As now it coldly ftands,) when firft I woo'd her! PER. And give me leave; And do not say, 'tis fuperftition, that I kneel, and then implore her bleffing.-Lady, PAUL. O, patience;' The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's Not dry. CAM. My lord, your forrow was too fore laid on; Which fixteen winters cannot blow away, So many fummers, dry: fcarce any joy Did ever fo long live; no forrow, But kill'd itself much fooner. POL. Dear my brother, Let him, that was the cause of this, have power PAUL. Indeed, my lord, If I had thought, the fight of my poor image Would thus have wrought you, (for the ftone is mine,) 10, patience;] That is, Stay a while, be not fo eager. 2 66 JOHNSON. wrought-] i. e. worked, agitated. So, in Macbeth: my dull brain was wrought "With things forgotten." STEEVENS. I'd not have show'd it.3 LEON. PAUL. No longer shall fancy May think anon, it moves. Do not draw the curtain. you gaze on't; left your Let be, let be. LEON. Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already 4 What was he, that did make it?-See, my lord, Would you not deem, it breath'd? and that those veins Did verily bear blood? POL. Masterly done: The very life feems warm upon her lip. Indeed, my lord, If I had thought, the fight of my poor image Would thus have wrought you, (for the ftone is mine,) I'd not have Show'd it.] I do not know whether we should not read, without a parenthesis: for the ftone i'th' mine I'd not have fhew'd it. A.mine of fione, or marble, would not perhaps at present be efteemed an accurate expreffion, but it may ftill have been used by Shakspeare, as it has been used by Holinfhed. Defcript. of Engl. c. ix. p. 235: "Now if you have regard to their ornature, how many mines of fundrie kinds of coarfe and fine marble are there to be had in England?"—And a little lower he uses the fame word again for a quarry of ftone, or plaifter: "And fuch is the mine of it, that the ftones thereof lie in flakes," &c. TYRWHITT. To change an accurate expreffion for an expreffion confeffedly not accurate, has somewhat of retrogradation. JOHNSON. (for the ftone is mine,)] So afterwards, Paulina fays: - be ftone no more." So alfo Leontes: "Chide me, dear Stone." MALOne. ↑ Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already-] The fentence completed is : but that, methinks, already I converfe with the dead. But there his passion made him break off. WARBURTON. LEON. The fixure of her eye has motion in't,5 As we are mock'd with art.6 My lord's almoft fo far transported, that He'll think anon, it lives. LEON. but you: The fixure of her eye has motion in't,] So, in our author's 88th Sonnet : 66 -Your fweet hue, which methinks ftill doth ftand, "Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived.” MALONE. The meaning is, though her eye be fixed, [as the eye of a ftatue always is,] yet it feems to have motion in it: that tremulous motion, which is perceptible in the eye of a living perfon, how much foever one endeavour to fix it. EDWARDS. The word fixure, which Shakspeare has used both in The Merry Wives of Windfor, and Troilus and Creffida, is likewise employed by Drayton in the first canto of The Barons' Wars: "Whofe glorious fixure in fo clear a sky." STEEVENS. 6 As we are mock'd with art.] As is used by our author here, as in fome other places, for " as if." Thus, in Cymbeline : "He spake of her, as Dian had hot dreams, "And the alone were cold." Again, in Macbeth: "As they had feen me with these hangman's hands As we are mock'd with art.] Mr. M. Mason and Mr. Malone, very properly observe that as, in this inftance is ufed, as in fomię other places, for as if. The former of these gentlemen would read were inftead of are, but unneceffarily, I think, confidering the loose grammar of Shakspeare's age.-With, however, has the force of ly. A paffage parallel to that before us, occurs in Antony and Cleopatra :-" And mock our eyes with air.” STEEVENS. I could afflict you further. LEON. Do, Paulina; For this affliction has a taste as sweet As any cordial comfort.-Still, methinks, There is an air comes from her: What fine chizzel Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me, For I will kifs her. PAUL. Good my lord, forbear: You'll mar it, if you kifs it; ftain your own PER. Stand by, a looker on. PAUL. So long could I Either forbear, you Quit presently the chapel; or refolve For more amazement: If you can behold it, And take you by the hand: but then you'll think, (Which I proteft againft,) I am affifted By wicked LEON. powers. What you can make her do, I am content to look on: what to fpeak, PAUL. It is requir'd, You do awake your faith: Then, all ftand ftill; Or thofe," that think it is unlawful bufinefs I am about, let them depart. LEON. No foot fhall ftir. Proceed; 'Or thofe,] The old copy reads-On: thofe, &c. Corrected by Sir T. Hanmer. MALONE. 1 PAUL. Mufick; awake her: ftrike. [Mufick. "Tis time; defcend; be ftone no more: approach; Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come; I'll fill your grave up: ftir; nay, come away; Bequeath to death your numbnefs, for from him Dear life redeems you. You perceive, the ftirs: [HERMIONE Comes down from the Pedestal. Start not her actions fhall be holy, as, You hear, my fpell is lawful: do not fhun her, Until you fee her die again; for then You kill her double: Nay, prefent your hand: When she was young, you woo'd her; now, in age, Is fhe become the fuitor. LEON. O, fhe's warm! [Embracing her. If this be magick, let it be an art Lawful as eating. POL. She embraces him. CAM. She hangs about his neck; If the pertain to life, let her speak too. POL. Ay, and make't manifeft where she has liv'd, Or, how ftol'n from the dead? PAUL. That the is living, Were it but told you, fhould be hooted at Like an old tale; but it appears, the lives, Though yet the speak not. Mark a little while.Pleafe you to interpofe, fair madam; kneel, And pray your mother's bleffing.-Turn, good lady; Our Perdita is found. [Prefenting PERDITA, who kneels to HERMIONE. HER. You gods, look down,8 You gods, look down, &c.] A fimilar invocation has already occurred in The Tempeft: "Look down, ye gods, "And on this couple drop a blessed crown!" STEEVENS. |