Perdita's reticent dignity of soul (inherited from her mother) as well as her innate love of truth and candid nature are well indicated by her maintaining silence while Polixenes rebukes his son and reproaches her, and again while Leontes receives her and Florizel, who relates a feigned history of themselves :

Mark your divorce, young sir, &c.-W. T., iv. 3.

She came from Libya, &c.-Ibid., v. 1.

The habitual quietude and soft stillness of Virgilia, her silent weeping and suppressed excitement, when she meets her husband on his return from the Volscian war, are excellently denoted by her husband's words of greeting:

Later on, the same characteristic silent distress is indicated on her part; where, after the first irrepressible burst of anguish in the exclamation, "Oh, heavens, oh, heavens!" she remains speechless until the close of the scene where her husband is escorted by his friends to the gates of Rome, whence he is banished; and she gives only silent response to his repeated adieus:

:

Farewell, my wife, my mother: . .

Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch; when I am forth,
Bid me farewell, and smile.-Ibid., iv. 1.

Again, her quiet grieving is indicated by the contrast of Volumnia's fierce reproaches to the tribunes; and by the characteristic rebuke given by the Roman matron to her meek daughter-in-law :

Come, let's go:

Leave this faint puling, and lament as I do,

In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come.-Ibid., iv. 2.

Yet again, Virgilia's habitual silence, and Volumnia's as habitual torrent of words, are most artistically conveyed by the following injunction, given without waiting for the speech it enjoins:

Daughter, speak you:

He cares not for your weeping.-Ibid., v. 3.

In the following passage Macduff's silent anguish is forcibly depicted by making Malcolm first exclaim at the horror of Rosse's tidings, and then turn to the bereaved husband and father, who is unable to utter a syllable on the first shock of hearing them :—

What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brow;

Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak

Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.-Macb., iv. 3.

For the mode in which our dramatist ingeniously draws speechlessness, we refer our readers to the examination of four of his characters of few words:

Dull.-Love's L. L., i. 2; iv. 2; and v. 1.

James Gurney.*—John, i. 1.

Francis.-1 H. IV., ii. 4.

Silence.-2 H. IV., iii. 2, and v. 3.

Shakespeare has a most potent art in conveying perfect impression of a speaker's meaning, through imperfectly expressed speech. Occasionally this imperfect expression conveys the effect of emotional agitation in the speaker; sometimes a threat, an inuendo, or a half-uttered insinuation, that the speaker wishes his interlocutor to understand without explicit utterance; and sometimes, incapacity on the part of the speaker to put into words all that is meant [See UNFINISHED SENTENCES]:

If you prove a mutineer, the next tree! The poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.-Temp., iii. 2.

Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already

What was he, that did make it ?-W. T., v. 3.

I had a thing to say, but let it go.

I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts:

But, ah! I will not yet I love thee well.

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yond' young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,

He is a very serpent in my way;

And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,

He lies before me: dost thou understand me?
Thou art his keeper.-John, iii. 3.

I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester and truer-hearted man,-well, fare thee well.-2 H. IV., ii. 4.

Wished, my lord! the gods grant,-Oh, my lord!-What should they grant? What makes this pretty abruption?-Tr. & Cr., iii. 2.

An 'twere to give again,—but 'tis no matter.-Coriol., ii. 3.

He had, sir, a kind of face, methought,-I cannot tell how to term it.-He had so; looking as it were,-Would I were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could think.-Ibid., iv. 5.

I have it, and soundly too :-your houses!-R. & Jul., iii. 1.

Will't hold? will 't hold ?—

It does but time will-and so

I do conceive.-Timon, iii. 6.

If you shall cleave to my consent,-when 'tis,

It shall make honour for you.-Macb., ii. 1.

Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,

As," Well, well, we know "; or, "We could, an if we would"
Or, "If we list to speak"; or, "There be, an if they might";

Or such ambiguous giving out, to note

That you know aught of me.-Hamlet, i. 5.

Approach, thou beacon to this under globe,

That by thy comfortable beams I may

Peruse this letter! Nothing, almost, sees miracles

But misery: I know 'tis from Cordelia,

Who hath most fortunately been inform'd

Of my obscured course; and shall find time

From this enormous state,-seeking to give

Of whom Coleridge, in one of his "Table-Talks," says: "For an instance of Shakespeare's powers in minimis, I generally quote James Gurney's character in “King John." How individual and comical he is with the four words allowed to his dramatic life!

Losses their remedies,-All weary and o'er-watched,
Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold

This shameful lodging.-Lear, ii. 2.

