SCENE VII.* Belmont. A Room in Portia's Ho Enter Nerissa, with a Servant. Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee, di curtain straight; The prince of Arragon hath ta'en his o And comes to his election presently. If Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prin you choose that wherein I am contain Straight shall our nuptial rites be solem * SCENE VII. In former editions, Scen Though it is impossible to determine, with pr how much time has elapsed since the foregoing it is, however, evident that the intervening cannot be very long, since there is sufficient for imagining that Belmont lay at no very gr tance from Venice, and, in the conclusion present, after the Prince of Arragon has been in his election, news is brought of Bassani proach. This, therefore may well be conside a continuation of the same day with the pre Scene. -draw the curtain] i. e. Draw it So, in an old stage-direction in King Henry "The King draws the curtain, and sits r "pensively." STEEVENS. But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, First, never to unfold to any one Por. To these injunctions every one doth swear, That comes to hazard for my worthless self. Ar. And so have I addrest me :2 Fortune now То 2 And so have I addrest me :] To address is to prepare. The meaning is, "I have prepared myself by "the same ceremonies." So, in All's well that ends well: "Do you think he will make no deed of all this, that so seriously he doth address himself "unto?" STEEVENS. I believe we should read, "And so have I. Address me, Fortune, now, "To my heart's hope!" So, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iii. Scene the last, Falstaff' says: "I will then address me to my appointment." TYRWHITT. By a very slight deviation from the meaning ascribed by Mr. Steevens to these words, the sense may be " Upon these terms do I engage; for all this "am I prepared." E. To my heart's hope !3-Gold, silver, and base lead. Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath: You shall look fairer, ere I give, or hazard. What says the golden chest? ha! let me see :— Who chooseth me, shall gain what may men desire. What many men desire:-That many may be meant 4 By the fool multitude,5 that choose by show, Not 3 To my heart's hope !] "Be propitious," or some such words, seem to be understood. E. 4 That many may be meant] The repetition of many is a mere blunder. It is unnecessary to the sense, and destroys the measure. RITSON. 5 By the fool multitude,] i. e. By that many may be meant the foolish multitude, &c. The fourth folio first introduced a phraseology more agreeable to our ears at present," Of the fool multitude;" which has been adopted by all the subsequent editors ;but change merely for the sake of elegance is always dangerous. Many modes of speech were familiar in Shakspeare's age, that are now no longer used. So, in Plutarch's life of Cæsar, as translated by North, 1575: "he answered, that these fat, long-heared men made him not affrayed, but the "lean and whitely-faced fellows; meaning that by "Brutus and Cassius." i. e. meaning by that, &c. Again, in Sir Thomas More's Life of Edward the Fifth; Holinshead, p. 1374: “that meant he by the "Lordes of the Queene's kindred that were taken "before" i. c. by that he meant the lords, &c. Again, Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach; Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet, Builds in the weather on the outward wall, Who Again, ibidem, p. 1371: " My Lord, quoth Lord Hastings, on my life, never doubt you; for while one man is there,- -never can there be, &c. "This meant he by Catesby, which was of his near "secrete counsaile." i. e. by this he meant Catesby, &c. Again, Puttenham in his Arte of English Poesie, 1589, p. 157, after citing some enigmatical verses, adds, "the good old gentleman would tell us that 66 were children, how it was meant by a furr'd glove.” i.e. a furred glove was meant by it, i. e. by the enigma. Again, ibidem, p. 161: " Any simple judg "ment might easily perceive by whom it was meant, "that is, by lady Elizabeth, queene of England." MALONE. in the force] i. e. the power. So, in Much Ado about Nothing : -in the force of his "will." STEEVENS. 6 66 7 Even in the force and road of casualty.] This circumstance of the comparison points to the disadvantages which attend a choice so unskilfully and injudiciously made. E. 8 -jump with common spirits,] i. e. agree with. So, in King Henry iv. P. 1. " some sort it jumps with my humour." and in STEEVENS. Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves; And well said too; for who shall go about To cozen fortune, and be honourable Without the stamp of merit? sume To wear an undeserved dignity. Let none pre O, that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not deriv'd corruptly! and that clear honour 9 Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer! How many then should cover, that stand bare? How many be commanded, that command? How much low peasantry would then be glean'd From the true seed of honour? and how much honour Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, 9 Το -clear honour] Clear seems to be used here for bright, splendid, or, perhaps, for unsullied. E. How much low peasantry would then be glean'd From the true seed of honour!] The meaning is, "How much meanness would be "found among the great, and how much greatness among the mean!" But since men are always said to glean corn though they may pick chaff, the sentence had been more agreeable to the common manner of speech if it had been written thus ; "How much low peasantry would then be pick'd "From the true seed of honour! how much honour "Glean'd from the chaff!" JOHNSON. |