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ACT III.

Now say, what would Augustus Cæsar with

us?] So, in King John:

Now say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

23. With rocks unscaleable,

Hanmer's. The old editions have,

With oaks unscaleable.

STEEVENS.

-] This reading is

JOHNSON.

"The strength of our land consists of our seamen in their wooden forts and castles; our rocks, shelves, and sirtes, that lye along our coasts; and our trayned bands." From chapter 109 of Bariffe's Military Discipline, 1639, seemingly from Tooke's Legend of BriTOLLET.

tomart.

30. (Poor ignorant baubles!)—] i.e. unacquainted with the nature of our boisterous seas. JOHNSON. against all colour,-] Without any pre

54. tence of right.

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JOHNSON.

Thy Casar knighted me; my youth I spent

Much under him :

-] Some few hints for this part of the play are taken from Holinshed:

“Kymbeline, says he (as some write), was brought up at Rome, and there was made knight by Augustus Cæsar, under whom he served in the wars, and was in such favour with him, that he was at liberty to pay his tribute or not."

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-Yet we find in the Roman writers, that after Julius Cæsar's death, when Augustus had taken upon him the rule of the empire, the Britons refused to pay that tribute."

-But whether the controversy, which appeareth to fall forth betwixt the Britons and Augustus, was occasioned by Kymbeline, I have not a vouch."

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-Kymbeline reigned thirty-five years, leaving behind him two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus.”

-keep at utterance.

STEEVENS.

-] At utterance means

78. to keep at the extremity of defiance. Combat à outrance is a desperate fight, that must conclude with the life of one of the combatants. So in The History of Helyas, Knight of the Swanne, bl. let. no date: " -Here is my gage to sustaine it to the utteraunce, and befight it to the death." STEEVENS. I am perfect,] I am well informed. So, in

Macbeth:

-in your state of honour I am perfect.”

JOHNSON. 94. What monsters her accuse?. -] Might we not

safely read,

96.

What monster's her accuser?.

-What false Italian,

STEEVENS.

(As pois'nous tongu'd, as handed)—] About Shakspere's time the practice of poisoning was very common in Italy, and the suspicion of Italian poisons yet more common.

JOHNSON.

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102.

STEEVENS.

Thy mind to her is now as low,-] That is, thy mind compared to her's is now as low, as thy condition was, compared to her's. I believe the author wrote, Thy mind to her'sMALONE.

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That I have sent her, by her own command,

Shall give thee opportunity:] One is tempted to think that Shakspere did not give himself the trouble to compare the several parts of his play after he had composed it.- These words are not found in the letter of Posthumus to Pisanio (which is afterwards given at length), though the substance of them is contained in it. MALONE.

113. Art thou a feodary for this act,-] A feodary is one who holds his estate under the tenure of suit and service to a superior lord. HANMER. Feodary is, I believe, here used for a confederate. It is, I think, used in the same sense, in The Winter's Tale. MALONE.

115. I am ignorant in what I am commanded.] i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. STEEVENS.

119. 0, learn'd indeed were that astronomer, &c.] This was a very natural thought. She must needs be supposed, in her circumstances, to be extremely soli

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citous about the future; and desirous of coming to it by the assistance of that superstition. WARBURTon. -let that grieve him!] I should wish to

124. read,

Of my lord's health, of his content ;—yet no ;
That we two are asunder, let that grieve him!
TYRWHITT.

126. For it doth physic love)] That is, grief for absence keeps love in health and vigour.

So, in Macheth:

JOHNSON.

"The labour we delight in, physics pain."

127.

Blest be,

STEEVENS.

You bees, that make these locks of counsel! Lovers,
And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike;
Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet

You clasp young Cupid's tables.- -] The meaning of this, which had been obscured by printing forfeitures for forfeiters, is no more than that the bees are not blest by the man who forfeiting a bond is sent to prison, as they are by the lover for whom they perform the more pleasing office of sealing letters, STEEVENS.

138. loyal to his vow, and your increasing in love,] We should, I think, read thus :-and your, increasing in love, Leonatus Posthumus.- -To make it plain, that your is to be joined in construction with Leonatus, and not with increasing; and that the latter is a participle present, and not a noun. TYRWHITT.

166. That run i' the clock's behalf:--] This fantastical expression means no more than sand in an hour-glass, used to measure time, WARBURTON. 170. A franklin's housewife.] A franklin is literally a freeholder, with a small estate, neither villain nor vassal. JOHNSON. 172. I see before me, man, nor here, nor here,

Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them,
That I cannot look through.-

] The lady

says: "I can see neither one way nor other, before me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable fog." There are objections insuperable to all that I can propose, and since reason can give me no counsel, I will resolve at once to follow my inclination. JOHNSON.

178. Stoop, boys:--] The old copy reads, -sleep, boys-from whence Hanmer conjectured that the poet wrote-stoop, boys-as that word affords a good introduction to what follows. STEEVENS.

182. their impious turbands on,— -] The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of a Saracen. JOHNSON.

194. This service is not service, &c.] In war it is not sufficient to do duty well; the advantage rises not from the act, but the acceptance of the act.

JOHNSON.

198. The sharded beetle――] i. e. the beetle whose wings are enclosed within two dry husks or shards.

So,

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