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So like you, 'tis the worfe.-Behold, my lords, Although the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father: eye, nofe, lip,

The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley, The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his fmiles;

The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger And, thou, good goddess nature, which haft made it So like to him that got it, if thou hast

8

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellow in't; left fhe fufpect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's!"

bis fmiles;] These two redundant words might be rejected, efpecially as the child has already been reprefented as the inheritor of its father's dimples and frowns. STEEVENS.

Our author and his contemporaries frequently take the liberty of ufing words of two fyllables, as monofyllables. So eldeft, highest, lover, either, &c. Dimples is, I believe, employed fo here; and of his, when contracted, or founded quickly, make but one fyllable Likewife. In this view there is no redundancy. MALONE. How is the word-dimples, to be monofyllabically pronounced? STEEVENS

No yellow in't;] Yellow is the colour of jealoufy. JOHNSON, So, Nym fays in The Merry Wives of Windfor: "I will possess him with yellowness." STEEVENS.

9 left the fufpe&t, as he does,

Her children not her husband's!] In the ardour of compofition Shakspeare feems here to have forgotten the difference of fexes. No fufpicion that the babe in queftion might entertain of her future hulband's fidelity, could affect the legitimacy of her offspring. Unless the were berfelf a " bed-fwerver," (which is not fuppofed,) fhe could have no doubt of his being the father of her children. However painful female jealoufy may be to her that feels it, Paulina, therefore, certainly attributes to it, in the present inftance, a pang that it can never give. MALONE.

I regard this circumstance as a beauty, rather than a defect, The feeming abfurdity in the laft claufe of Paulina's ardent addrefs to Nature, was undoubtedly defigned, being an extravagance characteristically preferable to languid correctnefs, and chaftifed declamation, STEEVENS.

A grofs hag!

LEON.
And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,

That wilt not stay her tongue.

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It is an heretick, that makes the fire,

I care not:

Not fhe, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant; But this most cruel ufage of your queen

(Not able to produce more accufation

Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,) fomething favours

Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,

Yea, fcandalous to the world.

LEON.

Out of the chamber with her.

On your allegiance,

Were I a tyrant, Where were her life? she durft not call me fo, If the did know me one. Away with her.

PAUL. I pray you, do not push me; do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove fend

her

2 And, lozel,]"A Lofel is one that hath loft, neglected, or caft off his owne good and welfare, and fo is become lewde and careleffe of credit and honefty." Verftegan's Reftitution, 1605, P. 335. REED.

This is a term of contempt, frequently used by Spenfer. I like wife meet with it in The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601: "To have the lozel's company."

A lozel is a worthless fellow. Again, in The Pinner of Wakefield,

"Peace, prating lozel," &c. STEEVENS.

A better guiding fpirit!-What need these hands?-
You, that are thus fo tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good, not one of you.
So, fo-Farewell; we are gone.

[Exit.

LEON. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.-
My child? away with't!—even thou, that hast
A heart fo tender o'er it, take it hence,
And see it instantly confum'd with fire;

Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight:
Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
(And by good teftimony,) or I'll feize thy life,
With what thou elfe call'ft thine: If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, fay fo;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;
For thou fett'ft on thy wife.

ANT.

I did not, fir:

These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

1. LORD.

We can; my royal liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither.

LEON. You are liars all.

1. LORD. 'Befeech your highness, give us better credit :

We have always truly ferv'd you; and befeech
So to esteem of us: And on our knees we beg,
(As recompence of our dear fervices,

Paft, and to come,) that you do change this purpofe;
Which, being fo horrible, fo bloody, must
Lead on to fome foul iffue: We all kneel.

LEON. I am a feather for each wind that blows:-
Shall I live on, to fee this baftard kneel
And call me father? Better burn it now,
Than curfe it then. But, be it; let it live:

It shall not neither.-You, fir, come you hither;

[To ANTIGONUS.

You, that have been fo tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To fave this baftard's life :-for 'tis a baftard,
So fure as this beard's grey,'-what will you adven-

ture

To fave this brat's life?

ANT.

Any thing, my lord,
That my ability may undergo,

And nobleness impofe: at least, thus much;
I'll pawn the little blood which I have left,
To fave the innocent: any thing poffible.

LEON. It shall be poffible: Swear by this fword,+ Thou wilt perform my bidding.

ANT.

I will, my lord. LEON. Mark, and perform it; (fceft thou?) for the fail

Of any point in't shall not only be

Death to thyfelf, but to thy lewd-tongued wife;
Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it

3 So fure as this beard's grey,] The king muft mean the beard of Antigonus, which perhaps both here and on a former occafion, (fee p. 59, n. 6.) it was intended, he should lay hold of. Leontes has himself told us that twenty three years ago he was unbreech'd, in his green velvet coat, his dagger muzzled; and of course his age at the opening of this play must be under thirty. He cannot therefore mean his own beard. MALONE.

Swear by this ford,] It was anciently the custom to fwear by the cross on the handle of a sword. See a note on Hamlet, A&t I. fc. v. STEEVENS.

So, in The Penance of Arthur, Sig. S. 2: "And therewith King Marke yielded him unto Sir Gaheris, and then he kneeled downe and made his oath upon the croffe of the fword," &c.

I remember to have feen the name of Jefus engraved upon the pummel of the fword of a Crusader in the Church at Winchelsea.

To fome remote and defert place, quite out
Of our dominions; aud that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favour of the climate. As by ftrange fortune
It came to us, I do in juftice charge thee,—
On thy foul's peril, and thy body's torture,-
That thou commend it ftrangely to fome place,
Where chance may nurse, or end it; Take it

up.

ANT. I fwear to do this; though a prefent death
Had been more merciful.-Come on, poor babe:
Some powerful fpirit inftruct the kites and ravens,
To be thy nurfes! Wolves, and bears, they fay,
Cafting their favagenefs afide, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be profperous

In more than this deed does require! and bleffing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy fide,
Poor thing, condemn'd to lofs!"

LEON.

Another's iffue.

1. ATTEND.

[Exit, with the child.

No, I'll not rear

Please your highness, posts,

From those you sent to the oracle, are come

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commend it ftrangely to fome place,] Commit it to fome

place, as a firanger, without more provifion. JOHNSON, So, in Macbeth:

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"I wish your horfes swift and fure of foot,
"And fo I do commend you to their backs."

To commend is to commit. See Minfheu's Dict. in v. MALONE. and pleffing,] i. e. the favour of heaven. MALONE.

condemn'd to lofs!] i. e. to expofure, fimilar to that of a child whom its parents have loft. I once thought that los was here licentiously ufed for deftruction; but that this was not the primary fenfe here intended, appears from a fubfequent paffage, Act III.

fc. iii:

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"That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd
“To loss, and what may follow!" MALONE.

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