If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work.-Coriol., i. 9.
Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read,

At your best leisure, this his humble suit.-Jul. C., iii. 1.

No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnardine,—Macb., ii. 2.
May soon return to this our suffering country.—Ibid., iii. 6.

Forgive me this my virtue; for in the fatness.-Hamlet, iii. 4.
And this her son cannot take two from twenty.—Cym., ii. 1.

These your unusual weeds.-W. T., iv. 2.

And those our droplets which from niggard nature fall.-Timon, v. 5.

Do you misdoubt this sword, and these my wounds?-Ant. & C., iii. 7.
To be full quit of those my banishers.-Coriol., iv. 5.

Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich.-Jul. C., iii. 1.

Would thou, and those thy scars, had once prevail’d.—Ant. & C., iv. 5.
In feeding them with those my former fortunes.—Ibid., iv. 13.

Sometimes he thus uses the word "so":

You, that have turn'd off a first so noble wife.-All's W., v. 3.

From whose so many weights of baseness cannot

A dram of worth be drawn.-Cym., iii. 5.

Who may, haply, be a little angry for my so rough usage.-Ibid., iv. 1.
Sometimes he thus uses the word “one” :—

I met a courier, one mine ancient friend.-Timon, v. 2.

And he is one the truest manner'd.-Cym., i. 7.

Sometimes, thus, the word "other" :—

Is much o' the favour of other your new pranks.-Lear, i. 4.
Sometimes, thus, the word "some":-

That I have said to some my standers-by.-Tr. & Cr., iv.

5.

Single I'll resolve you . . . of every these happen'd accidents.-Temp., v. 1.

An earnest inviting, which many my near occasions did urge me to put off.—Timon, iii. 6.

Sometimes, thus, the word "poor" :

Bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother. As You L., i. I.

Ah! poor our sex! this fault in us I find.—Tr. & Cr., v. 2.

Ah! poor my lord! what tongue shall smooth thy name.-R. & Jul., iii. 2.

What poor an instrument may do a noble deed!—Ant. & C., v. 2.

It will be perceived that the Italians, in such phrases as caro mio fratello, signora mia, quella sua mano, questa mia mano, uno mio antico amico, povero nostro sesso, use precisely similar idiomatic forms of phraseology to some among those which we have here collected as used by Shakespeare.

ITERATED WORDS.

Shakespeare occasionally employs an iterated word or short phrase with excellent effect, to express various impulses, moods or conditions of feeling, and, sometimes, to express earnestness :—

I have done nothing but in care of thee

(Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!).—Temp., i. 2.

Come, woo me, woo me; * for now I am in a holiday humour, and like enough to What would you say to me now, an I were your very very Rosalind.--

consent.

As You L., iv. I.

There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,

So soon as yours, could move me.-W. T., i. 2.

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye
On yond' young boy.-John, iii. 3.

This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world.—R. II., ii. 1.
Not to-day, O Lord,

Oh, not to-day, think not upon the fault,

My father made in compassing the crown!-H. V., iv. 1.
A very little little let us do, and all is done.-Ibid., iv. 2.
Gods, gods! 'tis strange, that from their cold'st neglect
My love should kindle to inflam'd respect.-Lear, i. 1.
These are portents; but yet, I hope, I hope,
They do not point on me.-Oth., v. 2.

The Jove of power make me, most weak, most weak,
Your reconciler!--Ant. & C., iii. 4.

Even to thy pure and most most loving breast.-Sonnet cx.

Sometimes to express eagerness or impatience :

What, what, what? ill luck? ill luck? . . . Is it true? is it true ?-Mer. of V., ii. 1. Possess us, possess us; tell us something of him.—Tw. N., ii. 3.

Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham.- R. III., iii. 5.

How now, how now! what say the citizens?—Ibid., iii. 7.

What, what, what? let's partake, . . . Wherefore? wherefore?

They are rising, they are rising. In, in, in, in.—Coriol., iv. 5.

Nay, come, I pray thee, speak; good, good nurse, speak.

...

Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?-R. & Jul., ii. 5.

Bind him, I say.-Hard, hard. O filthy traitor!—Lear, iii. 7.

O well-divided disposition! Note him,

Note him, good Charmian, 'tis the man; but note him.—Ant. & C., i. 5.

Go hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away!—Ibid., ii. 7.

But why, why, why? .. Well, is it, is it ?—Ibid., iii. 7.

Sometimes to express exultation:

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom! hey-day, freedom!.—Temp., ii. 2. I thank God! I thank God!

Good news, good news!

I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture him: I am glad of it. .. Nay, that's true, that's very true.-Mer. of V., iii. 1.

Sometimes to express vehement emotion :

Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort.-Ibid., iii. 1.

You are forsworn, forsworn Arm, arm, you Heavens, against these perjur'd kings. Hear me ! O, hear me ! . . . War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war! -John, iii. 1.

Lo, now! now see the issue of your peace! . . . Death, death: O, amiable lovely death! I am not mad; too well, too well I feel the different plague of each calamity.-Ibid., iii. 4.

In this passage there is the assumed playful manner thinly veiling the real earnestness beneath.

It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul

Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!—
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood.-Oth., v. 2.
'Twill out, 'twill out: I hold my peace, sir? no;

I'll be in speaking liberal as the air:

Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all,

All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.—Ibid., v. 2.
By Heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.—Ibid., v. 2.

