Prefix'd for's parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,
I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind
What lady should her lord'. You'll stay?

You put me off with limber vows; but I,

Though you would seek t' unsphere the stars with

oaths,

Should yet say, "Sir, no going." Verily,

You shall not go: a lady's verily is

As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,

Not like a guest, so you shall pay your fees,

When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?

5 TO LET him there a month, behind the GEST

Prefix'd for's parting :] i. e. I will give him leave to detain himself there a month beyond the time prefixed for his departure. "Gest" was a term employed with reference to the royal progresses, and meant the place of abiding for a certain period. Malone properly derives it from the French giste. It has been suggested to me by Mr. Lemon, of the State Paper Office, that the line in "Midsummer-Night's Dream," Vol. ii. p. 432,

My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd," ought to be printed" gest-wise," in reference to the gests, or resting places, in royal and other progresses. He refers to a letter printed by Mr. Tytler in his “Edward VI. and Mary,” Vol. ii. p. 494, where Sir P. Hoby says to Sir W. Cecil, under date of Nov. 1557, “ I have perceived by my brother that you will not be here at Bysham this Christmas but as guest-wise." It is "gest-wise" in the original MS., and Mr. Lemon apprehends, that both there and in "Midsummer-Night's Dream" it ought to have been printed with that orthography. He is probably right as regards Sir P. Hoby's letter, but "guest-wise," or like a guest, seems to be the natural reading in Shakespeare, and to express exactly what was meant. Common audiences might not have understood "gest-wise."

6 - yet, good DEED,] The second folio has it "good heed,” which is not less forced than to take "good deed” in the sense of indeed. In the old copies the two words are in parenthesis.

7 I love thee not A JAR O' THE CLOCK behind

What lady SHOULD her lord.] "A jar o' the clock" is a tick of the clock; "jar" being used for tick by many writers of the time. The words "what lady should her lord” have hitherto stood rather unintelligibly, "what lady she her lord." The emendation is made on the authority of the old MS. corrector of the first folio belonging to Lord Francis Egerton. "Should" was perhaps written, in the MS., from which the printer composed the first folio, with an abbreviation, which he misread she.

VOL. III.

Ff

My prisoner, or my guest? by your dread verily,

One of them you shall be.

Pol.

Your guest then, madam:

To be your prisoner should import offending;

Which is for me less easy to commit,

Than you to punish.

Two lads, that thought there was no more behind,
But such a day to-morrow as to-day,

And to be boy eternal.

Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two? Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the

sun,

And bleat the one at th' other: what we chang'd,

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not

The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd

That any did. Had we pursued that life,

And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd

With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven Boldly, "not guilty;" the imposition clear'd,

O! my most sacred lady,

Pol.
Temptations have since then been born to's'; for
In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl:
Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes
Of my young play-fellow.

8 The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd] So the first folio: the second inserts no before nor dream'd," probably under the notion that the measure was incomplete.

9 Temptations have since then been born To's ;] If, with Malone, we read "to us" as two syllables, the verse is redundant: therefore, to show that the two words were to form one syllable, they are printed "to's" in the old copies.

Her.

Grace to boot!

Of this make no conclusion, lest you say,
Your queen and I are devils: yet, go on;
Th' offences we have made you do, we'll answer;
If you first sinn'd with us, and that with us
You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not
With any, but with us.

Leon.

Is he won yet?

Her. What? have I twice said well? when was't

before?

I pr'ythee, tell me. Cram's with praise, and make's' As fat as tame things: one good deed, dying tongue

less,

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.

-

Our praises are our wages: you may ride 's
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs, ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal :-
My last good deed was to entreat his stay:
What was my first? it has an elder sister,

Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!
But once before I spoke to the purpose: When?
Nay, let me have't; I long.

Leon. Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death, Ere I could make thee open thy white hand,

1 I pr'ythee tell me. CRAM'S with praise, and MAKE's] i. e. "Cram us with praise and make us," but, for the sake of the metre, the old copies, by their mode of printing, inform us that “cram us" and "make us" were each to be read as one syllable. Such doubtless was the mode in which the words were written in the MS. used by the old compositor, and we may presume that in this form they came from the pen of Shakespeare. This remark will apply to "to's" on the preceding page, and to other portions of this play.

And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter,
"I am yours for ever.”

Her.
It is Grace, indeed.-
Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose
The one for ever earn'd a royal husband,
Th' other for some while a friend.

Leon.

twice:

[Giving her hand to POLIXENES.
[Aside.] Too hot, too hot!

To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me :-my heart dances,
But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment
May a free face put on; derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent: 't may, I grant;
But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers,
As now they are; and making practis'd smiles,
As in a looking-glass;-and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer3; O! that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.-Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?

Mam.

Leon.

Ay, my good lord.

Why, that's my bawcock".

nose?—

I' fecks1?

bawcock. What! hast smutch'd thy

They say, it is a copy out of mine.

Come, captain,

We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,

The MORT O' the deer ;] The "mort o' the deer" is the death of the deer. Leontes likens the violence of the sighs of Hermione to the long blast of a horn at "the mort o' the deer."

4

I' fecks?] Steevens supposes this exclamation to be a corruption of i'faith it is as likely to be a corruption of in fact.

:

5 Why, that's my BAWCOCK.] Perhaps, says Steevens, from beau and coq. They say, IT IS a copy out of mine.] Thus the folios: why Malone altered "it is" to it's, excepting to spoil the metre, cannot easily be explained. "Come, captain," is only a fragment of an incomplete line, thrown in, perhaps, for the sake of varying the measure.

Are all call'd neat.-Still virginalling'

7

[Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE.

Upon his palm ?-How now, you wanton calf!

Art thou my calf?

Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that

I haves,

To be full like me:-yet, they say, we are
Almost as like as eggs: women say so,
That will say any thing: but were they false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters; false
As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin eye': sweet villain!
Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam?-may't be
Affection? thy intention stabs the centre2:

7 Still virginalling] i. e. Playing with her fingers, as on the rirginals. 8 Thou want'st a rough PASH, and the shoots that I have,] Mr. Holloway, in his "General Dictionary of Provincialisms," 8vo, 1838, informs us that "pash in Cheshire signifies the brains, and that “mad pash" is the same as mad brains. "Pash" is to be taken in this place for the head, for which Malone states it is used in Scotland. The meaning of Leontes is therefore quite evident: by the "rough pash" is to be understood the hair on the forehead of a bull, which Mamillius wants, as well as the "shoots," i. e. the budding horns, which Leontes feels on his forehead.

As O'ER-DYED blacks,] Some of the commentators contend, that "o'er-dyed" here means too much dyed; but surely it is to be understood as only dyed over; i. e. coloured cloth that has been died over in order to make it black. The epithet "false" does not relate to the die, but to the blacks, the falsehood of those who wore black under pretence of mourning for somebody dead. Upon this point Steevens made the following apt quotation from "The Old Law," by Massinger, Middleton, and Rowley :

"Blacks are often such dissembling mourners,

There is no credit given to't, it has lost

All reputation by false sons and widows:

I would not hear of blacks.”

1 Look on me with your WELKIN eye :] i.e. blue eye,-the colour of the welkin, or what we call the blue sky.

Affection thy intention stabs the centre:] Most of the editors, from Rowe downwards, have agreed to understand "affection" as imagination; but the meaning is clear without any such forced construction. Leontes is looking towards Hermione and Polixenes when he asks, "Can thy dam ?-may't be