And, like the watchful minutes to the hour, Or, What good love may I perform for you? These eyes, that never did, nor never shall, HUB. I have sworn to do it ; And with hot irons must I burn them out. ARTH. Ah, none, but in this iron age, would do it! The iron of itself, though heat red-hot", Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears, And quench his firy indignation®, 7- though HEAT red-hot,] The participle heat, though now obsolete, was in use in our author's time. See Twelfth-Night, vol. xi. p. 342, n. 8. So, in the sacred writings : "He commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heat." Dan. iii. 19. MALONE. Again, in Chapman's version of the 20th Iliad : 66 - but when blowes, sent from his fiery hand "(Thrice heat by slaughter of his friend)-." Again, in the same translator's version of the 19th book of the Odyssey: "And therein bath'd, being temperately heat, 8 And quench HIS FIRY INDIGNATION,] The old copy-this fiery indignation. This phrase is from The New Testament, Heb. x. 27: a certain fearful looking-for of judgment, and fiery indignation-." STEEVENS. We should read either "its fiery," or "his fiery indignation." Even in the matter of mine innocence: And told me, Hubert should put out mine eyes, HUB. Come forth. [Stamps. Re-enter Attendants, with Cord, Irons, &c. Do as I bid you do. ARTH. O, save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out, Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men. HUB. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. ARTH. Alas, what need you be so boist'rousrough? I will not struggle, I will stand stone-still. For heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound! The late reading was probably an error of the press. His is most in Shakspeare's style. M. MASON. 'the By "this firy indignation," however, he might mean,indignation thus produced by the iron being made red-hot for such an inhuman purpose.' MALONE. 9 I would not have believ'd no tongue, but Hubert's.] The old copy, and some of our modern editors, read: "I would not have believ'd him; no tongue but Hubert's." The truth is, that the transcriber, not understanding the power of the two negatives not and no, (which are usually employed, not to affirm, but to deny more forcibly,) intruded the redundant pronoun him. As You Like It, affords an instance of the phraseology I have defended: "Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes Mr. Steevens's former note on this passage is worth preservation. "Shakspeare probably meant this line to be broken off imperfectly; thus: "I would not have believ'd him ; no tongue but Hubert's-." The old reading is, however, sense." BOSWELL. Nay, hear me, Hubert! drive these men away, I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word, Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you, deed. HUB. Go, stand within; let me alone with him. 1 ATTEND. I am best pleas'd to be from such a [Exeunt Attendants. ARTH. Alas! I then have chid away my friend; He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart :Let him come back, that his compassion may Give life to yours. HUB. Come, boy, prepare yourself. ARTH. Is there no remedy? HUB. None, but to lose your eyes. ARTH. O heaven!-that there were but a mote A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wand'ring hair, Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there, HUB. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue. ARTH. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes: I a мOTE in yours,] The old copy reads moth. Moth was merely the old spelling of mote. In the passage quoted from Hamlet, the word is spelt moth in the original copy, as it is here. So also, in the preface to Lodge's Incarnate Devils of the Age, 4to. 1596: they are in the aire, like atomi in sole, mothes in the sonne. See also Florio's Italian Dict. 1598: Festucco.-A moth, a little beam." 66 So, in Hamlet: "A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye." A mote is a small particle of straw or chaff. It is likewise used by old writers for an atom. MALONE. 2 , Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue HUB. I can heat it, boy. ARTH. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief3, Being create for comfort, to be us'd In undeserv'd extremes: See else yourself; HUB. But with my breath I can revive it, boy. ARTH. And if you do, you will but make it blush, And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert: 2 Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,] This is according to nature. We imagine no evil so great as that which is near JOHNSON. us. 3 the fire is dead with GRIEF, &c.] The sense is the fire, being created not to hurt, but to comfort, is dead with grief for finding itself used in acts of cruelty, which, being innocent, I have not deserved. JOHNSON. 4 There is no malice in this burning coal ;] Dr. Grey says, that "no malice in a burning coal" is certainly absurd, and that we should read : "There is no malice burning in this coal." STEEVENS. Dr. Grey's remark on this passage is an hypercriticism. The coal was still burning, for Hubert says, "He could revive it with his breath" but it had lost, for a time, its power of injuring, by the abatement of its heat. M. MASON. Yet in defence of Dr. Grey's remark it may be said, that Arthur imagined that the coal was no longer burning," although Hubert tells him afterwards "that it was not so far extinguished, but that he could revive it with his breath." BOSWELL. 5 TARRE him on.] i. e. stimulate, set him on. Supposed to be derived from Tapátla, excito. The word occurs again in Ham All things, that you should use to do me wrong, That mercy, which fierce fire, and iron, extends, HUB. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes For all the treasure that thine uncle owes : You were disguised. Peace: no more. Adieu; HUB. ARTH. O heaven!-I thank you, Hubert. HUB. Silence; no more: Go closely in with me'; Much danger do I undergo for thee. [Exeunt. let: 66 and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them on to controversy." Again, in Troilus and Cressida : "Pride alone must tarre the mastiffs on." STEEVENS. Mr. Horne Tooke derives it from Tyran. A. S. exacerbare, irritare. BoSWELL. 6 SEE to live ;] See to live" means only- Continue to enjoy the means of life.' STEEVENS. I believe the author meant-" Well, live, and live with the means of seeing;" that is, 'with your eyes uninjured.' MALONE. 7 GO CLOSELY in with me ;] i. e. secretly, privately. So, in Albumazar, 1610, Act III. Sc. I. : I'll entertain him here; mean while, steal you Again, in The Atheist's Tragedy, 1612, Act IV. Sc. I.: "Enter Frisco closely." Again, in Sir Henry Wotton's Parallel : "That when he was free from restraint, he should closely take an out lodging at Greenwich." REED. |