.iii.111 (198,7) so verbal] Is, so _verbose_, so full of talk.
II.iii.118-129 (199,8) The contract you pretend with that base wretch]
Here Shakespeare has not preserved, with his common nicety, the
uniformity of character. The speech of Cloten is rough and harsh, but
certainly not the talk of one,
Who can't take two from twenty, for his heart,
And leave eighteen.--
His argument is just and well enforced, and its prevalence is allowed
throughout all civil nations: as for rudeness, he seems not to be mach
undermatched.
II.iii.124 (199,9) in self-figur'd knot] [This is nonsense. We should
read,
--SELF-FINGER'D _knot_;
WARBURTON.] But why nonsense? A _self-figured knot_ is a knot formed by
yourself. (see 1765, VII, 301, 8)
II.iv.71 (204,4) And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for/The press of
boats, or pride] [This is an agreeable ridicule on poetical
exaggeration, which gives human passions to inanimate things: and
particularly, upon what he himself writes in the foregoing play on this
very subject:
"--And made
The water, which they beat, to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes."
WARBURTON.] It is easy to sit down and give our author meanings which he
never had. Shakespeare has no great right to censure poetical
exaggeration, of which no poet is more frequently guilty. That he
intended to ridicule his own lines is very uncertain, when there are no
means of knowing which of the two plays was written first. The
commentator has contented himself to suppose, that the foregoing play in
his book was the play of earlier composition. Nor is the reasoning
better than the assertion. If the language of Iachimo be such as shews
him to be mocking the credibility of his hearer, his language is very
improper, when his business was to deceive. But the truth is, that his
language is such as a skilful villain would naturally use, a mixture of
airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shews his seriousness to
be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be without
art.
II.iv.83 (205,5) never saw I figures/So likely to report themselves] So
near to speech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is
remarkable, a _speaking picture_.
II.iv.84 (205,6) the cutter/Was as another nature, dumb, out-went
her;/Motion and breath left out] [W: done; out-went her.] This
emendation I think needless. The meaning is this, The _sculptor_ was as
_nature_, but as _nature dumb_; he gave every thing that nature gives,
but _breath_ and _motion_. In _breath_ is included _speech_.
II.iv.91 (205,7) _Post._ This is her honour!] [T: What's this t'her
honour?] This emendation has been followed by both the succeeding
editors, but I think it must be rejected. The expression is ironical.
Iachimo relates many particulars, to which Posthumus answers with
impatience, This is her honour! That is, And the attainment of this
knowledge is to pass for the corruption of her honour.
II.iv.95 (206,8) if you can/Be pale] If you can forbear to flush your
cheek with rage.