The imperfect expression, the confused and inconsecutive phraseology, the disjointed sentences, in the above speech, appear to us to give perfectly the impression of the speaker's reflections upon the probable contents of the letter which he defers reading until the sun shall have risen, and his yielding to the sleep that meanwhile creeps over him:Why should she write to Edmund? Might not you Transport her purposes by word? Belike,

Something I know not what-I'll love thee much;
Let me unseal the letter.-

Madam, I had rather

7.

I know your lady does not love her husband.-Ibid., iv. 5. And so I am, I am . . . No cause, no cause.—Ibid., iv. Nothing, my lord: or if I know not what.-Oth., iii. 3. Handkerchief,-confessions,-handkerchief! to confess, and be hanged for his labour;-first, to be hanged, and then to confess I tremble at it. Nature would not

invest herself in such shadowing passion, without some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus -Pish!-Noses, ears, and lips. Is it possible? Confess!Handkerchief!-O devil!-Ibid., iv. I.

:

And she's obedient, as you say,―obedient,

Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears.-
Concerning this, sir,-O well-painted passion!—
I am commanded home.-Get you away;

I'll send for you anon.-Sir, I obey the mandate,

And will return to Venice.-Hence! avaunt!-—Ibid., iv. 1.

O Desdemona !-away! away! away!-Ibid., iv. 2.

Sir, you and I must part,-but that's not it;

Sir, you and I have lov'd,-but there's not it;

That you know well something it is I would,—

O, my oblivion is a very Antony,

And I am all forgotten.-Ant. & C., i. 3.

My noble brother! . . . Sir, look well to my husband's house; and . . . I'll tell you in your ear.—Ibid., iii. 2.

Then, Antony, but now,-well, on.-Ibid., iv. 4.

There are some peculiarities in the mode of occasionally pronouncing some words used by Shakespeare that require bearing in mind when judging certain passages of his plays; either to properly comprehend

the metre of the lines where such words occur, or to appreciate the quibble involved in a similar sound:

Fill all thy bones with aches [pronounced as a dissyllable], make thee roar.—Temp., i. 2. "Aches" [pronounced as dissyllable] contract and starve your supple joints!— Timon, i. I.

If you love an addle egg [similar sound] as well as you love an idle head, you would cat chickens i' the shell.-Tr. & Cr., i. 2.

Al'ce [Alice'] madam, or Joan madam ?—Tam. of S., Induc. 2.

And in such alligant ['elegant' or, perhaps, 'eloquent.' See CORRUPTIONS] terms.Merry W., ii. 2.

Their bands i' the vaward are the Antiates [as trisyllable].-Coriol., i. 6.

Be called thieves of the day's beauty [pronounced as ' booty'].—1 H. IV., i. 2.

La force de ton bras [pronouncing final s: similar sound].-Brass, cur !-H. V., iv. 4.

And all the ceremony [as trisyllable] of this compàct.—Tw. N., v. 1.
She never had so sweet a changeling [as trisyllable].-Mid. N. D., ii. 1.

These are the parents to these children [as trisyllable].-Com. of E., v. 1.

But civil [ pronounced as Seville'], count,-civil as an orange.-M. Ado, ii. 1. Be valu'd 'gainst your wife's commandment [as quadrisyllable].—Mer. of V., iv. 1. And what says my conceal'd [similar sound] lady to our cancell'd love?R. & Jul., iii. 3.

Sir, the contempts ['contents'] thereof are as touching me.-Love's L. L., i. I. Whereas the contràry [as quadrisyllable] bringeth bliss.-1. H. VI., v. 5.

Her amber hairs for foul have amber coted ['quoted' was sometimes thus pronounced. See PECULIAR USE OF WORDS].-Love's L. L., iv. 3.

And that hath dazzled [as trisyllable] my reason 's light.-Two G. of V., ii. 4.

I could too well feel his blows, and withal so doubtfully [used punningly in reference to two words of somewhat similar sound-doughtily' and redoubtably'], that I could scarce understand them.-Com. of E., ii. 1.

Ducdame [as trisyllable], ducdame, ducdame.—As You L., ii. 5 (Song).

Fire [as dissyllable] that's closest kept burns most of all.-Two G. of V., i. 2. Why, what a peevish fool [similar sound] was that of Crete, that taught his son the office of a fowl !—3 H. VI., v. 6.

I am here with thee and thy goats [similar sound] as the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.-As You L., iii. 3.

She was the sweet-marjoram of the salad, or rather, the herb of grace [similar sound]. They are not salad-herbs, you knave; they are nose-herbs.-I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir, I have not much skill in grass.-All's W., iv. 5.

Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds [as monosyllable; having sometimes formerly been written grewnds '].-3 H. VI., ii. 5.

6

By my troth, I am exceeding ill: heigh-ho!

For a hawk, a horse, or a husband?

