Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Wilt thou fpit all thyfelf?-The feaman's whistle Is as a whifper in the ear of death

Unheard. Lychorida!-Lucina, O

Divineft patronefs, and midwife 7, gentle
To thofe that cry by night, convey the deity
Aboard our dancing boat; make fwift the pangs
Of my queen's travails!-Now, Lychorida

Enter Lychorida.

Lyc. Here is a thing too young for fuch a place,`

I would read,

Thou ftorm'ft venomously;

Wilt thou fpit all thyself?]

Venomously is malicioufly. Shakspeare has fomewhat of the fame expreflion in one of his historical plays :

"The watry kingdom, whofe ambitious head

"Spits in the face of heaven

[ocr errors]

Chapman likewife, in his verfion of the Iliad, fays of the fea that the

66 Spits every way her foam." STEEVENS.

Is as a whisper in the ear of death,] In another place the poet fuppofes death to be awakened by the turbulence of the storm: And in the vifitation of the winds

[ocr errors]

"Who take the ruffian billows by the top,

66

Curling their monftrous heads, and hanging them
"With deafning clamours in the flippery clouds,
"That with the hurly, death itself awakes—

King Henry IV. Part II. MALONE. Divineft patronefs, and my wife, &c.] Thus all the copies both ancient and modern; but the fenfe requires that we should read-midwife. STEEVENS.

This happy emendation is fo clearly right, that it requires neither fupport nor illustration. if it wanted the latter, Horace would furnish it:

"Montium cuftos nemorumque virgo,

"Quæ laborantes utero puellas

"Ter vocata audis, adimifque leto,

66

Again, in the Andria of Terence:

Diva triformis."

66

Juno Lucina, fer opem; ferva me, obfecro !"

MALONE.

Who

. Who, if it had conceit, would die, as I Am like to do take in your arms this piece Of your dead queen.

Per. How! how, Lychorida!

Lyc. Patience, good fir, do not affift the ftorm 9, Here's all that is left living of your queen,

A little daughter; for the fake of it,

Be manly, 'and take comfort.

Per. Oh ye gods!

Why do you make us love your goodly gifts,
And fnatch them ftraight away? We, here below,
Recal not what we give, and therein may

Ufe honour with you '.

Lyc. Patience, good fir,

Even for this charge.

Per. Now, mild may be thy life!

For a more bluft'rous birth had never babe :

2

Quiet and gentle thy conditions *!

Who, if it had conceit,-] If it had thought. So in K. Henry VIII, "There's fome conceit or other likes him well,.

“When that he bids good morrow with fuch spirit."

MALONE. Patience, good fir, do not affift the form,] Our author uses the fame expreffion, on the fame occafion, in the Tempest :

"You mar our labour;-keep your cabins; you do affift the form." MALONE.

Ufe honour with you.] The meaning is fufficiently clear.In this particular you might learn from us a more honourable conduct, -But the expreflion is fo harfh, that I fufpect the paffage to be corrupt. MALONE.

and therein may

Ufe honour with you.]

To ufe, in ancient language, fignifies to put out to ufance or ufury. The fenfe of this paffage may therefore be our honour will fetch as much as yours, if placed out on terms of advantage. If valued, our honour is worth as much as yours. STEEVENS. Quiet and gentle thy conditions!] Conditions anciently meant qualities; difpofitions of mind. So in Othello:

2

"And then of fo gentle a condition!"

He is fpeaking of Defdemona. Again, in King Henry V. "Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is not imooth."

The late earl of Effex (fays fir Walter Raleigh) told queen Elizabeth that her conditions were as crooked as her carcafe-but it cost him his head." MALONE.

For

For thou art the rudelieft welcom❜d to this world,
That e'er was prince's child. Happy what follows!
Thou haft as chiding a nativity',

As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make,
To herald thee from the womb +:

Even at the first, thy lofs is more than can

Thy portage quit ', with all thou canst find here.Now the good gods throw their best eyes upon it!

Enter two Sailors.

1 Sail. What! courage, fir. God fave you. Per. Courage enough: I do not fear the flaw";

3 - as chiding a nativity,] i. e. as noify a one. So in the Midsummer Night's Dream, Hippolita, speaking of the clamour of the hounds:

66

never did I hear "Such gallant chiding."

See note on that paffage, vol. iii. laft edit. p. 96. STEEVENS. To herald thee from the womb:] All the copies read,

To barold thee from the womb:

For the emendation now made, the reader is indebted to Mr. Steevens. So in Macbeth:

66

only to herald thee into his prefence,

"Not to pay thee."

This word is in many ancient books written barauld. So in our author's Venus and Adonis, 1600 :

"The owl, night's harauld, fhrieks; 'tis very late." Again, in the Mirrour for Magiftrates, 1610:

"Truth is no harauld nor no fophift fure."

