Whofe edge is fharper than the fword; whofe tongue All corners of the world. Kings, queens, and 4 states, What cheer, madam? Imo. Falfe to his bed! what is to be falfe? To lie in watch there, and to think on him? To weep 'twixt clock and clock? if fleep charge nature To break it with a fearful dream of him, And cry myfelf awake? That's falfe to his bed? Is it? Pif. Alas, good lady! Imo. I falfe? thy confcience witness, Iachimo- Thou then lookd'st like a villain; now, methinks, 3 And, the worms of Nile ;- -] Serpents and dragons by the old writers were called worms. An old tranflator of Ovid's Metamorphofes, fpeaking of Medea, fays, 4 "Then to her chariot ftrait her winged worms fhe join'd." STEEVENS. ftates,] Perfons of higheft rank. JOHNSON. Some jay of Italy,] There is a prettinefs in this expreffion; putta, in Italian, fignifying both a jay and a whore : I fuppofe from the gay feathers of that bird. WARBURTON. Whofe MOTHER was her painting,] This puzzles Mr. THEOBALD much: he thinks it may fignify whofe mother was a bird of the fame feather; or that it should be read, whofe mother was her planting. What all this means I know not. In Mr. Rowe's edition the M in mother happening to be reverfed at the prefs, it came out Wother. And what was very ridiculous, GILDON employed himself (properly enough indeed) in finding a meaning for it. In fhort, the true word is MEETHER, a north country word, fignifying beauty. So that the fenfe of, her meether was her painting, is, that he had only an appearance of beauty, for which the was beholden to her paint. WARB. VOL. IX. P Some And, for I ain richer than to hang by the walls, Pif. Good madam, hear me Imo. True honeft men being heard, like falfe Æneas, Were, in his time, thought falfe: and Sinon's weeping Did fcandal many a holy tear; took pity From moft true wretchednefs. 7 So thou, Pofthumus, Goodly, and gallant, fhall be falfe and perjur'd, I draw the fword myself: take it, and hit Some jay of Italy, made by art the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this fenfe painting may be not improperly termed her mother. JOHNSON. I met with a fimilar expreffion in one of the old comedies, but forgot to note the name of the piece: 7 66 a parcel of conceited feather-caps, whose fathers were their garments." STERVENS. So thou, Pofthumus, Wilt lay the leaven to all proper men:] When Posthumus thought his wife falfe, he unjustly fcandalized the whole fex. His wife here, under the fame impreflions of his infidelity, attended with more provoking circumftances, acquits his fex, and lays the fault where it was due. The poet paints from nature. This is life and manners. The man thinks it a difhonour to the fuperiority of his understanding to be jilted, and therefore flatters his vanity into a conceit that the difgrace was inevitable from the general infidelity of the fex. The woman, on the contrary, not imagining her credit to be at all affected in the matter, never feeks out for fo extravagant a confolation; but at cnce eafes her malice and her grief, by laying the crime and damage at the door of fome obnoxious coquet. WARB. HANMER reads, lay the level without any neceflity. JOHNSON. The The innocent manfion of my love, my heart: Pif. Hence, vile inftrument! And if I do not by thy hand, thou art No fervant of thy mafter's. 'Gainst self-slaughter There is a prohibition fo divine, That cravens my weak hand. Come, here's my heart; 8 Something's afore't-soft, foft, we'll no defence; Obedient as the fcabbard!-What is here? 9 The scriptures of the loyal Leonatus All turn'd to herefy? away, away, [Pulling his letters out of her bofom. Corrupters of my faith! you fhall no more Be ftomachers to my heart! Thus may poor fools It is no act of common paffage, but 8 Something's afore't-] The old copy reads, Something's afoot JOHNSON. • The Scriptures] So Ben Jonfon, in The fad Shepherd, "The lover's fcriptures, Heliodore's, or Tatius'." Shakespeare, however, means in this place, an opposition between fcripture, in its common fignification, and herefy. P 2 STEEVENS. That I That now thou tir'ft on, how thy memory Will then be pang'd by me.-Pr'ythee, difpatch: Pif. O gracious lady! Since I receiv'd command to do this business. Imo. Do't, and to bed then. Pif. I'll wake mine eye-balls blind first. Didft undertake it? Why haft thou abus'd Pif. But to win time To lofe fo bad employment: in the which Imo. Talk thy tongue weary; fpeak: I have heard, I am a ftrumpet; and mine ear, Pif. Then, madam, I thought you would not back again. • That now thou tir'ft on, A hawk is faid to tire upon that which he pecks; from tirer, French. JOHNSON, 2 I'll wake mine eye-balls firft. Imo. Wherefore then] This is the old reading. The modern editions for wake read break, and fupply the deficient filable by ab, wherefore. I read, I'll wake mine eye-balls out first, or, blind first. JOHNS. 3 To be unbent,] To have thy bow unbent, alluding to a hunter. JOHNSON. Imo. Most like; Bringing me here to kill me. Pif. Not fo, neither: But if I were as wife as honeft, then My purpose would prove well. It cannot be, Imo. Some Roman courtezan. Pif. No, on my life. I'll give him notice you are dead, and fend him Imo. Why, good fellow, What fhall I do the while? Where bide? How live? Or in my life what comfort, when I am Dead to my husband? Pif. If you'll back to the court— Imo. No court, no father; nor no more ado With that harsh, noble, fimple, nothing; That Cloten, whofe love-fuit hath been to me Pif. If not at court, Then not in Britain muft you 'bide. Imo. Where then? Hath Britain all the fun that fhines? Day, night, Are they not but in Britain? I' the world's volume Our Britain feems as of it, but not in it; In a great pool, a fwan's neft. There's livers out of Britain. Pif. I am moft glad Pr'ythee, think, You think of other place. The ambassador, Now, if you could wear a MIND Dark Dark as your fortune is,] What had the darkness of her P 3 mind |