1 GENT. I'll do any thing now that is virtuous;

but I am out of the road of rutting, for ever.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

The fame. A Room in the Brothel.

Enter PANDER, Bawd, and BOULT.

PAND. Well, I had rather than twice the worth of her, she had ne'er come here.

BAWD. Fye, fye upon her; she is able to freeze the god Priapus,5 and undo a whole generation. We must either get her ravished, or be rid of her. When she should do for clients her fitment, and do me the kindness of our profeffion, she has me her quirks, her reasons, her mafter-reasons, her prayers, her knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil, if he should cheapen a kiss of her.

BOULT. 'Faith, I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish us of all our cavaliers, and make all our swearers priests.

PAND. Now, the pox upon her green-fickness for me!

BAWD. 'Faith, there's no way to be rid on't, but by the way to the pox. Here comes the lord Lyfimachus, disguised.

5

Priapus,] The present mention of this deity was perhaps suggested by the following passage in Twine's tranflation : "Then the bawde brought her into a certaine chappell where stoode the idoll of Priapus made of gold," &C. STEEVENS.

Here comes the lord Lysimachus, disguised.] So, in the ançient prose romance already quoted :-" Than anone as Anthy

BOULT. We should have both lord and lown, if the peevish baggage would but give way to cufto

mers.

Enter LYSIMACHUS.

Lys. How now ? How a dozen of virginities ?? BAWD. Now, the gods to-bless your honour ! BOULT. I am glad to fee your honour in good health.

Lrs. You may so; 'tis the better for you that your reforters stand upon sound legs. How now, wholesome iniquity ?? Have you that a man may deal withal, and defy the furgeon ?

goras prynce of the cyte it wyste, went and he disguysed himfelfe, and went to the bordell whereas Tarcye was &c.

STEEVENS.

So also, in the Gesta Romanorum : "Cum lenone antecedente et tuba, tertia die cum symphonia ducitur [Tharfia] ad lupanar. Sed Athenagoras princeps primus ingreditur velato corpore. Tharsia autem videns eum projecit se ad pedes ejus, et ait," &c. No mention is made in the Confeffio Amantis of this interview between Athenagoras (the Lyfimachus of our play) and the daughter of Appollinus. So that Shakspeare must have taken this circumstance either from King Appolyn of Thyre, or fome other tranflation of the Gesta Romanorum. MALONE.

The fame circumstances are also found in Twine's tranflation. STEEVENS.

How now? How a dozen of virginities?] For what price may a dozen of virginities be had? So, in King Henry IV. Part II:

"How a score of ewes now?" MALONE.

Now, the gods to-bless your honour!] This use of to in compofition with verbs (as Mr. Tyrwhitt remarks) is very common in Gower and Chaucer. See Vol. V. p. 178, n. 9.

9

STEEVENS.

wholesome iniquity?) Thus the quarto, 1609. The

second quarto and the modern editions read-impunity.

MALONE.

BAWD. We have here one, fir, if she would but there never came her like in Mitylene.

Lrs. If she'd do the deeds of darkness, thou would'st say.

BAWD. Your honour knows what 'tis to say, well enough.

Lrs. Well; call forth, call forth.

BOULT. For flesh and blood, fir, white and red, you shall fee a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if The had but

Lys. What, pr'ythee?

BOULT. O, fir, I can be modeft.

Lrs. That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it gives a good report to a number to be

chafte.

Enter MARINA.

BAWD. Here comes that which grows to the stalk ;-never plucked yet, I can affure you. Is the not a fair creature ?

* That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it gives a good report to a number to be chaste.] This is the reading of the quarto, 1619. The first quarto has-That dignities &c. Perhaps the poet wrote That dignity is the renown &c. The word number is, I believe, a misprint; but I know not how to rectify it. MALONE.

The intended meaning of the passage should feem to be this : "The mask of modefty is no less successfully worn by procuresses than by wantons. It palliates grossness of profeffion in the former, while it exempts a multitude of the latter from fufpicion of being what they are. 'Tis politick for each to affume the appearance of this quality, though neither of them in reality poffefs it."-I join with Mr. Malone, however, in supposing this sentence to be corrupt. STEEVENS.

Lrs. 'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at fea. Well, there's for you ;-leave us.

BAWD. I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and I'll have done presently. Lrs. I beseech you, do.

BAWD. First, I would have you note, this is an honourable man.

[To MARINA, whom she takes afide.

MAR. I defire to find him so, that I may worthily note him.

BAWD. Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to.

MAR. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I know not.

BAWD. 'Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly ? He will line your apron with gold.

MAR. What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive.

Lys. Have you done?

BAWD. My lord, she's not paced yet ;3 you must take some pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will leave his honour and her together.4

2

[Exeunt Bawd, PANDER, and BOULT.

-without any more virginal fencing, This uncommon adjective occurs again in Coriolanus :

- the virginal palms of your daughters-."

MALONE.

3 My lord, She's not paced yet ;) She has not yet learned her paces. MALONE.

* Come, we will leave his honour and her together.] The first quarto adds-Go thy ways. These words, which denote both

Lrs. Go thy ways. Now, pretty one, how long

have you been at this trade ?

MAR. What trade, fir?

Lys. What I cannot name but I shall offend.5

MAR. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it.

Lrs. How long have you been of this profeffion? MAR. Ever since I can remember.

Lrs. Did you go to it so young? Were you a gamester at five, or at seven ?"

MAR. Earlier too, fir, if now I be one.

Lrs. Why, the house you dwell in, proclaims you to be a creature of sale.

MAR. Do you know this house to be a place of such refort, and will come into it? I hear say, you

authority and impatience, I think, belong to Lysimachus. He had before expressed his defire to be left alone with Marina:

66

- Well, there's for you ;-leave us." MALONE.

These words may fignify only-Go back again; and might have been addressed by the Bawd to Marina, who had offered to quit the room with her. STEEVENS.

5 What I cannot name but I shall offend.] The old copies read:

Why I cannot name &c. MALONE.

I read-What I cannot &c. So, in Measure for Measure: "What but to speak of would offend again."

STEEVENS.

• Were you a gamester at five, or at seven?] A gamester was formerly used to fignify a wanton. So, in All's well that ends

well:

"She's impudent, my lord,

"And was a common gamefter to the camp." MALONE.

Again, in Troilus and Cressida:

fluttish spoils of opportunity,

"And daughters of the game." STEEVENS.