Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend; [; I would, however, more willingly read: And they in France, of the best rank and station, Let the reader, who can discover the slightest approach towards sense, harmony, or metre, in the original line,Are of a most select and generous chief, in that,adhere to the old copies. STEEvens. The genuine meaning of the passage requires us to point the line thus: Are most select and generous, chief in that.. i. e. the nobility of France are select and generous above all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel; the richness and elegance of their dress. RITSON. Are of a most select and generous chief, in that.] Thus the quarto, 1604, and the folio, except that in that copy the word chief is spelt cheff. The substantive chief, which signifies in heraldry the upper part of the shield, appears to have been in common use in Shakspeare's time, being found in Minsheu's Dictionary, 1617. He defines it thus: Est superior et scuti nobilior pars; tertiam partem ejus obtinet; ante Christi adventum dabatur in maximi honoris signum; senatoribus et honoratis viris.” B. Jonson has used the word in his Poetaster. The meaning then seems to be, They in France approve themselves of a most select and generous escutcheon by their dress. Generous is used with the signification of generosus. So, in Othello: "The generous islanders," &c. Chief, however, may have been used as a substantive, for note or estimation, without any allusion to heraldry, though the word was perhaps originally heraldick. So, in Bacon's Colours of Good and Evil, 16mo. 1597: "In the warmer climates the people are generally more wise, but in the northern climates the wits of chief are greater." If chief in this sense had not been familiarly understood, the editor of the folio must have considered the line as unintelligible, and would have probably omitted the words of a in the beginning of it, or attempted some other correction. That not having been done, I have adhered to the old copies. Our poet from various passages in his works, appears to have been accurately acquainted with all the terms of heraldry. MALONE. And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. LAER. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well What I have said to you. Орн. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it." Of chief, in the passage quoted from Bacon, is, I believe, a bald translation of the old French phrase-de chef, whatever, in the present instance, might be its intended meaning. STEEVENS. of husbandry.] i. e. of thrift; œconomical prudence. See Vol. X. p. 93, n. 5. MALONE. And it must follow, as the night the day,] So, in the 145th Sonnet of Shakspeare: "That follow'd it as gentle day "Doth follow night," &c. STEEVENS. ·my blessing season this in thee!] Season, for infuse. WARBURTON. It is more than to infuse, it is to infix it in such a manner as that it never may wear out. JOHNSON. So, in the mock tragedy represented before the king: "I go, and it is done, the bell invites me." STEEVENS. Thus the folio. The quarto, 1604, reads-The time invests you: which Mr. Theobald preferred, supposing that it meant, "the time besieges, presses upon you on every side." But to invest, in Shakspeare's time, only signified, to clothe, or give possession. MALONE. 6 - your servants tend.] i. e. your servants are waiting for you. JOHNSON. 7 -yourself shall keep the key of it.] The meaning is, LAER. Farewell. [Exit LAERTES. POL. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? OPH. So please you, something touching the lord POL. Marry, well bethought: 'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late Given private time to you: and you yourself Have of your audience been most free and boun teous: If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me, And that in way of caution,) I must tell you, Of his affection to me. POL. Affection? puh! you speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. that your counsels are as sure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if yourself carried the key of it. So, in Northward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "You shall close it up like a treasure of your own, and yourself shall keep the key of it." STEEVENS. • Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.] Unsifted for untried. Untried signifies either not tempted, or not refined; unsifted signifies the latter only, though the sense requires the former. WARburton. It means, I believe, one who has not sufficiently considered, or thoroughly sifted such matters. M. MASON. I do not think that the sense requires us to understand untempted. "Unsifted in," &c. means, I think, one who has not nicely canvassed and examined the peril of her situation. MALONE. That sifted means tempted may be seen in the 31st verse of the 22d chapter of St. Luke's gospel. HARRIS. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? OPH. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POL. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, 9 Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis is closed at the wrong place; and we must have likewise a slight correction in the last verse. [Wringing it, &c.] Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, till he thinks proper to correct himself for the licence; and then he would say-not farther to crack the wind of the phrase, by twisting it and contorting it, as I have done. WARBURTON. I believe the word wronging has reference, not to the phrase, but to Ophelia; if you go on wronging it thus, that is, if you continue to go on thus wrong. This is a mode of speaking perhaps not very grammatical, but very common; nor have the best writers refused it. "To sinner it or saint it," is in Pope. And Rowe, 66 Thus to coy it, "With one who knows you too.” The folio has it-Roaming it thus. That is, letting yourself loose to such improper liberty. But wronging seems to be more proper. JOHNSON. "See you do not coy it," is in Massinger's New Way to pay old Debts. STEEVENS. I have followed the punctuation of the first quarto, 1604, where the parenthesis is extended to the word thus, to which word the context in my apprehension clearly shows it should be carried. "Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, playing upon it, and abusing it thus,") &c. So, in The Rape of Lucrece: wrong the till he render right.' wronger, "To OPH. My lord, he hath impórtun'd me with love, In honourable fashion. 1 POL. Ay, fashion you may call it ;' go to, go to. OPH. And hath given countenance to his speech,. my lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven. POL. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul The quarto, by the mistake of the compositor, reads-Wrong it thus. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Tender yourself more dearly;] To tender is to regard with affection. So, in King Richard II: And so betide me, "As well I tender you and all of yours." Again, in The Maydes Metamorphosis, by Lyly, 1601: 1 66 if you account us for the same "That tender thee, and love Apollo's name." MALONE. fashion you may call it ;] She uses fashion for manner, and he for a transient practice. JOHNSON. 3 -springes to catch woodcocks.] A proverbial saying, "Every woman has a springe to catch a woodcock." STEEVENS. - these blazes, daughter,] Some epithet to blazes was probably omitted, by the carelessness of the transcriber or compositor, in the first quarto, in consequence of which the metre is defective. MALONE. Set your entreatments-] Entreatments here mean company, conversation, from the French entrétien. JOHNSON. Entreatments, I rather think, means the objects of entreaty; the favours for which lovers sue. In the next scene we have a word of a similar formation: "As if it some impartment did desire," &c. MALONE. |