POL. On, good Camillo, CAM. I am appointed Him to murder you.* POL. By whom, Camillo? CAM. POL. By the king. For what? CAM. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he fwears, As he had feen't, or been an inftrument To vice you to't,'-that you have touch'd his queen Forbiddenly. POL. O, then my best blood turn To an infected jelly; and my name Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best!". I am appointed Him to murder you.] i. c. I am the perfon appointed to murder you. STEVENS. So, in K. Henry VI. P. I. "Him that thou magnify'ft with all these titles, MALONE, 3 To vice you to't,] i. e. to draw, perfuade you. The character called the Vice, in the old plays, was the tempter to evil, 66 WARBURTON, The vice is an inftrument well known; its operation is to hold things together. So the bailiff fpeaking of Falftaff: "If he come but within my vice," &c. A vice, however, in the age of Shakfpeare, might mean any kind of clock-work or machinery. So, in Holinfhed, p. 245: the rood of Borleie in Kent, called the rood of grace, made with diverfe vices to moove the eyes and lips," &c. It may, indeed, be no more than a corruption of " to advife you." So, in the old metrical romance of Syr Guy of Warwick, bl. 1. no date: "Then faid the emperour Ernis, But my first attempt at explanation is, I believe, the beft. STEEVENS. ♦did betray the best!] Perhaps Judas. The word beft is fpelt with a capital letter thus, Beft, in the firft folio. HENDERSON, Turn then my freshest reputation to A favour, that may ftrike the dulleft noftril Сам. Swear his thought over By each particular star in heaven,' and By all their influences, you may as well Forbid the fea for to obey the moon," As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake, 5 Swear his thought over By each particular ftar in heaven, &c.] The tranfpofition of a fingle letter reconciles this paffage to good fenfe. Polixenes, in the preceding fpeech, had been laying the deepeft imprecations on himself, if he had ever abus'd Leontes in any familiarity with his queen. To which Camillo very pertinently replies: Swear this though over, &c. THEOBALD, Swear his thought over may perhaps mean, overfwear his prefent perfuafion, that is, endeavour to overcome his opinion, by fwearing oaths numerous as the ftars. JOHNSON. It may mean: Though you should endeavour to wear away his jealoufy, though you should strive, by your oaths, to change his prefent thoughts."-The vulgar ftill ufe a fimilar expreffion: "To wear a perfon down." MALONE. This appears to me little better than nonfenfe; nor have either Malone or Johnson explained it into fenfe. I think therefore that Theobald's amendment is neceffary and well imagined. M. MASON. Perhaps the conftruction is-" Over-fwear his thought”—i. e. ftrive to bear down, or overpower, his conception by oaths.—In our author we have weigh out for outweigh, overcome for come over, &c. and over-fwear, for fwear-over in Twelfth Night, A&t V. 6 -you may as well STEEVENS. Forbid the fea for to obey the moon,] We meet with the fame fentiment in The Merchant of Venice: "You may as well go ftand upon the beach, And bid the main flood 'bate his usual height.” The fabrick of his folly; whose foundation POL. How should this grow? CAM. I know not: but, I am fure, 'tis fafer to Avoid what's grown, than question how 'tis born. If therefore you dare truft my honesty,That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night. Your followers I will whisper to the business; And will, by twos, and threes, at several posterns, Clear them o'the city: For myself, I'll put My fortunes to your fervice, which are here By this difcovery loft. Be not uncertain; For, by the honour of my parents, I Have utter'd truth: which if you feek to prove, His execution fworn. POL. I do believe thee: Give me thy hand; I faw his heart in his face. Be pilot to me, and thy places fhall Still neighbour mine: My fhips are ready, and 6 whofe foundation Is pil'd upon his faith,] This folly which is erected on the foundation of fettled belief. STEEVENS, Ifaw his heart in his face.] So, in Macbeth: "To find the mind's conftruction in the face." STEEVENS. and thy places fhall Still neighbour mine:] Perhaps Shakspeare wrote-" And thy paces fhall," &c. Thou shalt be my conductor, and we will both purfue the fame path.-The old reading however may meanwherever thou art, I will ftill be near thee. MALONE. By places, our author means-preferments, or honours. STEEVENS. My people did expect my hence departure Is for a precious creature: as fhe's rare, In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me: Of his ill-ta'en fufpicion! Come, Camillo; Thou bear'ft my life off hence: Let us avoid. Good expedition be my friend, and comfort The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing Of his ill-ta'en fufpicion!] But how could this expedition comfort the queen? on the contrary, it would increase her husband's fufpicion. We should read: and comfort The gracious queen's; i.e. be expedition my friend, and be comfort the queen's friend. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton's conjecture is, I think, juft; but what shall be done with the following words, of which I can make nothing? Perhaps the line which connected them to the reft is lost. and comfort The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing Jealoufy is a paffion compounded of love and fufpicion; this paffion is the theme or fubject of the King's thoughts.-Polixenes, perhaps, wishes the queen, for her comfort, fo much of that theme or fubject as is good, but deprecates that which caufes mifery. May part of the king's prefent fentiments comfort the queen, but away with his fufpicion. This is fuch meaning as can be picked out. JOHNSON. Perhaps the fenfe is-May that good speed which is my friend, comfort likewife the queen who is part of its theme, i. e. partly on whofe account I go away; but may not the fame comfort extend itfelf to the groundless fufpicions of the king; i. e. may not my de CAM. It is in mine authority, to command The keys of all the pofterns: Please your highness To take the urgent hour: come, fir, away. [Exeunts ACT II. T II. SCENE İ. The fame. Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and Ladies. HER. Take the boy to you: he so troubles me, 'Tis paft enduring. 1. LADY. Shall I be your play-fellow? MAM. Come, my gracious lord. No, I'll none of you. 1. LADY. Why, my fweet lord? MAM. You'll kiss me hard; and speak to me as if I were a baby ftill.-I love you better. parture fupport him in them! His for its is common with Shakfpeare and Paulina fays, in a fubfequent scene, that she does not choose to appear a friend to Leontes, in comforting his evils, i. e, in ftrengthening his jealoufy by appearing to acquiefce in it. STEEVENS Comfort is, I apprehend, here used as a verb. Good expedition befriend me, by removing me from a place of danger, and comfort the innocent queen, by removing the object of her husband's jealoufy-the queen, who is the fubject of his converfation, but without reafon the object of his fufpicion!-We meet with a fimilar phrafeology in Twelfth-Night: "Do me this courteous office, as to know of the knight, what my offence to him is; it is fomething of my negligence, nothing of my purpose." MALONE. |