Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Duke S. If that you were the good sir Rowland's son,As you have whisper'd faithfully. you were;

And as mine eye doth his effigies witness

the mole is called the mould-warp, because it changes the appearance of the surface of the earth.

Act I:

Again, in The Winter's Tale,

"My favour here begins to warp."

Dr. Farmer supposes warp'd to mean the same as curdled, and adds, that a similar idea occurs in Timon:

66- the icicle

"That curdled by the frost," &c. Steevens.

Among a collection of Saxon adages in Hickes's Thesaurus, Vol. I, p. 221, the succeeding appears: pinter sceal gepeorpan peder, winter shall warp water. So that Shakspeare's expression was anciently proverbial. It should be remarked, that among the numerous examples in Manning's excellent edition of Lye's Dictionary, there is no instance of peoppan or gepeonpan, implying to freeze, bend, turn, or curdle, though it is a verb of very extensive signification.

Probably this word still retains a similar sense in the Northern part of the island, for in a Scottish parody on Dr. Percy's ellegant ballad, beginning, "O Nancy, wilt thou go with me," I find the verse" Nor shrink before the wintry wind," is altered to "Nor shrink before the warping wind." H. White.

The meaning is this: Though the very waters, by thy agency, are forced, against the law of their nature, to bend from their stated level, yet thy sting occasions less anguish to man, than the ingratitude of those he befriended. Henley.

Wood is said to warp when its surface, from being level, becomes bent and uneven; from warpan, Saxon, to cast. So, in this play, Act III, sc. iii: "- - then one of you will prove a shrunk pannel, and, like green timber, warp, warp." I doubt whether the poet here alludes to any operation of frost. The meaning may be only, Thou bitter wintry sky, though thou curlest the waters, thy sting, &c. Thou in the line before us refers only tobitter sky. The influence of the winter's sky or season may, with sufficient propriety, be said to warp the surface of the ocean, by agitation of its waves alone.

That this passage refers to the turbulence of the sky, and the consequent agitation of the ocean, and not to the operation of frost, may be collected from our author's having in King John described ice as uncommonly smooth:

"To throw a perfume on the violet,

"To smooth the ice," &c. Malone.

2 As friend remember'd not.] Remember'd for remembering. So afterwards, Act III, sc. last:

"And now I am remember'd -."

i. e. and now that I bethink me, &c. Malone.

fortune,

Most truly limn'd, and living in your face,-
Be truly welcome hither: I am the duke,
That lov'd your father: the residue of your
Go to my cave and tell me.-Good old man,
Thou art right welcome as thy master is:3
Support him by the arm-Give me your hand,
And let me all your fortunes understand.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.....SCENE I.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter Duke FREDERICK, OLIVER, Lords, and Attendants.

Duke F. Not see him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be: But were I not the better part made mercy,

I should not seek an absent argument*

Of my revenge, thou present: But look to it;
Find out thy brother, wheresoe'er he is;

Seek him with candle; bring him dead or living,
Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more
To seek a living in our territory.

Thy lands, and all things that thou dost call thine,
Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands;
Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth,
Of what we think against thee.

Oli. O, that your highness knew my heart in this! I never lov'd my brother in my life.

3

as thy master is:] The old copy has-masters. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

4 — an absent argument -] An argument is used for the contents of a book, thence Shakspeare considered it as meaning the subject, and then used it for subject in yet another sense. Johnson.

5 Seek him with candle;] Alluding, probably, to St. Luke's Gospel, ch. xv, v. 8: "If she lose one piece, doth she not light a candle,—and seek diligently till she find it?" Steevens.

Seek him with candle ;] Seek him without intermission by night and by day;--let not the night shroud him from thy search-enjoy no rest until you find him.

Amer. Ed.

Duke F. More villain thou.-Well, push him out of

doors;

And let my officers of such a nature

Make an extent upon his house and lands:"
Do this expediently, and turn him going.

SCENE II.

The Forest.

Enter ORLANDO, with a paper.

8

[Exeunt.

Orl. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love: And, thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above, Thy huntress' name, that my full life doth sway.9 O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books,

And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character;
That every eye, which in this forest looks,
Shall see thy virtue witness'd every where.
Run, run, Orlando; carve, on every tree,
The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive1 she.

6 And let my officers of such a nature

[Exit.