For the letter that begins them all, H [the word 'ache' was formerly pronounced aitch].-M. Ado, iii. 4.

These oracles are hardly [as trisyllable] attain'd.—2 H. VI., i. 4.

These ears of mine, thou know'st, did hear [as dissyllable] thee.-Com. of E., v. I. Brought hither Henry Hereford [as dissyllable], thy bold son.—R. II., i. 1.

A ship you sent me to, to hire [as dissyllable] waftage.-Com. of E., iv. 1. Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe [as monosyllable].—Jul. C., iii. 1. That my master is become a notable lover [similar sound]?—I never knew him otherwise. Than how?—A notable lubber.—Two G. of V., ii. 5.

That now is lying in Marseilles' [as trisyllable] road.-Tam. of S., ii. 1.

His grace is at Marseilles [as trisyllable]; to which place.-All's W., iv. 4.

I deny your major [used punningly in reference to its similarity of sound with 'mayor']: if you will deny the sheriff, so.-1 H. IV., ii. 4.

I am now, sir, muddied in Fortune's mood ['mud' was formerly pronounced somewhat like "mood"], and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure.All's W., v. 2.

It is much that the Moor [similar sound] should be more than reason.-Mer. of V., iii. 5.

Speak it in French, king; say, pardonnez moy [pronounced in Shakespeare's time so as to allow of its rhyming with "destroy "].

Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?-R. II., v. 3.

Ayez pitié de moy [pronounced as above explained].-Moy [supposed to be a contraction of moidore'; a Portuguese coin, worth about twenty-seven shillings] shall not serve; I will have forty moys.-H. V., iv. 4.

I

I ay me stark nak'd [as monosyllable], and let the water-flies.-Ant. & C., v. 2. There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting [similar sound].-Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks; note, notes, forsooth, and nothing !—M. Ado, ii. 3. No hearing, no feeling, but my sir's song, and admiring the nothing [pronounced as above with a long o; affording a pun with noting'] of it.-W. T., iv. 3.

By the compulsion of their ordnance [as trisyllable].-John, ii. 1.

In second accent of his ordnance [as trisyllable].-H. V., ii. 4.

But to parfect ['perfect'] one man in one poor man.-Love's L. L., v. 2.

Good-morrow master person ['parson '].-Master person-quasi pers-on [pierce was sometimes formerly pronounced 'perse,' and 'one' like 'on']. And if one should be pierced, which is the one?—Ibid., iv. 2.

Well, if Percy [sometimes corruptly pronounced 'Piercy'] be alive, I'll pierce him.— 1 H. IV., v. 3.

Dumain was at my service, and his sword:

No point [used as the French negative for 'none,' and in reference to the "point" of a sword], quoth I.-Love's L. L., v. 2.

Hath turned my feigned prayer [as dissyllable] on my head.-R. III., v. 1

Cousin, go draw our puissance [as trisyllable] together.-John, iii. 1.

For every one pursents ['presents'] three.-Love's L. L., v. 2.

I quote [sometimes formerly pronounced like coat'] it in your jerkin.-Two G. of V., ii. 4.

Renege [pronounced with a hard g, as if written 'reneag,' which is the spelling in the quarto copy of this play], affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks.—Lear, ii. 2.

The buckles on his breast, reneges [pronounced with a hard g, and as a dissyllable] all temper.-Ant. & C., i. 1.

I myself reprehend [' represent'] his own person.-Love's L. L., i. 1.

Oh, how this spring of love resembleth [as quadrisyllable].—Two G. of V., i. 3.
That shall reverberate [as trisyllable] all as loud as thine.—John, v. 2.

That I have room with Rome [sometimes pronounced like "room"] to curse awhile. -Ibid., iii. I.

Rome [sometimes pronounced like "roam "] shall remedy this.-Roam thither, then. -1 H. VI., iii. 1.

An he begin once, he 'll rail in his rope-tricks [the speaker confounds this with the somewhat similarly sounding word rhetoric' or rhetorics'; and accordingly quibbles upon it in this sense, by introducing the term " figure" immediately afterwards]. I'll tell you what, sir, an she stand him but a little, he will throw a figure in her face.Tam. of S., i. 2.

Is not l'envoy a salve [although not pronounced like the Latin form of salutation, salve, Moth chooses to pun upon the English epithet for unguent, as though it were so, merely because they are spelt alike]?-Love's L. L., iii. 1.

Good, good, my lord; the secrets [as trisyllable] of nature.-Tr. & Cr., iv. 2.
And these two Dromios, one in semblance [as trisyllable].-Com. of E., v. I.

Why, thou peevish sheep [similar sound], what ship of Epidamnum stays for me?— Ibid., iv. 1.