Mari. Break off thy fong, and hafte thee quick away; Here comes a man of comfort, whofe advice I cry you mercy, fir; and well could wish, You had not found me here fo mufical: My mirth it much difpleas'd, but pleas'd my woe Duke. 'Tis good: though mufick oft hath fuch a charm, To make bad, good, and good provoke to harm. I pray you, tell me, hath any body enquir'd for me here to day much upon this time, have I promis'd here to meet. Mari. You have not been enquir'd after I have fat here all day. This fong is entire in Beaumont's Bloody Brother, and in Shakefpeare's poems. The latter ftanza is omitted by Mariana, as not fuiting a female character. THEOBALD. Though Sewell and Gildon have printed this among Shakefpeare's poems, they have done the fame to fo many other pieces, of which the real authors are fince known, that their evidence is not to be depended on. It is not found in Jaggard's edition of our author's fonnets, which was printed during his life-time. Our poet, however, has introduced one of the fame thoughts in his 142d fonnet: 66 not from thofe lips of thine "That have prophan'd their fearlet ornaments, STEEVENS. My mirth it much difpleas'd, but pleas'd my voe.] Though the mufick foothed my forrows, it had no tendency to produce light merriment. JOHNSON. Enter Enter Ifabel. Duke. I do conftantly believe you: The time is come, even now. I fhall crave your for, bearance a little; may be, I will call upon you anon for fome advantage to yourself. Mari. I am always bound to you. Duke. Very well met, and welcome. What is the news from this good deputy? [Exit. Ifab. He hath a garden circummur'd with brick", Which from the vineyard to the garden leads; Duke. But fhall you on your knowledge find this way? conftantly of mind. JOHNSON. So in the Merchant of Venice: 2 -] Certainly; without fluctuation "Could fo much turn the constitution "Of any conftant man." STEEVENS. -circummur'd with brick,] Circummured, walled round. "He caufed the doors to be mured and cafed up." 3 Painter's Palace of Pleafure. JOHNSON. -a planched gate,] i. e. a gate made of boards. Planche, Fr. A plancher is a plank. So in Lylly's Maid's Metamorphofis, 1600: -upon the ground doth lie "A hollow plancher." Again, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 3: 66 and fowls from planchers fprong." i. e. barnacles breeding on the planks of fhips. Again, in Sir Arthur Gorges' tranflation of Lucan, 1614: "Yet with his hoofes doth beat and rent "The planched floore, the barres and chaines." STEEVENS. There have I, &c.] In the old copy the lines ftand thus, There have I made my promife upon the Heavy middle of the night, to call upon bim. STEEVENS. ab. Ifab, I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't; Duke, Are there no other tokens Between you 'greed, concerning her obfervance? Duke. "Tis well born up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this :-What, ho! within! come forth! I pray you, be acquainted with this maid; Ifab. I do defire the like. Duke. Do you perfuade yourself that I respect you? Mari. Good friar, I know you do; and have found it. Duke. Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear: I fhall attend your leifure; but make hafte ; Mari. Will't please you walk afide? 5 In action all of precept, [Exeunt. Mar. and Ifab. -] i. e. fhewing the feveral turnings of the way with his hand; which action contained so many precepts, being given for my direction. WARBURTON. I rather think we should read, In precept all of action, that is, in direction given not by words, but by mute figns. JOHNSON. • I have poffefs'd him,-] I have made him clearly and strongly comprehend. JOHNSON. ? That stays upon me ;] So in Macbeth: Worthy Macbeth, we ftay upon your leifure." STEEVENS. Duke. Duke. O place and greatness, millions of falfe eyes Are stuck upon thee! volumes of report I And rack thee in their fancies !-Welcome: How agreed? Re-enter Mariana and Ifabel. Ifab. She'll take the enterprize upon her, father, If you advise it. Duke. It is not my confent, But my intreaty too. O place and greatness,—] It plainly appears, that this fine fpeech belongs to that which concludes the preceding fcene, between the Duke and Lucio. For they are abfolutely foreign to the fubject of this, and are the natural reflections arifing from that. Befides, the very words: Run with thefe falfe and moft contrarious quefts, evidently refer to Lucio's fcandals juft preceding: which the Oxford editor, in his ufual way, has emended, by altering these to their. -But that fome time might be given to the two women to confer together, the players, I fuppofe, took part of the speech, beginning at No might nor greatness, &c. and put it here, without troubling themselves about its pertinency. However, we are obliged to them for not giving us their own impertinency, as they have frequently done in other places. WARBURTON. I cannot agree that these lines are placed here by the players. The fentiments are common, and fuch as a prince, given to reflection, must have often prefent. There was a neceffity to fill up the time in which the ladies converfe apart, and they must have quick tongues and ready apprehenfions, if they understood each other while this fpeech was uttered. JOHNSON. 9falfe eyes] That is, Eyes infidious and traiterous. JOHNSON. So in Chaucer's Sompnoures Tale, late Edit. v. 7633: "Ther is ful many an eye, and many an ere, "Awaiting on a lord, &c." STEEVENS. contrarious quefts] Different reports, running counter to each other. JOHNSON. So in Othello: "The fenate has fent out three feveral quests."STEEVENS. Ifab. Little have you to fay, When you depart from him, but, foft and low, Mari. Fear me not. Duke. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all: He is your hufband on a pre-contract: To bring you thus together, 'tis no fin; Sith that the juftice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go; Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to fow 3. [Exeunt. SCENE 2 Doth flourish the deceit.. A metaphor taken from embroidery, where a coarse ground is filled up, and covered with figures of rich materials and elegant workmanship. WARBURTON. Flourish is ornament in general. So in another play of Shakefpeare: 3 "empty trunks o'er-flourish'd by the devil." STEEVENS -for yet our tithe's to fow.] As before, the blundering editors have made a prince of the priefly Angelo, fo here they have made a priest of the prince. We should read tilth, i. e. our tillage is yet to make. The grain, from which we expect our harveft, is not yet put into the ground. WARBURTON. The reader is here attacked with a petty fophifm. We should read tilth, i. e. our tillage is to make. But in the text it is to fow; and who has ever faid that his tillage was to fow? I believe tythe is right, and that the expreffion is proverbial, in which tythe is taken, by an eafy metonymy, for harvest. JOHNSON. Dr. Warburton did not do juftice to his own conjecture; and no wonder therefore, that Dr. Johnson has not.-Tilth is provincially used for land till'd, prepared for fowing. Shakespeare, however, has applied it before in its ufual acceptation. FARMER. Dr. Warburton's conjecture may be fupported by many inftances in Markham's English Hufbandman, 1635" After the beginning of March you fhall begin to fowe your barley upon that ground which the year before did lye fallow, and is commonly called your tilth, or fallow field." In p. 74 of this book, a corruption, like our author's, occurs. "As before, I said beginne to fallow your tithe field;" which is undoubtedly misprinted for tilth field. TOLLET. |