For good Marina, that her daughter The pregnant inftrument of wrath Preft for this blow'. The unborn event I do commend to your content: Only I carried winged time' Poft on the lame feet of my rhime; Unless your thoughts went on my way.— Dionyza doth appear, With Leonine a murderer. An open place near the fea-fhore. [Exit. Dion. Thy oath remember; thou haft fworn to do it 3: 'Tis 'Preft for this blow.] Preft is ready; pret. Fr. So in the Tragicall Hyftorie of Romeus and Juliet, 1562: "I will, God lendyng lyfe, on Wensday next be preft See note on the Merchant of Venice, last edit. vol. iii. P. 139. 2 Tale: MALONE. Only I carried winged time] So in the chorus to the Winter's "I "Now take upon me, in the name of time, "To ufe my wings." Again, in K. Henry V: "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies, "In motion of no lefs celerity "Than that of thought." MALONE. Thy oath remember; thou haft fworn to do it :] Here, I think, may be traced the rudiments of the fcene in which lady Mac◄ beth inftigates her husband to murder Duncan : VOL. II. H "I have 'Tis but a blow, which never fhall be known. Even women have caft off, melt thee, but be Leon. I'll do't; but yet fhe is a goodly creature. Dion. The fitter then the gods above should have her 5. Here fhe comes weeping for her only miftrefs.. "I have given fuck, and know "How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me; "Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, inflame love in thy bofom,] The first quarto reads,-" Let not confcience which is but cold, in flaming thy love bofome, enflame too nicelie, nor let pitie, &c." The fubfequent impreffions afford no affiftance. Some words feem to have been loft. The fentiment originally expreffed, probably was this.-Let not confcience, which is but a cold monitor, deter you from executing what you have promifed; nor let the beauty of Marina enkindle the flame of love in your bofom ;-nor be foftened by pity, which even I, a woman, have caft off.-I am by no means fatisfied with the regulation that I have made, but it affords a glimmering of fenfe. Nearly the fame expreffion occurred before: That have enflam'd defire in my breaft I fufpect, the words enflame too nicely were written in the margin, the author not having determined which of the two expreffions to adopt; and that by mistake they were transcribed as part of the text. MALONE. We might read, inflame thy loving bofom: With Mr. Malone's alteration however, the words will bear the following fenfe: Let not confcience, which in itself is of a cold nature, have power to raise the flame of love in you, raise it even to folly.-Nicely, in ancient language, fignifies foolishly. Niais. Fr. STEEVENS. but yet he is a goodly creature. Dion. The fitter then the gods above should have her.] Soin K. Rich. III. "O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous. The fitter for the King of Heaven." STEEVENS. Death Death-thou art refolv'd"? Leon. I'am refolv'd. Enter Marina, with a basket of flowers. Mar. No, no, I will rob Tellus of her weed, To ftrew thy grave with flowers 7: the yellows, blues, Here he comes weeping for her only miftrefs. The Leon. I am refolv'd.] This paffage, as at prefent regulated, bears a ftrong resemblance to one in K. John: K. John. "Doft thou understand me? Hub. "Thou art his keeper. "And I'll keep him fo "That he fhall not offend your majefty. K. John. "Death. Hub. "My lord? K. John. "A grave. Hub. "He ball not live." The fimilitude may however be only imaginary, for perhap the poet wrote: Here she comes weeping for her only mistress' Death i. e. for the death of her only mistress. 7 MALONE. - No, no, I will rob Tellus of her weed, — To firew thy grave with flowers:] The quartos read, No- I will rob Tellus of her weed to ftrowe thy greene with flowers. The folio, 1664, reads to ftrow thy grave, &c. Mr. Rowe, for the fake of metre, introduced the word gay: No, I will rob gay Tellus of her weed.— We might read, Now, I will difrobe Tellus of her weed, To ftrew thy grave with flowers. Weed, in old language, meant garment. MALONE. No, no, I will rob Tellus of her sweed, &c.] Before we de termine which is the proper reading, let us reflect a moment on the bufinefs in which Marina is employed. She is about to strew the grave of her nurfe Lychorida with flowers, and therefore makes her entry with propriety, faying, No, no, I will rob Tellus, &c. i. e. No, no, it fhall never be faid that I left the tomb of one to whom I owe fo much, without fome ornament. Rather than it fhall remain undecorated, I will ftrip the earth of its robe, &c. The profe romance, already quoted, fays" that always as fhe H 2 came •The purple violets, and marigolds, Shall as a chaplet hang upon thy grave, 3. While fummer days do laft . Ah me! poor maid, Born in a tempeft, when my mother dy'd, This world to me is like a lafting storm *, Dion. How now, Marina! why do you keep alone? came homeward, fhe went and washed the tombe of her nouryce, and kept it contynually fayre and clene." STEEVENS. 8 Shall as a chaplet hang upon thy grave, While fummer days do laft.] So in Cymbeline: "Whilft fummer lafts, and I live here, Fidele, All the copies read-Shall as a carpet &c. Mr. Steevens propofes to me to read chaplet, which appears fo probable an emendation, MALONE. that I have inferted it in the text. *like a lafting ftorm,] I fufpect our author wrote-blafting. The violence, and not the duration, of the ftorm, feems to have been in Marina's contemplation. MALONE. Ι 9 Whirring me from my friends.] Thus the earliest copy; think, rightly. The fecond quarto, and all the fubfequent impreffions, read-Hurrying me from my friends. Whirring or whirrying, had formerly the fame meaning. A bird that flies with a quick motion, accompanied with noife, is ftill faid to whirr away. Thus Pope: Now from the brake the whirring pheafant fprings." The verb to whirry is used in the ancient ballad entitled Robin Goodfellow. Reliques of Ancient Eng. Poet. vol. ii. p. 203. I "More fwift than wind away go, "O'er hedge and lands, "Thro' pools and ponds, "I birry, laughing ho ho ho." MALONE. The two laft lines uttered by Marina, very strongly resemble a paffage in Homer's Iliad, b. 19 1. 377: τὲςδ ̓ ἐκ ἐθέλοπας ἄλλαι STEEVENS. Πόντον ἐπ ̓ ἰχθυόεντα ΦΙΛΩΝ ΑΠΑΝΕΥΘΕ ΦΕΡΟΥΣΙΝ. 1 How now, Marina! why do you keep alone?] Thus the earliest copy. So in Macbeth: "How now, my lord! why do you keep alone?" The fecond quarto reads why do you weep alone? MALONE. How How chance my daughter is not with you? Do not • I'll not bereave you of your fervant. Dion. Come, come; I love the king your father, and yourself, He will repent the breadth of his great voyage; The How chance my daughter is not with you?-] So in K. Henry IV.P.II:"How chance thou art not with the prince, thy brother?" MALONE. Confume your blood with forrowing ;] So in K. Hen. VI. P. II. : "-blood confuming fighs." See allo vol. x. p. 367. MALONE. Give me your flowers, ere the fea Mar it] Thus all the copies. If it be right, fomething muft have been omitted. The words now inferted fupply both the fenfe and metre. MALONE. With more than foreign heart.] With the fame warmth of affection as if I was his country-woman. MALONE. 5 Our paragon to all reports,] Our fair charge, whose beauty was once equal to all that fame faid of it. So in Othello: 6 66 He hath atchiev'd a maid, "That paragons defcription and wild fame." MALone. referve That excellent complexion,] To referve is here to guard; to preferve carefully. So in K. Lear, quarto, 1608: "Referve thy ftate, with better judgment check "This hideous rafhnefs." |