Chapter CLIV: Act I

SC. 1. "Our bloods
No more obey the heavens than our courtiers
Still seem as doth the king's."

Tyrwhitt read 'king'; Coleridge _countenances_ for 'courtiers.' It is better to suppose a word effaced at the end of the second line; so I add _faces_. A few lines lower they are said to 'wear their faces to the bent of the kings looks.'

"Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usage,
Sur les yeux de César composent leur visage."
Racine, Britan. v. 5.

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"To his mistress,
For whom he now is banish'd ... her own price."

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SC. 2. "My residence at Rome'_s_ at one Philario's."

* * * * *

"And sear up my embracements from a next
With bonds of death."

I approve of Singer's _seal_; there is no agreement between 'sear,' _i.e._ burn, and 'bonds.'

* * * * *

"Remain thou there
While sense can keep it on."

I cannot avoid agreeing with those who read _thee_ for 'it.'

* * * * *

"That should'st repair my youth, thou heapest
A year's age on me."

Metre requires a foot in the first line. Capell added _instead_. I prefer _many_, which gives sense to 'A year's age.'

* * * * *

"_I_ pray you speak with me. You shall at least."

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SC. 3. "It went out o' the backside _o'_ the town."

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SC. 4. "'Twere a paper lost,
As offer'd mercy is.... What was the last
That he spake to thee?"

It is only thus that I can give sense to the second line.

* * * * *

"_O_ senseless linen, happier therein than I!"

* * * * *

"As he could make me with his eye or ear
Distinguish him from others."

I read _the_, which is so often confounded with 'his.' Warburton, who is generally followed, read _this_.

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SC. 5. "A beggar without less quality."

Rowe read _more_, which alone gives sense.

* * * * *

"Have confounded one the other or have fallen both."

We should apparently read here _and_ for 'or.'

* * * * *

"If I offend _not_ to say it is mended."

All agree in adding _not_, which is not in the folio.

* * * * *

"I could but believe she excelled many."

The folio has _not_ for 'but'; the correction is Heath's.

* * * * *

"Or if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit."

I think the editors right in omitting the first 'or.'

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SC. 6. "But though slow, deadly.--I wonder, doctor, _that_."

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"Think on my words.--And _so_ shall do."

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SC. 7. "As my two brothers, happy!" etc.

Mr. Staunton arranges this passage thus, which is most certainly an improvement (See on Tr. and Cr. iii. 3):--

"As my two brothers, happy! Blessed be those,
How mean soever, that have their honest wills,
Which seasons comfort; but most miserable
Is the desire that's glorious," etc.

I regret that I did not recollect this correction when printing my Edition, as I should probably have adopted it.

* * * * *

"Change you, madam;
The worthy Leonatus is in safety."

This is the punctuation of the folio, which I have retained, with (;) for (:); the usual punctuation is (?) Imogen is agitated at the announcement, and to reassure her, Iachimo says--subjoining the reason--'Change you,' like _look you_, _hark you_, _soft you_. The interrogation, however, may be right.

* * * * *

"According as you value your trust Leonatus."

Hanmer read _truest_. We might also read _trusty_.

* * * * *

"Which can distinguish
The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones
Upon the number'd beach."

Theobald, I think, was right in reading '_un_number'd.'

"The murmuring surge
That on the _un_numbered idle pebbles chafes."
Lear, iv. 6.

The joining it with 'beach' seems an instance of the figure called Hypallage. The stones are called 'twinn'd' from their resemblance to each other.

* * * * *

"Beseech you, sir, desire my man's abode
Where I did leave him. He is strange and peevish."

I think 'desire' should be _enquire_.

* * * * *

"Join gripes with hands
Made hard with hourly falsehood--_with_ falsehood as
With labour--then by peeping in an eye
Base and illustrious," etc.

Some critics read 'by-peeping'; but then a verb is wanting. We might for 'by' read _be_, or, with Johnson, _lie_; but I rather suspect the poet's word was _bide_; for 'bide peeping' would be pronounced 'bi peeping,' and the printer went by his ear (see Introd. p. 52). A most unhappy conjecture, though adopted and greatly admired by Mr. Collier, is that of his folio '_bo_-peeping'; for there is no such verb. '_Illustrous_' may be the right word, but Rowe's '_un_lustrous' has been generally adopted.

* * * * *

"With diseased ventures
That play with all infirmities for gold
Which rottenness can lend nature."

This supposes the diseases to be not in them, but in those who come to them, which seems contrary to the course of Iachimo's reasoning. Perhaps we should read _pay_ for 'play.'

"In this sty, where since I came,
Diseases have been sold, dearer than physic."
Per. iv. 6.

We might perhaps also make a transposition in the second line, and read "That play for gold," etc., _i.e._ stake their diseases against gold.

* * * * *

"Of rich and exquisite form. Their values great."

I should prefer to read 'value's.'