Pol. What follows this ? How prettily the young swain seems to wash The hand, was fair before !-I have put you out :But, to your protestation ; let me hear What you profess. Flo. Do, and be witness to't. Pol. And this my neighbour too ? Flo. And he, and more Than he, and men; the earth, the heavens, and all; That,--were I crown'd the most imperial monarch, Thereof most worthy; were I the fairest youth That ever made eye swerve; had force, and know ledge, More than was ever man's,- I would not prize them, Without her love: for her, employ them all; Commend them, and condemn them, to her ser vice, Fairly offer'd. But, my daughter, I cannot speak Take hands, a bargain; to't: “ That pure congealed white, high Taurus’ snow, or the fann'd snow, “That's bolted,” &c. The fine sieve used by millers to separate flour from bran is called a bolting cloth. HARRIS. I give my daughter to him, and will make O, that must be Come, your hand; Soft, swain, awhile, 'beseech you; I have : But what of him? He neither does, nor shall. more; Is not your father grown incapable Of reasonable affairs ? is he not stupid With age, and altering rheums ? ? Can he speak ? hear? Know man from man ? dispute his own estate ? Lies he not bed-rid ? and again, does nothing, But what he did being childish ? 2 altering rheums ?] Rowe has transplanted this phrase into his Jane Shore, Act II. Sc. I. : when altering rheums STEEVENS, 3 - dispute his own estate ?] Perhaps for dispute we might read compute ; but “ dispute his estate may be the same with " talk over his affairs." Johnson. The same phrase occurs again in Romeo and Juliet : “Let me dispute with thee of thy estate,” STEEVENS. Does not this allude to the next heir suing for the estate in cases of imbecility, lunacy, &c. ? CHAMIER. It probably means-“ Can he assert and vindicate his right to his own property.” M. Mason. Flo. No, good sir ; He has his health, and ampler strength, indeed, Than most have of his age. Pol. By my white beard, I yield all this; Let him know't. Pr'ythee, let him. No, he must not. SHEP. Let him, my son; he shall not need to grieve At knowing of thy choice. Come, come he must not : Mark your divorce, young sir, [Discovering himself. Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base To be acknowledg’d : Thou a scepter's heir, That thus affect'st a sheep-hook !—Thou old trai tor, I am sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but Shorten thy life one week.—And thou, fresh piece Of excellent witchcraft; who, of force*, must know The royal fool thou cop’st with ; SHEP. O, my heart ! 4 - WHO, of force,] Old copy-whom. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE, Pol. I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briars, and made More homely than thy state.-For thee, fond boy, If I may ever know, thou dost but sigh, That thou no more shalt never see this knack, (as never 5 I mean thou shalt,) we'll bar thee from succession ; Not hold thee of our blood, no not our kin, Far than Deucalion off:-Mark thou my words; Follow us to the court. Thou churl, for this time, Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee From the dead blow of it.-And you, enchant. ment, [Exit. PER. Even here undone ! I was not much afeard 8 : for once, or twice, 5 That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as NEVER -] The old copy reads, with absurd redundancy: That thou no more shalt never see," &c. STEEVENS. 6 Far than--] I think for far than we should read-far as. We will not hold thee of our kin even so far off as Deucalion the common ancestor of all. Johnson. The old reading farre, i. e. further, is the true one. The ancient comparative of fer was ferrer. See the Glossaries to Robert of Glocester and Robert of Brunne. This, in the time of Chaucer, was softened into ferre : “ But er I bere thee moche ferre." H. of Fa. b. ii. v. 92. “ Thus was it peinted, I can say no ferre." Knight's Tale, 2062. TYRWHITT. 7 Or hoop his body-] The old copy has-hope. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 8 I was not much afeard, &c.]. The character is here finely I was about to speak; and tell him plainly, [To FLORIZEL. I told you, what would come of this : 'Beseech you, Of your own state take care: this dream of mine, Henry VIII. : sustained. To have made her quite astonished at the King's discovery of himself bad not become her birth ; and to have given her presence of mind to have made this reply to the King, had not become her education. WARBURTON. 9 I was about to speak; and tell him plainly, The selfsame sun, that shines upon his COURT, Looks on alike.] So, in Nosce Teipsum, a poem, by Sir John Davies, 1599 : • Thou, like the sunne, dost with indifferent ray, “ Into the palace and the cottage shine.” Again, in The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, 1597: “ The sunne on rich and poor alike doth shine.” “ Looks on alike,” is supported by a passage in King No, my lord, Things that are known alike.” i. e. that are known alike by all. To look upon, without any substantive annexed, is 'a mode of expression, which, though now unusual, appears to have been legitimate in Shakspeare's time. So, in Troilus and Cressida : “ He is my prize ; I will not look upon." Again, in King Henry VI. Part III. : Why stand we here- “ Were play'd in jest by counterfeited actors.” Malone. To look upon, in more modern phrase, is to look on, i. e. to be a mere idle spectator. In this sense it is employed in the two preceding instances. Steevens. This passage has been imitated not inelegantly by Habington in his Queen of Arragon : The stars shoot 66 |