Make an extent upon his house and lands:] "To make an extent of lands," is a legal phrase, from the words of a writ, (extendi facias) whereby the sheriff is directed to cause certain lands to be appraised to their full extended value, before he delivers them to the person entitled under a recognizance, &c. in order that it may be certainly known how soon the debt will be paid. Malone. expediently,] That is, expeditiously. Johnson. Expedient, throughout our author's plays, signifies—expeditious. So, in King John:

7

"His marches are expedient to this town." Steevens.

8 thrice-crowned queen of night,] Alluding to the triple character of Proserpine, Cynthia, and Diana, given by some mythologists to the same goddess, and comprised in these memorial lines: Terret, lustrat, agit, Proserpina, Luna, Diana,

9

1

Ima, superna, feras, sceptro, fulgore, sagittis. Johnson.

that my full life doth sway.] So, in Twelfth Night: "M. O. A. I. doth sway my life." Steevens.

unexpressive-] For inexpressible. Johnson.

Milton also, in his Hymn on the Nativity, uses unexpressive for inexpressible:

66

Harping with loud and solemn quire,

"With unexpressive notes to heaven's new-born heir."

VOL. V.

G

Malone.

Enter CORIN and TOUCHSTONE.

Cor. And how like you this shepherd's life, master Touchstone?

Touch. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?

Cor. No more, but that I know, the more one sickens, the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends:

-That the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; That good pasture makes fat sheep; and that a great cause of the night, is lack of the sun: That he, that hath learned no wit by nature nor art, may complain of good breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred.2

Touch. Such a one is a natural philosopher.3 Wast ever in court, shepherd?

2 he, that hath learned no vit by nature nor art, may complain of good breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred.] I am in doubt whether the custom of the language in Shakspeare's time did not authorise this mode of speech, and make complain of good breeding the same with complain of the want of good breeding. In the last line of The Merchant of Venice we find that to fear the keeping is to fear the not keeping. Johnson.

I think he means rather may complain of a good education, for being so inefficient, of so little use to him. Malone.

3 Such a one is a natural philosopher.] The shepherd had said all the philosophy he knew was the property of things, that rain wetted, fire burnt, &c. And the Clown's reply, as a satire on physicks or natural philosophy, though introduced with a quibble, is extremely just. For the natural philosopher is indeed as ignorant (notwithstanding all his parade of knowledge) of the efficient cause of things, as the rustic. It appears, from a thousand instances, that our poet was well acquainted with the physicks of his time; and his great penetration enabled him to see this remediless defect of it. Warburton.

Shakspeare is responsible for the quibble only, let the commentator answer for the refinement. Steevens.

Cor. No, truly.

Touch. Then thou art damn'd.

Cor. Nay, I hope,

Touch. Truly, thou art damn'd; like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.

4

Cor. For not being at court? Your reason.

Touch. Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw'st good manners; if thou never saw'st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation: Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.

Cor. Not a whit, Touchstone: those, that are good manners at the court, are as ridiculous in the country, as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at the court. You told me, you salute not at the court, but you kiss your hands; that courtesy would be uncleanly, if courtiers were shepherds.

Touch. Instance, briefly; come, instance..

Cor. Why, we are still handling our ewes; and their fells, you know, are greasy.

Touch. Why, do not your courtier's hands sweat? and

The Clown calls Corin a natural philosopher, because he reasons from his observations on nature. M. Mason.

A natural being a common term for a fool, Touchstone, perhaps, means to quibble on the word. He may however only mean, that Corin is a self-taught philosopher; the disciple of nature. Malone.

4 like an ill-roasted egg,] Of this jest I do not fully comprehend the meaning. Johnson.

There is a proverb, that a fool is the best roaster of an egg, because he is always turning it. This will explain how an egg may be damn'd all on one side; but will not sufficiently show how Touchstone applies his simile with propriety; unless he means that he who has not been at court is but half educated. Steevens.

I believe there was nothing intended in the corresponding part of the simile, to answer to the words, "all on one side." Shakspeare's similes (as has been already observed) hardly ever run on four feet. Touchstone, I apprehend, only means to say, that Corin is completely damned; as irretrievably destroyed as an egg that is utterly spoiled in the roasting, by being done all on one side only. So, in a subsequent scene, "and both in a tune, like two gypsies on a horse." Here the poet certainly meant that the speaker and his companion should sing in unison, and thus resemble each other as perfectly as two gypsies on a horse; not that two gypsies on a horse sing both in a tune. Malone.

« ZurückWeiter »