Nor could she moralize his wanton sight', He stories to her ears her husband's fame, And decks with praises Collatine's high name, With bruised arms and wreaths of victory"; Her joy with heav'd-up hand she doth express, And wordless so, greets heaven for his success. Far from the purpose of his coming thither, "I knew you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done." In all our ancient English books, the comment is printed in the margin. MALONE. 7 Nor could she MORALIZE his wanton sight-] To moralize here signifies to interpret, to investigate the latent meaning of his looks. So, in Much Ado About Nothing: "You have some moral in this Benedictus." Again, in The Taming of the Shrew: and has left me here to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens." MALONE. 66 8 With BRUISED ARMS and WREATHS of VICTORY;] So, in King Richard III. : "Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths, "Our bruised arms hung up for monuments." MALONE. 9 Till sable Night, MOTHER of Dread and Fear, Upon the world dim darkness doth display, And in her vaulty prison sTows the day.] So, Daniel in his Rosamond, 1592: "Com'd was the night, mother of sleep and fear, "The sweet stolne sports of joyful meeting lovers." Thus the quarto, 1594, and the three subsequent editions. The octavo, 1616, without any authority, reads thus: For then is Tarquin brought unto his bed, With modest Lucrece, and wore out the night; Now leaden slumber3 with life's strength doth fight; And every one to rest himself betakes, Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds, that wakes *. As one of which doth Tarquin lie revolving "Till sable night, sad source of dread and fear, Upon the world dim darkness doth display, "And in her vaulty prison shuts the day." MAlone. Stows I believe to be the true, though the least elegant, reading. So, in Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. I.: "Safely stow'd.' STEEVENS. INTENDING Weariness with heavy spright;] Intending is pretending. See vol. v. p. 469, n. 7. MALONE. 2 For, after supper, long he QUESTIONED With modest Lucrece,] Held a long conversation. So, in The Merchant of Venice: 66 I pray you, think you question with the Jew." Again, in As You Like It: "I met the duke yesterday, and had much question with him." MALONE. leaden slumber -] So, in King Richard III.: 4 And every one to rest HIMSELF betakes, STEEVENS. Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds, that WAKES.] Thus the quarto. The octavo 1600, reads:-themselves betake, and in the next line: "Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wake." But the first copy was right. This disregard of concord is not uncommon in our ancient poets. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis : 66 two lamps burnt out in darkness lies." Again, in The Tempest, 1623: at this hour "Lies at my mercy all mine enemies." MALONE. Though weak-built hopes persuade him to abstaining: Despair to gain, doth traffick oft for gaining; Those that much covet, are with gain so fond, 5 Though DEATH be ADJUNCT,] So, in King John: 66 STEEVENS. 6 That WHAT they have not, that which they possess,] Thus the quarto, 1594. The edition of 1616 reads: "Those that much covet, are with gain so fond, "That oft they have not that which they possess ; 66 They scatter and unloose it," &c. The alteration is plausible, but not necessary. If it be objected to the reading of the first copy, that these misers cannot scatter what they have not, (which they are made to do, as the text now stands,) it should be observed, that the same objection lies to the passage as regulated in the latter edition; for here also they are said to scatter and unloose it," &c. although in the preceding line they were said "oft not to have it." Poetically speaking, they may be said to scatter what they have not, i. e. what they cannot be truly said to have; what they do not enjoy, though possessed of it. Understanding the words in this sense, the old reading may remain. A similar phraseology is found in Daniel's Rosamond, 1592: "As wedded widows, wanting what we have." Again, in Cleopatra, a tragedy, by the same author, 1594 : their state thou ill definest, "And liv'st to come, in present pinest; "For what thou hast, thou still dost lacke: "O mindes tormentor, bodies wracke: "Vaine promiser of that sweete reste, "Tam avaro deest quod habet, quam quod non habet," is one of the sentences of Publius Syrus. MALONE. Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain, The aim of all is but to nurse the life With honour, wealth, and ease, in waining age; Honour for wealth; and oft that wealth doth cost So that in vent'ring ill', we leave to be In having much, torments us with defect The thing we have; and, all for want of wit, Such hazard now must doting Tarquin make, When he himself himself confounds, betrays 7 So that in vent'ring ILL,] Thus the old copy. The modern editions read: "So that in vent'ring all -." But there is no need of change. "In venturing ill," means, 'from an evil spirit of adventure, which prompts us to covet what we are not possessed of.' MALONE. 8 MAKE Something NOTHING, by AUGMENTING it.] Thus, in Macbeth: 9 66 so I lose no honour "By seeking to augment it," &c. STEEVENS. Dict. in voc. 5 MALONE. See Minsheu's Now stole upon the time the dead of night, The silly lambs; pure thoughts are dead and still, And now this lustful lord leap'd from his bed, and wretched hateful DAYS?] The modern editions read, unintelligibly: "To slanderous tongues, the wretched hateful lays.” MALONE 2 Now stole upon the time the dead of night, &c.] So, in Mac beth: Now o'er the one half world "Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse "Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, "Now stole upon the time the dead of night, 66 pure thoughts are dead and still, "While lust and murder wake-.' From this and two follow ing passages in the poem before us, it is hardly possible to suppose but that Mr. Rowe had been perusing it before he sat down to write The Fair Penitent: "Once in a lone and secret hour of night, "When every eye was clos'd, and the pale moon, "Fierceness and pride, the guardians of her honour, STEEVENS. |