I know, in honour,-O, that ever I

Had fquar'd me to thy counsel! then, even now, I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes; Have taken treasure from her lips,

PAUL.

More rich, for what they yielded.

LEON.

And left them

Thou speak'ft truth. No more fuch wives; therefore, no wife: one worse, And better us'd, would make her fainted spirit Again poffefs her corps; and, on this stage, (Where we offenders now appear,) foul-vex'd, Begin, And why to me? 3

3 (Where we offenders now appear,) foul-vex'd,

Begin, And why to me?] The old copy reads-And begin, why to me? The tranfpofition now adopted was propofed by Mr. Steevens. Mr. Theobald reads:

and on this ftage

(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vex'd, &c.

Mr. Heath would read-(Were we offenders now) appear, &c. that is, if we should now at laft fo far offend her." Mr. M. Mason thinks that the second line should be printed thus:

And begin, why? to me.

"that is, begin to call me to account."

There is fo much harsh and involved conftruction in this play, that I am not fure but the old copy, perplexed as the fentence may appear, is right. Perhaps the author intended to point it thus: Again poffefs her corps, (and on this ftage

Where we offenders now appear foul-vex'd,)

And begin, why to me?

Why to me did you prefer one lefs worthy, Leontes infinuates would be the purport of Hermione's fpeech. There is, I think, something awkward in the phrafe-Where we offenders now appear. By removing the parenthefis, which in the old copy is placed after appear, to the end of the line, and applying the epithet foul-vex'd to Leontes and the rest who mourned the lofs of Hermione, that difficulty is obviated. MALONE.

To countenance my tranfpofition, be it observed, that the blunders occafioned by the printers of the firft folio are so numerous, that it fhould feem, when a word dropp'd out of their prefs, they were careless into which line they inferted it. STEEVENS.

Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark
Her eye; and tell me, for what dull part in't
You chofe her: then I'd fhriek, that even your ears
Shou'd rift' to hear me; and the words that follow'd
Should be, Remember mine.

LEON.

Stars, very stars,"

I believe no change is neceffary. If, instead of being repeated, the word appear be understood, as, by an obvious ellipfis, it may, the fenfe will be fufficiently clear. HENLEY.

4 She had just caufe.] The firft and fecond folio read-fhe had juft fuch caufe. REED.

We should certainly read, " fhe had juft caufe." The infertion of the word fuch, hurts both the fenfe and the metre.

M. MASON.

There is nothing to which the word fuch can be referred. It was, I have no doubt, inferted by the compofitor's eye glancing on the preceding line. The metre is perfect without this word, which confirms the obfervation. Since the foregoing remark was printed in the SECOND APPENDIX to my SUPP. to SHAKSP. 1783, I have observed that the editor of the third folio made the fame correction. MALONE.

incenfe me -] i. e. inftigate, fet me on. So, in K.

Richard III:

"Think you, my lord, this little prating York "Was not incenfed by his fubtle mother?" STEEVENS. 6 Should rift] i. e. fplit. So, in The Tempeft: rifted Jove's ftout oak." STEEVENS.

66

7 Stars, very ftars,] The word-very, was fupplied by Sir T. Hanmer, to affift the metre. So, in Cymbeline:

" 'Twas very Cloten."

Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

66

Efpecially against his very friend." STEEVENS.

And all eyes elfe, dead coals!—-fear thou no wife,
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

PAUL.
Will you swear
Never to marry, but by my free leave?

LEON. Never, Paulina; fo be blefs'd my spirit! PAUL. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.

CLEO. You tempt him over-much.

PAUL.

As like Hermione as is her picture,
Affront his eye.'

Unless another,

I have done."

Yet, if my lord will marry,-if you will, fir,
No remedy, but you will; give me the office
To choose you a queen: fhe fhall not be fo young
As was your former; but she shall be such,

As, walk'd your first queen's ghoft, it fhould take joy
To fee her in your arms.

LEON.

My true Paulina, We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us.

PAUL.

That

Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath; Never till then.

5 Affront his eye.] To affront, is to meet. JOHNSON.

So, in Cymbeline :

"Your preparation can affront no less

"Than what you hear of." STEEVENS.

Paul. I have done.] Thefe three words in the old copy make part of the preceding fpeech. The prefent regulation, which is clearly right, was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

Enter a Gentleman.

179

GENT. One that gives out himself prince Florizel,
Son of Polixenes, with his princess, (fhe

The fairest I have yet beheld,) defires accefs
To your high presence.

LEON.
What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatnefs: his approach,
So out of circumftance, and fudden, tells us,
'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need, and accident. What train?

GENT.

And thofe but mean.

LEON.

But few,

His princess, fay you, with him?

GENT. Ay; the most peerless piece of earth, I

think,

That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

PAUL.

O Hermione,

As every present time doth boast itself

Above a better, gone; fo must thy grave

Give way to what's feen now. Sir, you yourfelf
Have faid, and writ fo,8 (but your writing now
Is colder than that theme,') She had not been,
Nor was not to be equall'd;-thus your verse
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,

7fo
-fo muft thy grave

Give way to what's feen now.] Thy grave here means-thy beauties, which are buried in the grave; the continent for the contents. EDWARDS.

8 Sir, you yourself

Have faid, and writ fo,] The reader muft obferve, that so relates not to what precedes, but to what follows; that she had not been equall'd. JOHNSON.

9 Is colder than that theme,] i. e. than the lifeless body of Hermione, the theme or fubject of your writing. MALONE.

Pardon, madam:

To fay, you have seen a better.

GENT. The one I have almoft forgot; (your pardon,) The other, when she has obtain'd your eye, Will have your tongue too. This is fuch a crea

ture,9

Would she begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe; make profelytes

Of who fhe but bid follow.

PAUL.

How? not women?

GENT. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women.

LEON.

Go, Cleomenes;

Yourself, affifted with your honour'd friends, Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis ftrange, [Exeunt CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentleman. He thus fhould steal upon us.

PAUL. Had our prince, (Jewel of children,) feen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not full a month Between their births.

LEON. Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'ft,* He dies to me again, when talk'd of: fure, When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy speeches Will bring me to confider that, which may Unfurnish me of reafon.-They are come.

9 This is fuch a creature,] The word fuch, which is wanting in the old copy, was judiciously fupplied by Sir T. Hanmer, for the fake of metre. STEEVENS.

Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st,] The old copy redundantly

reads

"Pr'ythee, no more; ceafe; thou know'ft,"Ceafe, I believe, was a mere marginal glofs or explanation of— no more, and, injuriously to metre, had crept into the text.

STEEVEN9.