Thou doft make poffible, things not so held," Communicat'ft with dreams;-(How can this be?) With what's unreal thou coactive art, And fellow'ft nothing: Then, 'tis very credent,' And hardening of my brows. POL. What means Sicilia? HER. He fomething feems unfettled. derstand the reading I have reftored. Affection, however, I believe, fignifies imagination. Thus, in The Merchant of Venice: affection, "Miftrefs of paffion, fways it," &c. i. e. imagination governs our passions. Intention is, as Mr. Locke expreffes it," when the mind with great carneftnefs, and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, confiders it on every fide, and will not be called off by the ordinary follicitation of other ideas." This vehemence of the mind feems to be what affects Leontes fo deeply, or, in Shakspeare's language,-ftabs him to the center. STEEVENS. Intention, in this paffage, means eagerness of attention, or of defire; and is used in the fame fenfe in The Merry Wives of Windfor where Falstaff fays" She did fo course o'er my exteriors, with fuch a greedy intention," &c. M. MASON. I think, with Mr. Steevens, that affection means here imagination, or perhaps more accurately, the difpofition of the mind when ftrongly affected or poffeffed by a particular idea." And in a kindred fenfe at least to this, it is ufed in the paffage quoted from The Merchant of Venice. MALONE. 6 Thou doft make poffible, things not fo held,] i. e. thou doft make thofe things poffible, which are conceived to be impoffible. JOHNSON. To exprefs the speaker's meaning, it is neceffary to make a short paufe after the word poffible. I have therefore put a comma there, though perhaps in ftrictnefs it is improper. MALONE. 7 credent,] i. e. credible. So, in Meafure for Meafure, A& V. fc. v: "For my authority bears a credent bulk." STEEVENS. POL. How, my lord? What cheer? how is't with you, beft brother?3 You look, HER. LEON. 2 As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.' How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, 8 What cheer? how is't with you, beft brother?] This line, which in the old copy is given to Leontes, has been attributed to Polixenes, on the fuggeftion of Mr. Steevens. Sir T. Hanmer had made the fame emendation. MALONE. 9 Are you mov'd, my lord?] We have again the fame expreffion on the fame occafion, in Othello: Iago. I fee my Lord, you are mov'd. "Othel. No, not much mov'd, not much." 2 my dagger muzzled, MALONE. Left it should bite-] So, in King Henry VIII: Again, in Much ado about nothing: "I am trufted with a muzzle." STEEVENS. 3 As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.] So, in The Merchant of Venice: "Thus ornament is but the guiled shore " "To a most dangerous sea.' STEEVENS. 4 This fquafh,] A fquafh is a pea-pod, in that state when the young peas begin to fwell in it. HENLEY. 5 Will you take eggs for money?] This feems to be a proverbial MAM. No, my lord, I'll fight. expreffion, ufed when a man fees himself wronged and makes no refiftance. Its original, or precife meaning, I cannot find, but I believe it means, will you be a cuckold for hire. The cuckow is reported to lay her eggs in another bird's neft; he therefore that has eggs laid in his neft is faid to be cucullatus, cuckow'd, or cuckold. JOHNSON. The meaning of this is, will you put up affronts? The French have a proverbial faying, A qui vendez vous coquilles? i. e. whom do you defign to affront? Mamillius's anfwer plainly proves it. Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight. SMITH. I meet with Shakspeare's phrafe in a comedy, call'd A Match at Midnight, 1633- "I fhall have eggs for my money; I must hang myself." STEEVENS. Leontes feems only to afk his fon if he would fly from an enemy. In the following paffage the phrafe is evidently to be taken in that fenfe." The French infantery skirmisheth bravely afarre off, and the cavallery gives a furious onfet at the first charge; but after the first heat they will take eggs for their money." Relations of the most famous Kingdomes and Commonwealths thorowout the world, 4to. 1630, p. 154. Mamillius's reply to his father's question appears fo decifive as to the true explanation of this paffage, that it leaves no doubt with me even after I have read the following note. The phrafe undoubt edly fometimes means what Mr. Malone afferts, but not here. REED. This phrafe feems to me to have meant originally,-Are you fuch a poltron as to fuffer another to ufe you as he pleases, to compel you to give him your money and to accept of a thing of fo finall a value as a few eggs in exchange for it? This explanation appears to me perfectly confiftent with the paffage quoted by Mr. Reed. He, who will take eggs for money feems to be what, in As you like it, and in many of the old plays, is called a tame Snake. The following paffage in Campion's Hiftory of Ireland, folio 1633, fully confirms my explanation of this paffage; and fhows that by the words-Will you take eggs for money, was meant, Will you fuffer yourself to be cajoled or impofed upon?" What my coufin Defmond hath compaffed, as I know not, fo I befhrew his naked heart for holding out fo long.-But go to, fuppofe hee never bee had; what is Kildare to blame for it, more than my good brother of Offory, who, notwithstanding his high promifes, having alfo the king's power, is glad to take eggs for his money, and to bring him in at leifure." LEON. You will? why, happy man be his dole! Are you fo fond of your young prince, as we If at home, fir, POL. LEON. So ftands this fquire Offic'd with me: We two will walk, my lord, And leave you to your graver fteps.-Hermione, How thou lov'ft us, fhow in our brother's welcome; Let what is dear in Sicily, be cheap: Next to thyself, and my young rover, he's HER. 4 If you would feek us, Thefe words make part of the defence of the earl of Kildare, in anfwer to a charge brought against him by Cardinal Wolfey, that he had not been fufficiently active in endeavouring to take the earl of Defmond, then in rebellion. In this paffage, to take eggs for his money undoubtedly means, to be trifled with, or to be impofed upon. "For money" means, in the place of money. "Will you give me money, and take eggs inftead of it?" MALONE. 3 happy man be his dole!] May his dole or share in life be to be a happy man. JOHNSON. The expreffion is proverbial. Dole was the term for the allowance of provifion given to the poor, in great families. So, in Greene's Tu Quoque, 1614: "Had the women puddings to their dole?" See Vol. VI. p. 418, n. 9. STEEVENS. The alms immemorially given to the poor by the archbishops of Canterbury, is ftill called the dole. See the Hiftory of Lambeth Palace, p. 31, in Bibl. Top. Brit. NICHOLS. • Apparent] That is, heir apparent, or the next claimant. We are yours i'the garden: Shall's attend you there? LEON. To your own bents difpofe you: you'll be found, Be you beneath the fky :-I am angling now, [Afide. Obferving POLIXENES and HERMIONE. one.' [Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and attendants. Go, play, boy, play;-thy mother plays, and I Play too; but fo disgrac'd a part, whofe iffue Will hifs me to my grave; contempt and clamour Will be my knell.-Go, play, boy, play ;-There have been, 8 Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now; 5 the neb,] The word is commonly pronounced and written ib. It fignifies here the mouth. So, in Anne the Queen of Hungarie, being one of the Tales in Painter's Palace of Pleasure, 1566.— "the amorous wormes of love did bitterly gnawe and eare his heart wyth the nebs of their forked heads." STEEVENS. 6 To her allowing husband!] Allowing in old language is approv ing. MALONE. 7 a fork'd one.] That is, a horned one; a cuckold. So, in Othello: "Even then this forked plague is fated to us, JOHNSON. even at this prefent,] i. e. present time. So, in Macbeth: Thy letters have transported me beyond "This ignorant prefent ;" See note on this paffage; A&t I. fc. v. STEEVENS. |