Continue where he is; to shift his being5, [The Queen drops a Bor: PISANIO takes it up. That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how As thou'lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly, Not to be shak'd: the agent for his master; The hand fast to her ford. I have given him that, 5 To change his abode. 6 That inclines towards its fall. Think with what a fair prospect of mending your fortunes you now change your present service.' It has been proposed to read: And, Think what a chance thou chancest on.' Think what a change thou chancest on.' But there seems to be no necessity for alteration. 8 A lieger ambassador is one that resides in a foreign court to promote his master's interest. So in Measure for Measure: Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Re-enter PISANIO, and Ladies. To taste of too. So, so;-well done, well done: Bear to my closet:-Fare thee well, Pisanio; Think on my words. Pis. [Exeunt Queen and Ladies. And shall do9: But when to my good lord I prove untrue, I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you. [Exit. SCENE VII. Another Room in the same. Enter IMOGEN. Imo. A father cruel, and a step-dame false; A foolish suitor to a wedded lady, That hath her husband banish'd;-0, that husband! As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable Pis. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome; Iach. Change you, madam ? The worthy Leonatus is in safety, And greets your highness dearly. [Presents a Letter. Thanks, good sir: Imo. You are kindly welcome. 9 Some words, which rendered this sentence less abrupt, and perfected the metre of it, appear to have been omitted in the old copies. Imogen's sentiment appears to be, Had I been stolen by thieves in my infancy, I had been happy. But how pregnant with misery is that station which is called glorious, and so much desired. Happier far are those, how mean soever their condition, that have their honest wills; it is this which seasons comfort, (i. e. tempers it, or makes it more pleasant and acceptable). See Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3: My blessing season this in you.' Iach. All of her, that is out of door, most rich! If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare, [Aside. Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend! Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight; Imo. [Reads.]-He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your truest2 LEONATUS. So far I read aloud: But even the very middle of my heart Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.— You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I Have words to bid you; and shall find it so, In all that I can do. Iach. Thanks, fairest lady. What! are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes Imo. What makes your admiration? Iach. It cannot be i'the eye; for apes and monkeys "Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way, and Contemn with mows the other: Nor i'the judgment; For idiots, in this case of favour, would Be wisely definite: Nor i'the appetite; 2 The old copy reads, trust. The emendation was suggested by Mason; is defended by Steevens; and, of course, opposed by Malone. 3 We must either believe that the poet by number'd beach means numerous beach', or else that he wrote th' unnumber'd beach;' which, indeed, seems most probable. 4 To mow, or moe, is to make mouths. Sluttery to such neat excellence oppos'd Imo. What is the matter, trow? (That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, The cloyed will That tub both fill'd and running), ravening first Imo. Thus raps you? Are you well? What, dear sir, Tach. Thanks, madam; well: ---'Beseech you, sir, desire [TO PISANIO. My man's abode where I did leave him: he Pis. To give him welcome. Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, be seech you? Iach. Well, madam. Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope, he is. Iach. Exceeding pleasant: none a stranger there So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd The Briton reveller. Imo. When he was here, He did incline to sadness; and oft-times Iach. I never saw him sad. There is a Frenchman his companion, one An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves 5 Iachimo, in his counterfeited rapture, has shown how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the supposititious present mistress of Posthumus, he proceeds to say, that appetite too would give the same suffrage. Desire (says he) when it approached sluttery, and considered it in comparison with such neat excellence, would not only be not so allured to feed, but, seized with a fit of loathing, would vomit emptiness, would feel the convulsions of disgust, though, being unfed, it had no object. 6 i. e he is a foreigner and foolish, or silly. See vol. iv. p. 168. note 6. Jachimo says again at the latter end of this scene:And I am something curious, being strange, To have them in safe stowage,' Here also strange means a foreigner. A Gallian girl at home: he furnaces? The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton (Your lord, I mean), laughs from's free lungs, cries, O! Can' my sides hold, to think, that man, who knows What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose Imo. Will my lord say so? Iach. Ay, madam; with his eyes in flood with laughter. It is a recreation to be by, And hear him mock the Frenchman: But, heavens know, Some men are much to blame. Imo. Not he, I hope. Iach. Not he: But yet heaven's bounty towards him might Be us'd more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much8; In you, which I count his, beyond all talents, Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound To pity too. Imo. What do you pity, sir? Iach. Two creatures, heartily.. Imo. Am I one, sir? You look on me; What wreck discern you in me, Deserves your pity? lach. Lamentable! What! To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace Imo. I pray you, sir, We have the same expression in Chapman's preface to his translation of the Shield of Homer, 1598:- Furnaceth the universal sighes and complaintes of this transposed world. And in As You Like It : 'Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad. 8If he merely regarded his own character, without any consideration of his wife, his conduct would be unpardonable.' |