And even there, his eye being big with tears, Turning his face, he put his hand behind him," And with affection wondrous fenfible He wrung Baffanio's hand, and so they parted. SALAN. I think, he only loves the world for him. pray thee, let us go, and find him out, And quicken his embraced heavinefs SALAR. 8 Do we fo. [Exeunt. Of love, is an adjuration fometimes ufed by Shakspeare. So, in The Merry Wives of Windfor, A&t II. fc. vii: 66 Quick. defires you to fend her your little page, of all loves" i. e. fhe defires you to fend him by all means. Your mind of love may, however, in this inftance, mean-your loving mind. So, in the Tragedie of Cræfus, 1604: "A mind of treafon is a treasonable mind. "Those that speak freely, have no mind of treason." STEEVENS. If the phrafe is to be understood in the former fenfe, there should be a comma after mind, as Mr. Langton and Mr. Heath have obferved. MALONE. And even there, his eye being big with tears, Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, &c.] So curious an obferver of nature was our author, and fo minutely had he traced the operation of the paffions, that many paffages of his works might furnith hints to painters. It is indeed furprizing that they do not ftudy his plays with this view. In the paffage before us, we have the outline of a beautiful picture. MALONE. 8 — embraced heaviness—] The heaviness which he indulges, and is fond of. EDWARDS. When I thought the paffage corrupted, it feemed to me not improbable that Shakspeare had written-entranced heaviness, mufing, abftracted, moping melancholy. But I know not why any great efforts fhould be made to change a word which has no incommodious or unufual fenfe. We fay of a man now, that he hugs his forrows, and why might not Antonio embrace heaviness? JOHNSON. So, in Much ado about Nothing, fc. i: "You embrace your charge too willingly.' Again, in this play of The Merchant of Venice, A&t III. fc. ii: doubtful thoughts, and rath-embrac'd despair.” 66 STEEVINS. SCENE IX. Belmont. A Room in Portia's Houfe. Enter NERISSA, with a Servant. NER. Quick, quick, I pray thee, draw the curtain' ftraight; The prince of Arragon hath ta’en his oath, Flourish of Cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, POR.Behold, there ftand the caskets, noble prince: If you choose that wherein I am contain❜d, Straight fhall our nuptial rites be folemniz'd; But if you fail, without more fpeech, my lord, You must be gone from hence immediately. AR. I am enjoin'd by oath to obferve three things: First, never to unfold to any one Which cafket 'twas I chofe; next, if I fail POR. To thefe injunctions every one doth fwear, That comes to hazard for my worthless felf. 2 AR. And fo have I addrefs'd me: Fortune now To my heart's hope!-Gold, filver, and base lead. 9 draw the curtain ] i. e. draw it open. So, in an old ftage-direction in King Henry VIII: "The king draws the curtain, and fits reading penfively." STEEVENS. 2 And fo have I addrefs'd me:] To address is to prepare. The meaning is, I have prepared myself by the fame ceremonies. So, in All's well that ends well: "Do you think he will make no deed of all this, that fo feriously he doth addrefs himself unto ?" STEEVENS. Who choofeth me, must give and hazard all be bath: 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, I believe we fhould read: "And fo have I. Addrefs me, Fortune, now, So, in The Merry Wives of Windfor, A&t III. fcene the laft, Falstaff fays, " -I will then addrefs me to my appointment.” 9 -That many may be meant. TYRWHITT. The repetition of many is a mere blunder. It is unnecessary to the fenfe, and deftroys the meafure. RITSON. 2 That many may be meant By the fool multitude,] i. e. By that many may be meant the foolish multitude, &c. The fourth folio first introduced a phrase ology more agreeable to our ears at prefent,-" Of the fool multitude," which has been adopted by all the fubfequent editors;but change merely for the fake of elegance is always dangerous. Many modes of fpeech were familiar in Shakspeare's age, that are now no longer used. So, in Plutarch's Life of Cæfar, as tranflated by North, 1575: "--he aunfwered, that these fat long-heared men made him not affrayed, but the lean and whitely-faced fellows; meaning that by Brutus and Caffius." i. e. meaning by that, &c. Again, in Sir Thomas More's Life of Edward the Fifth ;-Holinfhed, p. 1374: "that meant he by the lordes of the queenes kindred that were taken before," i. e. by that he meant the lords, &c. Again, ibidem, p. 1371: My lord, quoth lord Haftings, 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 secreto counfaile." i. e. by this he meant Catelby, &c. 66 Again, Puttenham in his Arte of English Poefic, 1589, p. 157, after citing fome enigmatical verfes, adds, "the good old gentleman would tell us that were children, how it was meant by a furr'd glove." i. e. a furr'd glove was meant by it,-i. e. by the enigma. Again ibidem, p. 161: " Any fimple judgement might eafily perceive by whom it was meant, that is, by lady Elizabeth, queene of England." MALONE. Even in the force and road of cafualty, O, that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not deriv'd corruptly! and that clear honour Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, 3 - in the force.-] i. e. the power. So, in Much ado about Nothing in the force of his will." - - jump-] i. e. agree with. STEEVENS. So, in King Henry IV. P. I. and in fome fort it jumps with my humour." STEEVENS. 3 How much low peafantry would then be glean'd From the true feed of honour?] The meaning is, How much meanness would be found among the great, and how much greatness among the mean. But fince men are always faid to glean corn though they may pick chaff, the fentence had been more agreeable to the common manner of fpeech if it had been written thus: How much low peafantry would then be pick'd From the true feed of honour? how much honour how much honour Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times, To be new varnish'd?] This confufion and mixture of the me taphors, makes me think that Shakspeare wrote, To be new vanned. i. e. winnow'd, purged, from the French word, vanner; which Who choofeth me, shall get as much as he deferves: POR. Too long a paufe for that which you there. find AR. What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot, Prefenting me a schedule? I will read it. How much unlike art thou to Portia? How much unlike my hopes, and my defervings? POR. To offend, and judge, are diftinct offices, And of oppofed natures. is derived from the Latin vannus, ventilabrum, the fan used for winnowing the chaff from the corn. This alteration restores the metaphor to its integrity: and our poet frequently uses the same thought. So, in the fecond Part of Henry IV: "We fhall be winnow'd with fo rough a wind, Shakspeare is perpetually violating the integrity of his metaphors, and the emendation propofed feems to me to be as faulty as unneceffary; for what is already felected from the chaff needs not be new anned. I wonder Dr. Warburton did not think of changing the word ruin into rowing, which in fome counties of England, is ufed to fignify the fecond and inferior crop of grafs which is cut in autumn. So, in one of our old pieces, of which I forgot to fet down the name when I tranfcribed the following paffage : - when we had taken the first crop, you might have then been bold to eat the rowens." The word occurs, however, both in the notes on Tuffer, and in Mortimer. STEEVENS. Steevens justly obferves, that honour when picked from the chaff, could not require to be new vanned; but honour, mixed with the chaff and ruin of the times, might require to be new varnished. M. MASON. 5 I will affume defert ;-Give me a key for this,] The wordsfor this, which (as Mr. Ritfon obferves) deftroy the measure, should be omitted. STEEVENS. |