Who art the table wherein all my thoughts To lesson me; and tell me some good mean, Luc. Alas! the way is wearisome and long. JUL. A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; Much less shall she, that hath love's wings to fly; And when the flight is made to one so dear, Of such divine perfection, as sir Proteus. Luc. Better forbear, till Proteus make return. JUL. O, know'st thou not, his looks are my soul's food? Pity the dearth that I have pined in, 5 Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. JUL. The more thou dam'st it up, the more it burns: The current, that with gentle murmur glides, He makes sweet musick with the enamel'd stones, He overtaketh in his pilgrimage; And so by many winding nooks he strays, Again, in The Comedy of Errors: "I conjure thee to leave me and begone." Again, in The Rape of Lucrece : 5 "She conjures him by high almighty love." MALONE. the FIRE's extreme rage,] Fire is here, as in many other places, used as a dissyllable. MALONE. With willing sport, to the wild ocean. And make a pastime of each weary step, Luc. But in what habit will you go along? Luc. Why then your ladyship must cut your hair. Luc. What fashion, madam, shall I make your breeches ? JUL. That fits as well, as-" tell me, good my lord, "What compass will you wear your farthingale ?" Why, even what* fashion thou best lik'st, Lucetta. Luc. You must needs have them with a codpiece, madam. * First folio, that. 6 + First folio, likes. with a COD-PIECE, &c.] Whoever wishes to be acquainted with this particular, relative to dress, may consult Buliver's Artificial Changeling, where such matters are amply discussed. It is mentioned, however, in Tyro's Roaring Megge, 1598: 66 Tyro's round breeches have a cliffe behind; "And that same perking longitude before, "Which for a pin-case antique plowmen wore." Ocular instruction may be had from the armour shown as John of Gaunt's in the Tower of London. The same fashion appears to have been no less offensive in France. See Montaigne, chap. xxii. The custom of sticking pins in this ostentatious piece of indecency was continued by the illiberal warders of the Tower, till forbidden by authority. STEEvens. 5 JUL. Out, out, Lucetta! that will be ill-favour'd. Luc. A round hose, madam, now's not worth a pin, Unless you have a cod-piece to stick pins on. JUL. Lucetta, as thou lov'st me, let me have What thou think'st meet, and is most mannerly: But tell me, wench, how will the world repute me, For undertaking so unstaid a journey? I fear me, it will make me scandaliz'd. Luc. If you think so, then stay at home, and go not. JUL. Nay, that I will not. Luc. Then never dream on infamy, but go. JUL. That is the least, Lucetta, of my fear: However offensive this language may appear to modern ears, it certainly gave none to any of the spectators in Shakspeare's days. He only used the ordinary language of his contemporaries. Thus in the middle of King James's reign, Lodowick Barry puts the same language into the mouth of a lady, who is disguised in the dress of a page: Again, ibid. : 66 66 methinks this cod-piece Sure we never more shall see "A good leg worne in a long silk stocking, Here also the speaker is a lady. MALONE. 8 OUT, OUT, Lucetta! &c.] Dr. Percy observes, that this interjection is still used in the North. It seems to have the same meaning as apage, Lat. So, in Chapman's version of the thirteenth Iliad: Out, out, I hate ye from my heart, ye rotten-minded men!" STEEVENS. So, in Every Man out of his Humour, Act. II. Sc. VI. : "Out, out! unworthy to speak where he breatheth." REED. And instances of the infinite of love", Luc. All these are servants to deceitful men. JUL. Base men, that use them to so base effect! But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth: JUL. Now, as thou lov'st me, do him not that wrong, To bear a hard opinion of his truth; Only deserve my love, by loving him ; 9 And instances of THE infinite of love,] The old copy hasof infinite of love; from which I have only deviated by the introduction of the before of. We have in other places the infinite used as a substantive. Thus, in Much Ado About Nothing: "It is past the infinite of thought." Again, in Troïlus and Cressida : "The past proportion of his infinite." Infinites appears even in the latter end of the sixteenth century to have been used as a substantive in the sense of an infinity. Thus in the Memoirs of Lord Lonsdale, written in 1688, and printed in 1808, p. 49: 66 Infinites of men prest for the shippes and forces drawn out of Ireland." The person who revised the second folio gave the reading which has been adopted in all the modern editions.: "And instances as infinite of love." But of and as are by no means likely to have been confounded. Besides, as is not supported by the context; for the oaths mentioned in the preceding line were not infinite, their number, though a large one, being specified. MALONE. my LONGING journey.] Dr. Grey observes, that longing is All that is mine I leave at thy dispose, [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Milan. An Ante-room in the DUKE'S Palace. Enter DUKE, THURIO, and PROTEUS. DUKE. Sir Thurio, give us leave, I pray, awhile; We have some secrets to confer about. [Exit THURIO. Now, tell me, Proteus, what's your will with me? PRO. My gracious lord, that which I would dis cover, The law of friendship bids me to conceal: But, when I call to mind your gracious favours My duty pricks me on to utter that Which else no worldly good should draw from me. I know, you have determin'd to bestow her a participle active, with a passive signification; for longed, wished or desired. STEEVENS. I believe that by her longing journey, Julia means a journey which she shall pass in longing. M. MASON. |