See alfo Cowel's Interpreter, v. Herald, Heralt, or Haroldwhich puts Mr. Steevens's emendation beyond a doubt.

[blocks in formation]

Thy portage quit,-

MALONE.

i. e. thou haft already loft more (by the death of thy mother) than thy fafe arrival at the port of life can counterbalance, with all to boot that we can give thee. Portage is ufed for gate or entrance in one of Shakspeare's historical plays. STEEVENS.

— I do not fear the flaw ;] The blaft.-The word occurs in Hamlet:

"O that the earth which kept the world in awe,
"Should patch a wall to expell the winter's flaw!"

Again, in K. Henry VI. Part II.

[ocr errors]

-the fury of this mad-bred flaw." MALONE.

• It hath done to me the worst".

Yet for the love

Of this poor infant, this fresh-new fea-farer,
I would it would be quiet.

I Sail. Slack the bolins there ; thou wilt not, wilt thou? Blow and fplit thyfelf'.

2 Sail. But fea-room, and the brine and cloudy billow kifs the moon, I care not.

1 Sail. Sir, your queen muft over-board; the fea works high, the wind is loud, and will not lye till the fhip be clear'd of the dead.

Per. That's your fuperftition.

1 Sail. Pardon us, fir; with us at fea it ftill hath been obferv'd; and we are strong in eastern 3. There

fore

"It hath done to me the worft.] So in the Conf. Amant.
66 --a wife!

"My joye, my luft, and my defyre,
"My welth, and my recoverire!

"Why fhall I live and thou fhalt die?

"Ha, thou fortune, I thee defie,

"Now haft thou do to me thy werft;

"A herte! why ne wilt thou berft?" MALONE.
this fresh-new fea-farer,] We meet a fimilar com-

pound-epithet in K. Richard III.

Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current."

9 Slack the bolins there;

MALONE.

· Bowlines are ropes by which the fails of a fhip are governed when the wind is unfavourable. They are flackened when it is high. This term occurs again in the Two Noble Kinsmen :

66

the wind is fair,

"Top the bowling." STEEVENS.

I Sai. Blow and split thyself.

2 Sai. But fea-room, &c.] So in the Tempeft:

2

"Blow till thou burft thy wind, if room enough."

MALONE.

and the brine and cloudy billow kifs the moon, I care not.] So in the Winter's Tale: "Now the hip boring the moon with her main-mast.”—And is ufed here, as in many other places, for if, or though. MALONE.

3

and we are ftrong in eaftern;

ftrong easterly wind. Such, I believe, is the meaning. with us at fea it hath been fill obferved, and we

eafterne;] The word eaflerne is furely a corruption.

-] There is a MALONE. are strong in The failor

fore briefly yield her; for fhe muft over-board • ftraight +.

Per. Be it, as you think meet.-Moft wretched queen!

Lyc. Here the lies, fir.

Per. A terrible child-bed haft thou had, my dear;
No light, no fire: the unfriendly elements
Forgot thee utterly; nor have I time

To give thee hallow'd to thy graves, but straight
Muft caft thee, fcarcely coffin'd, in the ooze;
Where, for a monument upon thy bones,
The air-remaining lamps 7, the belching whale,

And

is labouring to justify his fuperftitious notion, and having told Pericles that it was founded on repeated obfervation, might add, —and we are strong in credence. i. e. our faith or belief in this matter is ftrong. So our author in Troilus and Creffida:

"Sith yet there is a credence in my heart"-.

Again, in another of his plays:

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

"Approv'd fo to your majefty, may plead
"For ample credence."

In King Richard II. we meet with a parallel phrase:
"Strong as a tower in hope."

The number of letters in each word exactly correfponds; and the grofs errors which have been already detected in this play, are fufficient to authorize the most daring attempts at emendation. STEEVENS.

for foe muft over-board ftraight.] These words are in the old copy, by an evident mistake, given to Pericles. MALONE.

To give thee hallow'd to thy grave,] The old fhepherd in the Winter's Tale expreffes the fame apprehenfion concerning the want of fepulchral rites, and that he shall be buried

66

where no priest shovels in duft." MALONE. Muft caft thee scarcely coffin'd in oare;] The defect both of metre and fenfe fhews that this line is corrupt. MALONE.

I believe we should read, with that violence which a copy fo much corrupted will fometimes force upon us,

Muft caft thee, fcarcely coffin'd, in the ooze,

Where, &c.

Shakspeare, in the Tempeft, has the fame word on the fame oc

cafion :

"My fon i' the ooze is bedded." STEEVENS.

1 The air-remaining lamps,-] Thus all the copies. Air-reVOL. II.

maining,

« AnteriorContinuar »