Imogen reads. He is one of the noblest note, to whofe kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your trust. So far I read aloud: LEONATUS. But even the very middle of my heart Is warm'd by the reft, and takes it thankfully. Have words to bid you; and shall find it so, Iach. Thanks, fairest lady. -What! are men mad? hath nature given them eyes To fee this vaulted arch, and the rich crop and the rich CROP [Afide. Imo. Of fea and land; He is here speaking of the covering of fea and land. Shakespeare therefore wrote, and the rich COPE. WARBURTON. Surely no emendation is necessary. The vaulted arch is alike the cope or covering of fea and land. When the poet had spoken of it once, could he have thought this fecond introduction of it neceffary? The crop of fea and land means only the productions of either element. STEEVENS. and the twinn'd ftones 2 Upon the number'd beach? -] I have no idea in what fenfe the beach, or fhore, fhould be called number'd. I have ventured, against all the copies, to fubftitute, Upon th' unnumber'd beach ? i. e. the infinite ex enfive beach, if we are to understand the epithet as coupled to that word. But, I rather think, the poet intended an hypallage, like that in the beginning of Ovid's Metamorphofes; (In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas And Imo. What makes your admiration? Iach. It cannot be i' the eye; for apes and monkeys, 'Twixt two fuch fhe's, would chatter this way, and Contemn with mowes the other: nor i' the judgment; For idiots, in this cafe of favour, would Be wifely definite: nor i' the appetite : Sluttery, to fuch neat excellence oppos'd, 3 Should make defire vomit emptiness, Not fo allur'd to feed. Imo. And then we are to understand the paffage thus; and the infinite number of twinn'd ftones upon the beach. THEOBALD. Upon th' UNNUMBER'D beach ?] Senfe and the antithefis oblige us to read this nonsense thus, Upon the HUMBLED beach? i. e. because daily infulted with the flow of the tide. WARB. I know not well how to regulate this paffage. Number'd is perhaps numerous. Twinn'd ftones I do not understand. Twinn'd fhells, or pairs of shells, are very common. For twinn'd, we might read tavin'd; that is, twisted, convolved: but this fenfe is more applicable to fhells than to ftones. JOHNSON. The author of The Revifal conjectures the poet might have written purn'd ftones. He might poffibly have written that or any other word. -In Coriolanus a different epithet is bestowed on the beach: "Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach 66 Fillop the ftars." 3 Should make defire vomit emptiness, STEEVENS. Not fo allur'd to feed.] i. e. that appetite, which is not allured to feed on fuch excellence, can have no ftomach at all; but, though empty, muft naufeate every thing. WARB. I explain this paffage in a fenfe almoft contrary. Iachimo, in this counterfeited rapture, has fhewn how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the prefent miftrefs of Pothumus, and proceeds to fay, that appetite too would give the fame fuffrage. Defire, fays he, when it approached fluttery, and confidered it in comparifon with fuch neat excellence, would not only be not fo allured to feed, but, feized with a fit of loathing, would somit emptiness, would feel the convulfions of difguit, though, being unfed, it had nothing to eject. JOHNSON. Dr. WARBURTON and Dr. JOHNSON have both taken the pains to give their different fenfes of this paffage; bat I am still unable to comprehend how defire, or any other thing, can be M 3 made Imo. What is the matter, trow? Iach. The cloyed will, (That fatiate yet unfatisfy'd defire, That tub, both fill'd and running) ravening first Imo. What, Dear Sir, thus raps you? are you well? Iach. Thanks, madam, well.-'Beseech you, Sir, [To Pifanio. Defire my man's abode, where I did leave him; 4 He's ftrange, and peevish. Pif. I was going, Sir, To give him welcome. Imo. Continues well my lord his health, 'befeech you? Jach. Well, madam. Imo. Is he difpos'd to mirth? I hope he is, Iach. Exceeding pleafant; none a stranger there So merry, and fo gamefome: he is call'd The Britain reveller. Imo. When he was here, He did incline to fadnefs; and oft times Not knowing why. Iach. I never faw him fad. There is a Frenchman his companion, one, An eminent Monfieur, that, it feems, much loves made to vomit emptiness. I rather believe the paffage should be read thus: Sluttery, to fuch neat excellence oppos'd, Not fo ALLURE to feed. That is, Should not fo, [in fuch circumftances] allure [even] emptiness to feed.-Objervations and Conjectures, &c. printed at Oxford, 1766. This is not ill conceived; but I think my own explanation right. To vomit emptiness is, in the language of poetry, to feel the convulfions of eructation without plenitude. JOHNSON. He's range, and peevish.] He is a foreigner, and easily fretted. JOHNSON, A Gallian A Gallian girl at home: he furnaces The thick fighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton, (Your lord, I mean) laughs from's his free lungs, cries Oh ! Can my fides hold, to think, that man, who knows What woman is, yea, what she cannot chufe Will his free hours languifh for affured bondage? Iach. Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with It is a recreation to be by, And hear him mock the Frenchman: but heaven knows Some men are much to blame. Imo. Not he, I hope. Iach. Not he. But yet heaven's bounty towards him, might Be us'd more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much; To pity too. Imo. What do you pity, Sir? Imo. Am I one, Sir? You look on me; what wreck difcern you Deferves your pity? Iach. Lamentable! what! in me To hide me from the radiant fun, and folace I' the dungeon by a snuff? Imo. I pray you, Sir, Deliver with more opennefs your answers To my demands. Why do you pity me? Το Iach. That others do, I was about to fay, enjoy your It is an office of the gods to venge it, Not mine to speak on't. M 4 -but Ime. Imo. You do feem to know Something of me, or what concerns me. Pray you, Iach. Had I this cheek To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whofe touch, 5 timely knowing,] Rather timely known. JOHNS. 6 What both you fpur and ftop.] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. JOHNSON. What both you Spur and flop.] I think Imogen means to enquire what is that news, that intelligence, or information, you profefs to bring, and yet with-hold: at least, I think Dr. JOHNSON's explanation a mistaken one, for Imogen's request fuppofes Iachimo an agent, not a patient. HAWKINS. I think my explanation true. JOHNSON. 7 I read, join gripes with hands, &c.] The old edition reads, Made hard with hourly falfhood (falfhood as then lye peeping The author of the prefent regulation of the text I do not know, but have fuffered it to ftand, though not right. Hard with falfhood is, hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. JoHNSON, join gripes with hands Made hourly bard by falfhood, as by labour; Then glad myself with peeping in an eye,] Mr. Rows firft regulated the paffage thus, and it has been handed down by fucceeding editors; but the repetition which they wished to avoid, is now reftored, for if it is not abfolute nonfenfe, why fhould we refufe to follow the old copy? STEEVENS. |