Nor hear I from my mistress, who did promise
To yield me often tidings; neither know I
What is betid to Cloten; but remain

Perplex'd in all: the heavens still must work.

Wherein I am false I am honest; not true, to be true;

These present wars shall find I love my country,

Even to the note o' the king, or I'll fall in them.-Cym., iv. 3.

The phrase, "I heard no letter from my master," has been pronounced inaccurate, and proposals have been made to change "I heard" to I've had,' or 'I had.' But "I heard" not only accords with," Nor hear I from my mistress," it seems like a familiarism of soliloquy or thinking aloud; since there is a familiar idiom, 'I heard no word from him,' when it is meant that no letter has been received. The whole phraseology of this soliloquy is in the same tone of concise expression: "not true, to be true," signifying, 'I am apparently not true to my employers, in order that I may be true to my own master and mistress'; and 66 even to the note o' the king," meaning, even until the proof I give of it shall attract the king's notice.'

Why should this change of thoughts,

The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
Be my so us'd a guest as not an hour,

In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night

(The tomb where grief should sleep), can breed me quiet?
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,

And danger, which I fear'd, is at Antioch,

Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here:

Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,

Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.

Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,

That have their first conception by mis-dread,

Have after-nourishment and life by care;

And what was first but fear what might be done,

Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.-Per., i. 2.

The musing fit is here denoted by the style of diction, which is dreamily reflective. To follow the train of idea, it is requisite to bear in mind that "this change of thoughts" implies both this conflicting interchange of thoughts, the one with the other in my mind,' and this alteration of my thoughts from their previous cheerfuller course '; and also to bear in mind that " elder" is here used in the peculiar manner in which Shakespeare sometimes employs this word. In the present passage it includes the senses of larger,' 'stronger,' 'more confirmed,' more established,' and 'more advanced in time,' having attained to a later period.'

6

6

As instances of Shakespeare's power in writing brief but most effective soliloquies, we cite the two following; each intensely significant in its peculiar kind. The one is where Troilus is awaiting the coming of Cressida, when she is to give herself to his arms in fulness of possession:

I am giddy; expectation whirls me round.
The imaginary relish is so sweet
That it enchants my sense: what will it be,
When that the watery palate tastes indeed

Love's thrice-repurèd* nectar? death, I fear me;
Swooning destruction; or some joy too fine,
Too subtle-potent, turn'd too sharp in sweetness,
For the capacity of my ruder powers:

I fear it much; and I do fear besides,
That I shall lose distinction in my joys;

As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps
The enemy flying.-Tr. & Cr., iii. 2.

The other is where we first see Lady Macbeth alone, after her achievement of royalty—that object of ambition for which she has bartered all self-respect, all peace of mind. It is a wonderful condensation of moral homily into three lines and a half of soliloquy :

Naught's had, all's spent,

Where our desire is got without content:
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy,

Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy.-Macb., iii. 2.

There are three notable instances given by our supreme dramatist of a person permitting the thoughts to wander off into soliloquy spoken aside, in the presence of others; when an engrossing subject wholly occupies the mind and will not be contented to lie silently undiscussed, but must needs have the vent of self-communing at once. In each case, the language is singularly veiled-even obscure-as befits the theme reflected upon; and serves to show Shakespeare's refinement in expression combined with vigour in dealing with the most hallowed as well as the most unhallowed subjects of meditation :—

But, O, strange men!

That can such sweet use make of what they hate,
When saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts
Defiles the pitchy night! so lust doth play
With what it loathes, for that which is away:
But more of this hereafter.-All's W., iv. 4.
Affection! thy intention stabs the centre;
Thou dost make possible things not so held,
Communicat'st with dreams!-(how can this be?)-
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent,

Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou dost,—

And that beyond commission; and I find it,—

And that to the infection of my brains,

And hardening of my brows.-W. T., i. 2.

This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill; cannot be good :—if ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

66

*The Quarto reading of " repured' seems to us to be greatly preferable to the Folio reading, reputed." Thrice-repured," signifying thrice-purified,'' trebly pure, • quintessentially refined,' seems to us far more likely to be Shakespeare's word; as he constantly maintains the principle that love is the purest of essences, as well as the most purifying and ennobling. By way of illustrating this principle of his, no less than for the sake of determining the right word in the present passage, we have observed how very frequently in his works the word "pure" and the word "love" are to be found in combination.

Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is

But what is not.-Macb., i. 3.

There are some peculiar forms used in soliloquy, of which instances are to be found in Shakespeare's plays. One form is as if the speaker were addressing an imaginary auditor :—

...

My grandam, having no eyes, look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you the manner of it. Now, sir, this staff is my sister; for, look you, she is as white as a lily, and as small as a wand. . . . Mark the moan she makes. Now, the dog all this while sheds not a tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my tears.-Two G. of V., ii. 3.

I am but a fool, look you; and yet I have the wit to think, my master is a kind of a knave. 'Item, she can milk; look you, a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands.-Ibid., iii. 1.

Now, sir, the sounds that tell what hour it is,

Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell.-R. II., v. 5.

O, you shall see him laugh, till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!-2 H. IV., V. I. It is this same form of appeal to an imaginary auditor that is used in the following passage, not an address to any one of the bystanders; and it serves to give a heightened effect of impassioned derision to the words which Queen Margaret utters, as she sets a paper crown on the defeated York's head :

Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king !—2 H. VI., 1. 4.

What a pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall see now, in very sincerity of fear and cold heart, will he to the king, and lay open all our proceedings.1 H. IV., ii. 3.

Soft! who art thou? Sir Walter Blunt! there's honour for you !—Ibid., v. 3.

Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia.-Hamlet, iii. 1.

