WOR. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful blame; 6 And fince your coming hither, have done enough To put him quite befide his patience. You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault: Though fometimes it fhow greatnefs, courage, blood, 6 (And that's the deareft grace it renders you,) HOT. Well, I am fchool'd; Good manners be your Here come our wives, and let us take our leave. Re-enter GLENDOWER, with the Ladies. MORT. This is the deadly fpite that angers me,My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh. too wilful-blame; ] This is a mode of speech with which I am not acquainted. Perhaps it might be read — too wilful-blunt, or too wilful-bent; or thus: Indeed, my lord, you are to blame, too wilful, JOHNSON. I fufped that our author wrote 10 wilful-blame: i. e. you are wilfully to blame; the offence you give is meditated, defigned. Shakspeare has several compounds in which the firft adjective has the power of an adverb. Thus, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has observed,) in King Richard III. we meet with childish - foolish, fenfelefs-obRinate, and mortal-faring. STEEVENS. 6 opinion, ] means here felf-opinion, or conceit. M. MASON. GLEND. My daughter weeps; fhe will not part with you, She'll be a foldier too, fhe'll to the wars. MORT. Good father, tell her,-that fhe, and my aunt Percy, Shall follow in your conduct speedily. GLENDOWER Speaks to his daughter in Welsh, and fhe answers him in the fame. GLEND. She's defperate here; a peevifh felfwill'd harlotry,' 8 One no perfuafion can do good upon. [Lady M. fpeaks to MORTIMER in Welsh. MORT. I understand thy looks: that pretty Welsh Which thou poureft down from thefe fwelling heavens,9 I am too perfect in; and, but for fhame, [Lady M. fpeaks. I understand thy kiffes, and thou mine, But I will never be a truant, love, Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue Makes Welsh as fweet as ditties highly penn'd. 7 ---a peevish felf-will'd_harlotry,] Capulet, in Romeo and Juliet, reproaches his daughter in the fame terms: "A peevish felf-will'd harlotry it is." RITSON. 8 One no perfuafion &c.] A common ellipfis for-One that no perfuafion &c. and fo the ancient copies redundantly read. STEEVENS. 9 Which thou poureft down from thefe fwelling heavens,] The defect of harmony in this line, induces me to fuppofe (with Sir T. Hanmer) that our author originally wrote. Which thou pour' down from these two fwelling heavens, meaning her two prominent lips. STEEVENS. feeling difputation:] i. e. à conteft of fenfibility, a re ciprocation in which we engage on equal terms. STEEVENS Sung by a fair queen in a fummer's bower,3 With ravishing divifion, to her lute.4 GLEND. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.5 [Lady M. fpeaks again. MORT. O, I am ignorance itself in this." GLEND. She bids you Upon the wanton ruthes lay you down,' 3 Sung by a fair queen &c.] Our author perhaps here intended a compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who was a performer on the lute and the virginals. See Sir James Melvil's curious account. Memoirs, folio, p. 50. MALONE. 4 With ravishing divifion, to her lute.] This verfe may serve for a tranflation of a line in Horace: แ --grataque fœminis "Imbelli cithara carmina divides." It is to no purpose that you (Paris) please the women by finging with ravishing divifiou," to the harp. See the Commentators, and Voffius on Catuļļus, p. 239. S. W. Divifions were very uncommon in vocal mufick during the time of Shakspeare. BURNEY. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.] We might read, to complete the verse: Nay, if you melt, why then will the run mad. STEEVENS. 60, I am ignorance itself in this.] Maffinger ufes the fame expreffion in The Unnatural Combat, 1639: in this you speak, fir, "I am ignorance itself." STEEVENS. 7 She bids you Upon the wanton rushes lay you down,] It was the cuftom in this country, for many ages, to ftrew the floors with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets. JOHNSON. It should have been obferved in a note, that the old copies read en, not upon. This flight emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. I am now, however, inclined to adhere to the original reading, and would print the line as it ftands in the old copy: She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down. We have fome other lines in these plays as irregular as this. MALONE. We have; but there is the ftrongest reafon for fuppofing fuch irregularities arose from the badnefs of the playhoufe copies, or the careleffness of printers. STEEVENS. 8 And reft your gentle head upon her lap, MORT. With all my heart I'll fit, and hear her fing: By that time will our book, I think, be drawn. And on your eyelids crown the god of fleep,] The expreffion is fine; intimating, that the god of fleep fhould not only fit on his eyelids, but that he fhould fit crown'd, that is, pleafed and delighted. WARBURTON: The fame image (whatever idea it was meant to convey) occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher's Philafter: 66 --who fhall take up his lute, And touch it till he crown a filent feep The image is certainly a ftrange one; but I do not fufpe& any corruption of the text. The god of fleep is not only to fit on Mortimer's eyelids, but to fit crowned, that is, with fovereign dominion. So, in Twelfth Night: "Him will I tear out of that cruel eye, "Where he fits crowned in his master's fpite." Again, in our poet's 114th Sonnet: "Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you, Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "Upon his brow fhame is afham'd to fit, "For 'tis a throne, where honour may be crown'd Again, in King Henry V: "As if allegiance in their bofoms fat, you by her long into foft tranquillity, in which you fhall be fo near to fleep as to be free from perturbation, and fo much awake as to be fenfible of pleasure; a ftate partaking of fleep and wakefulness, as the twilight of night and day. JOHNSON. -our book,] Our paper of conditions. JOHNSON. GLEND. Do fo; And thofe muficians that fhall play to you, Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence; Yet ftraight they fhall be here :3 fit, and attend. HOT. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down: Come, quick, quick; that I may lay my head in thy lap. LADY P. Go, ye giddy goofe. GLENDOWER Speaks fome Welsh words, HOT. Now I perceive, the devil understands And 'tis no marvel, he's fo humorous. By'r-lady, he's a good musician. LADY P. Then fhould you be nothing but mufical; for you are altogether govern'd by humours. Lie ftill, ye thief, and hear the lady fing in Welfh. HOT. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish. LADY P. Would'st thou have thy head broken? 3 And thofe musicians that shall play to you, Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence; Yet flraight they shall be here:] The old copies-And-. STEEVENS. Glendower had before boasted that he could call fpirits from the vafty deep; he now pretends to equal power over the fpirits of the air. Sit, fays he to Mortimer, and, by my power, you fhall have heavenly mufick. The muficians that fhall play to you, now hang in the air a thousand miles from the earth: I will fummon them, and they fhall ftraight be here. "And ftraight" is the reading of the most authentick copies, the quarto 1598, and the folio 1623, and indeed of all the other ancient editions. Mr. Rowe first introduced the reading-Yet ftraight, which all the fubfequent editors have adopted; but the change does not seem abfolutely neceffary. MALONE. |
