Art thou a feodary for this act, and look'st Enter IMOGEN. I am ignorant in what I am commanded 5. Pis. Madam, here is a letter from my lord. Imo. Who? thy lord? that is my lord? Leonatus? O, learn'd indeed were that astronomer, That knew the stars, as I his characters; He'd lay the future open.-You good gods, Let what is here contain'd relish of love, Of my lord's health, of his content,—yet not, That we two are asunder, let that grieve him,— (Some griefs are med'cinable;) that is one of them, For it doth physick love;-of his content, All but in that!-Good wax, thy leave:-Bless'd be, You bees, that make these locks of counsel! Lovers, And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike; Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet You clasp young Cupid's tables.-Good news, gods! [Reads. Justice, and your father's wrath, should he take me in his dominion, could not be so cruel to me asб 4 i. e. a subordinate agent, as a vassal to his chief. See vol. ii. p. 45, note 18. A feodary, however, meant also a prime agent, or steward, who received aids, reliefs, suits of service, &c. due to any lord.'-Glossographia Anglicana Nova, 1719. Yet after all it may be doubted whether Shakspeare does not use it to signify a confederate or accomplice, as he does federary in The Winter's Tale, Act ii, Sc. 1: More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is 5 i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. So in King Henry IV. Part I. : 'O, I am ignorance itself in this.' 6 As is here used for that. See Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2, note 15, p. 283. The word not in the next line, being accidentally omitted in the old copy, was supplied by Malone. you, O the dearest of creatures, would not even renew me with your eyes. Take notice, that I am in Cambria, at Milford-Haven. What your own love will, out of this, advise you, follow. So, he wishes you all happiness, that remains loyal to his vow, and your, increasing in love, LEONATUS POSTHUMUS. O, for a horse with wings!-Hear'st thou, Pisanio? For mine's beyond beyond) say, and speak thick 9; 7 We should now write yours, increasing in love,' &c. Your is to be joined in construction with Leonatus Posthumus, and not with increasing; the latter is a participle present, and not a noun. 8 i. e. her longing is further than beyond; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be beyond. 9 i. e. speak quick.' See vol. iv. p. 221, note 17, and vol. v. p. 291, note 2. 10 That is in consequence of our going hence and returning back.' So in Coriolanus, Act ii. Sc. 1: 'He cannot temperately support his honours See note on that passage, p. 165, vol. viii. 11 Why should excuse be born or e'er begot 11? Pis. One score, 'twixt sun and sun, Where horses have been nimbler than the sands foolery : -But this is Go, bid my woman feign a sickness; say She'll home to her father: and provide me, presently, A riding suit; no costlier than would fit A franklin's 14 housewife. Pis. Madam, you're best 15 consider. Imo. I see before me, man, nor here, nor here, Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them, That I cannot look through 1 [Exeunt. 11 i. e. before the act is done for which excuse will be neces sary. 12 This practice was, perhaps, not much less prevalent in Shakspeare's time than it is at present. Fynes Moryson, speaking of his brother's putting out money to be paid with interest on his return from Jerusalem (or, as we should now speak, travelling thither for a wager), defends it as an honest means of gaining the charges of his journey, especially when no meane lords, and lords' sonnes, and gentlemen in our court, put out money upon a horse race under themselves, yea, upon a journey afoote.' 13 It may be necessary to apprize the reader that the sand of an hour glass used to measure time is meant. The figurative meaning is swifter than the flight of time. 14 A franklin is a yeoman. See vol. v. p. 151, note 12. 15 That is you'd best consider.' Thus again in Sc. 6, p. 86, 'I were best not call.' 16 I see neither on this side nor on that, nor behind me; SCENE III. Wales. A mountainous Country, with a Cave. Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS.. Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with such Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows you To a morning's, holy office: The gates of monarchs Are arch'd so high, that giants may jet1 through And keep their impious turbans on, without Good morrow to the sun.-Hail, thou fair heaven! We house i'the rock, yet use thee not so hardly As prouder livers do. Gui. Arv. Hail, heaven! Hail, heaven! Bel. Now, for our mountain sport: Up to yon hill, Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats. Consider, When you above perceive me like a crow, That it is place which lessens, and sets off. but find a fog in each of those quarters that my eye cannot pierce. The way to Milford is alone clear and open: Let us therefore instantly set forward.' By what ensues,' Imogen means what will be the consequence of the step I am going to take. 1 Strut, walk proudly. So in Twelfth Night, How he jets under his advanced plumes.' The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of a Saracen. 2 In any service done, the advantage rises not from the act, but from the allowance (i. e. approval) of it.' And often to our comfort, shall we find Than is the full-wing'd eagle. O, this life Have never wing'd from view o'the nest; nor know not What air's from home. Haply, this life is best,. That have a sharper known: well corresponding 3 i. e. scaly winged beetle. See vol. iv. p. 266, note 8. And Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii. Sc. 2, note 3. The epithet fullwinged, applied to the eagle, sufficiently marks the contrast of the poet's imagery; for whilst the bird can soar beyond the reach of human eye, the insect can but just rise above the surface of the earth, and that at the close of day. The old copy reads babe; the uncommon word brabe not being familiar to the compositor. A brabe is a contemptuous or proud look, word, or gesture; quasi, a brave. Speght, in his Glossary to Chaucer, edit. 1602, explains Heth [or hething] brabes and such like,' i. e. scornful or contumelious looks or words. The context requires a word of this meaning. To check is to reprove, to taunt, to rebuke. Doing nothing' means being busied in petty and unimportant employments, Nihil agere. Dr. Johnson proposed the word brabe from brabium, Lat. or Boaßetov, a fee or reward; but he was not aware that it existed in our language with a different meaning. Bauble and bribe have been proposed and adopted by some editors. 5 i. e. compared to ours. See vol. iv. p. 272, note 9. 6 To stride a limit is to overpass his bound. |