66

There is another form employed in soliloquy which Shakespeare has used in the magnificent speech of self-communing that he has put into the mouth of Henry V. after having the night interview in disguise with the three soldiers of his camp, Bates, Court, and Williams. At the opening of the soliloquy our is used in reference to those in whose person the king is musingly speaking; though he immediately follows it by "we" in reference to himself, as speaking in his own person. This is admirably true to nature: it is precisely that inexact mode of expression which thoughts take in the mind, and which soliloquy represents :

Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,

Our children, and our sins, lay on the king!
We must bear all. O, hard condition,

Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
But his own wringing-H. V., iv. 1.

Still another form is used in the soliloquy spoken by York, at the close of the opening scene in the "Second Part of King Henry VI.,"

where he employs the word "thine" to express that which belongs to the community generally, and to himself in particular; since he goes on to say that the realms of England, France, and Ireland seem to be a portion of his own flesh and blood, and that he had hope of possessing France as he hoped to possess England

Anjou and Maine are given to the French;
Paris is lost; the state of Normandy

Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone:
Suffolk concluded on the articles:

The peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd

To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter.

I cannot blame them all: what is 't to them?

'Tis thine they give away, and not their own.-2 H. VI., i. 1.

And yet another form is used in the same play :-
This devil here shall be my substitute;

For that John Mortimer, which now is dead,
In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble :
By this I shall perceive the commons' mind,
How they affect the house and claim of York.
Say, he be taken, rack'd, and tortur'd,

I know no pain they can inflict upon him,
Will make him say I mov'd him to those arms.
Say, that he thrive (as 'tis great like he will),

Why, then from Ireland come I with my strength,

And reap the harvest which that rascal sow'd.—Ibid., iii. 1.

Occasionally Shakespeare with excellent dramatic effect makes a soliloquy commence abruptly, with a reference to something or some one unspecified, except by a pronoun :—

I have sent after him: he says he 'll come;

How shall I feast him? what bestow of him?

For youth is bought more oft than begg'd or borrow'd.—Tw. N., iii. 4. Here, not only is the person alluded to spoken of vaguely and left unnamed, but the diction is likewise so hurried and sketchy, that it leaves to be elliptically understood if,'' supposing,' or 'granted that,' before" he says he 'll come."

Leave me solely: go,

See how he fares. [Exit ATTENDANT.] Fie, fie! no thought of him ;
The very thought of my revenges that way

Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty,

And in his parties, his alliance,-let him be,

Until a time may serve: for present vengeance,

Take it on her.-W. T., ii. 3.

Here, the pronoun "he" refers to Mamillius, who has just been spoken of; but "him," in the same line, refers to Polixenes, who has not been mentioned. The speaker first gives the order respecting his little son Mamillius; and then, the moment the Attendant departs, resumes his bitter musing upon his supposed injurer, Polixenes.

My birth-place hate I, and my love 's upon
This enemy town. I'll enter: if he slay me,
He does fair justice: if he give me way,
I'll do his country service.-Coriol., iv. 4.
It must be by his death: and for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown'd:

How that might change his nature, there's the question.-Jul. C., ii. 1.

SPELLING OF FOREIGN WORDS.

Shakespeare gave an anglicised spelling of certain foreign words, as a means of indicating to the actors the mode in which these words should be pronounced. Thus, he spells Petruccio, "Petruchio; showing that the Italian "cc" before "i" is sounded as "ch" is sounded in English :—

66

My good friend Petruchio! How do you all at Verona?—Tam. of S., i. 2. In the following passage the word " Strachy" has much puzzled several of the commentators; who have proposed various substitutions. But we believe it to be Shakespeare's way of anglicising the spelling of the Italian word Stracci. In Florio's Dictionary, a book proved to be well known to Shakespeare, we find the word printed "Straccij," and there explained to mean 'rags, clouts, tatters, torne or rent rags.' Our dramatist has put "Strachy" into the mouth of Malvolio with a "the" before it, as if it were the name of a noble family of Italy, like the Strozzi, the Orsini, &c.; thus, while "the lady of the Strachy" seems to be the title of a lady of rank, it really bears the significance of the lady of rags-and-tatters,' forming a humorous analogy with "the yeoman of the wardrobe." In corroboration of our belief, we find, under the word Vestiario in Florio's Dictionary, one that sels clothes ready made. Also a wardrobe keeper, or a yeoman of a wardrobe.' The Italian form of 'j' for a final 'i,' as printed in Florio, gives very much the effect of the final 'y,' as printed in the First Folio, and as probably written by Shakespeare in the word "Strachy":

The lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe.-Tw. N., ii. 5. In the following passage, although modern editions agree to print the word "capriccio" rightly in its Italian form, yet the First Folio, and probably Shakespeare himself in his original manuscript, in order to suggest to the actors the mode of pronunciation, spelt the word thus, -caprichio' :

Will this capriccio hold in thee, art sure?-All's W., ii. 3.

Similarly, in the Folio (and probably by Shakespeare himself) "Capucius" is spelt Capuchius':

·

You should be lord ambassador from the emperor,

My royal nephew, and your name Capucius.-H. VIII., iv. 2.

In the following passage, the name of the Clown is spelt "Lavatch,” to convey to the actors an idea of the pronunciation of what is evidently intended for a French word. It has been believed by some commentators that this was intended for La Vache, in punning allusion to the name of the actor who played the part, either Richard Cowley or John Lowine (lowing). But we incline to think that it was probably intended for Lavage; which, in familiar French language, is used to express slop,' 'puddle,' 'washiness.' The context seems to warrant

6

our supposition :—

Good Monsieur Lavatch, give my lord Lafeu this letter: I have ere now, sir, been better known to you, when I have held familiarity with fresher clothes; but I am now, sir, muddied in fortune's mood, and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure. -All's W., V. 2.