Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt 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 favor, would Be wisely definite: nor i'the appetite; Imo. What is the matter, trow? (That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, The cloyed will, That tub both filled and running,) ravening first Imo. Thus raps you? Are you well? What, dear sir, [TO PISANIO. Iach. Thanks, madam; well.-'Beseech you, sir, desire My man's abode where I did leave him: he Is strange and peevish.* Pis. To give him welcome. I was going, sir, [Exit PISANIO. Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, beseech you? Iach. Well, madam. 1 We must either believe that the Poet, by "numbered beach," means "numerous beach," or else that he wrote "th' unnumbered beach;" which, indeed, seems most probable. 2 To mow or moe, is to make mouths. 3 Iachimo has shown how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favor 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. 4 i. e. he is a foreigner, and foolish, or silly. Imo. Is he disposed to mirth? I hope he is. So merry and so gamesome. He is called The Briton reveller. Imo. He did incline to sadness; and oft-times Not knowing why. Iach. When he was here, I never saw him sad. There is a Frenchman his companion, one, The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose Imo. Will my lord say so? [ach. 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 used more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much ; To pity too. Imo. What do you pity, sir? Iach. Two creatures, heartily. Imo. You look on me. 2 Deserves your pity? 1 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." 2 "If he merely regarded his own character, without any consideration of his wife, his conduct would be unpardonable." Iach. Lamentable! What! To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace I'the dungeon by a snuff? Imo. I pray you, sir, I was about to say, enjoy your- Imo. -But You do seem to know Something of me, or what concerns me. 'Pray you, Since doubting things go ill, often hurts more Than to be sure they do; for certainties Either are past remedies; or, timely knowing,' The remedy then born,) discover to me What both you spur and stop. Had I this cheek Iach. 1 It seems probable that knowing is here an error of the press for known. 2 "The information which you seem to press forward and yet withhold." The allusion is to horsemanship. 3 Hard with falsehood is hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands. The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces Imo. Let me hear no more. Iach. O dearest soul! your cause doth strike my heart With pity, that doth make me sick. A lady So fair, and fastened to an empery, 1 Would make the greatest king double! to be partnered With tomboys, hired with that self-exhibition Which your own coffers yield! with diseased ventures, Which rottenness can lend nature! such boiled stuff,3 Revenged! Imo. Iach. Should he make me Live, like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets; In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it. Imo. What, ho, Pisanio! Iach. Let me my service tender on your lips. Imo. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that have So long attended thee.-If thou wert honorable, Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not For such an end thou seek'st; as base, as strange. 1 Empery is a word signifying sovereign command; now obsolete. 2 We still call a forward or rude hoyden a tomboy. But our ancestors seem to have used the term for a wanton. 3 This alludes to an ancient process of scalding, or parboiling, to cure a certain disease. See Randle Holme, Storehouse of Armory, b. 3. p. 441. Thou wrong'st a gentleman, who is as far 'Thee and the devil alike. What, ho, Pisanio !— Country called his! and you his mistress, only That he enchants societies unto him; Half all men's hearts are his. Imo. You make amends. Iach. He sits 'mongst men, like a descended god; He hath a kind of honor sets him off, More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry, Which, you know, cannot err. The love I bear him Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made you, Unlike all others, chaffless. Pray your pardon. Imo. All's well, sir. Take my power i' the court for yours. 1 Romish for Roman was the phraseology of Shakspeare's age. |