Sometimes to express passionate emotion :

Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates;
Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of Heaven:
Instance, O instance! strong as Heaven itself;

The bonds of Heaven are slipp'd, dissolv'd, and loos'd.-Tr. & Cr., v. 2.
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chambermaids; oh, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest.-R. & Jul., v. 3.

Sometimes to express mournful emotion :

To-day, to-day, unhappy day too late,

O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state.-R. II., iii. 2.
Too well, too well, thou tell'st a tale so ill.—Ibid., iii. 2.

And my large kingdom for a little grave,

A little little grave, an obscure grave.-Ibid., iii. 3.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle !-Macb., v. 5.

O that this too too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! . . . O God! O God!

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden

That grows to seed.-Hamlet, i. 2.

You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withalexcept my life, except my life, except my life.-Ibid., ii. 2.

How is 't? Feel you your legs? You stand.—

Too well, too well.-Lear, iv. 6.

Still, still, far wide.-Ibid., iv. 7.

I am dying, Egypt, dying.—Ant. & C., iv. 13.

Sometimes to express passionate regret and anguish :*

Stars, stars, and all eyes else dead coals!-W. T., v. 1.

O God! O God! that e'er this tongue of mine,

That laid the sentence of dread banishment

On yond' proud man, should take it off again
With words of sooth!-R. II., iii. 3.

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones.

...

No, no, no life! . . . Thou 'lt come no more, never, never, never, never, never!—

Lear, v. 3.

As Milton does in the exquisite two lines from "Lycidas" :

O my dear Cassio! my sweet Cassio!

O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!

Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio !—Oth., v. I.

O fool! fool! fool !—Ibid., v. 2.

O Posthumus! alas,

Where is thy head? where's that?

Ah me! where's that?

Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart,
And left this head on.-Cym., iv. 2.

Sometimes to express solemn feeling :

More needs she the divine than the physician :
God, God forgive us all!—Macb., v. 1.

Sometimes to express bitter feeling :—

Down, down I come; like glistering Phaeton,
Wanting the manage of unruly jades.

In the base court? Base court, where kings grow base,

To come at traitors' calls, and do them grace.

In the base court? Come down? Down, court, down, king!—R. II., iii. 3.

Sometimes to express sarcastic emphasis:

But from the inward motion to deliver

Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth.-John, i. 1.

Up, cousin, up; your heart is up, I know.-R. II., iii. 3.

My lord, my lord, I am a simple woman.-H. VIII., ii. 4.
My tables-meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.-Hamlet, i. 5.

Sometimes to express ironical affirmation:

We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.—R. III., i. 1.

But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks,

That were the cause of my imprisonment.

No doubt, no doubt: and so shall Clarence too.-Ibid., i. 1.

Sometimes to express emphatic and impressive affirmation :—

Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer;

Only reserv'd their factor, to buy souls,

And send them thither: but at hand, at hand,

Ensues his piteous and unpitied end.-Ibid., iv. 4.

Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;

Murder, stern murder, in the dir'st degree;

All several sins, all us'd in each degree,

Throng to the bar, crying all-Guilty! guilty!—Ibid., v. 3.

Sometimes used to express desperation :

Naught, naught, all naught! I can behold no longer:

The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,

With all their sixty, fly, and turn the rudder:

To see 't mine eyes are blasted.-Ant. & C., iii. 8.

Sometimes to express awe :—

But never till to-night, never till now,

Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.-Jul. C., i. 3.

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,

Speak to me... speak to me... .. O, speak! ... speak of it: stay, and speak!

-Hamlet, i. I.

Sometimes to express agitation :

My lord the king, the king!-W. T., iii. 2.

Now, now, I have not winked since I saw these sights.—Ibid., iii. 3.

I know not, madam: 'tis too bad, too bad.-Lear, ii. 1.

Why, why is this? think'st thou I'd make a life of jealousy.-Oth., iii. 3.
I see, this hath a little dash'd your spirits.—

No cause, no cause.-Lear, iv. 7.

Sometimes to express ebbing breath, in dying:

Do you see this? Look on her-look-her lips-
Look there, look there!—[Dies.]—Ibid., v. 3.

In speaking as I think, I die—I die.—[Dies.]—Oth., v. 2.
A master-leaver and a fugitive.

O Antony! O Antony !-Dies.]—Ant. & C., iv. 9.
Sometimes to express physical impressions:-

Now, now, now, now;

Pull off my boots: harder, harder: so.-Lear, iv. 6.

Sometimes to express wildness of manner :—
What do you read, my lord?

Words, words, words.-Hamlet, ii. 2.

How does your honour for this many a day?

I humbly thank you; well, well, well.-Ibid., iii. 1.

Mother, mother, mother !-Ibid., iii. 4.

On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares !—Ibid., iii. 4.

Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!

My father, in his habit as he liv'd!

Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal !—Ibid., iii. 4.

Sometimes as an impressive exclamation:

:

List, list, O, list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love.-Ibid., i. 3.
O, horrible! O horrible! most horrible.—Ibid., i. 5.

Sometimes in pathetic appeal :

Show you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me.- -Jul. C., iii. 2.

Sometimes in pacifying denial or remonstrance :—

Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?—

Oh, no, no, no, no; my meaning in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.-Mer. of V., i. 3.

Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,

And occupations perish!—

What, what, what! I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd.-Coriol., iv. I.

Sometimes in petulant contradiction :

Why, here's no crab; and therefore look not sour.

There is, there is.--Tam. of S., ii. 1.

He is elder.

Pardon me, pardon me.—Tr. & Cr., i. 2.