Speed. Item, She hath more hair than wit,^— Laun. More hair than wit,-it may be; I'll prove it: The cover of the salt hides the salt, and therefore it is more than the salt: the hair that covers the wit, is more than the wit; for the greater hides the less. What's next? Speed. And more faults than hairs,— Laun. That's monstrous: O that that were out! Laun. Why, that word makes the faults gracious:5 Well, I'll have her: And if it be a match, as nothing is impossible, Speed. What then? Laun. Why, then I will tell thee,-that thy master stays for thee at the north gate. Speed. For me? Laun. For thee? ay; who art thou? he hath staid for a better man than thee. Speed. And must I go to him? Laun. Thou must run to him; for thou hast staid so long, that going will scarce serve the turn. 4 She hath more hair than wit,] An old English proverb. See Ray's collection: "Bush natural, more hair than wit." Again, in Decker's Satiromastix: "Hair! 'tis the basest stubble; in scorn of it "This proverb sprung,-He has more hair than wit." Again, in Rhodon and Iris, 1631: 5 "Now is the old proverb really perform'd; "More hair than wit." Steevens. makes the faults gracious:] Gracious, in old language, means graceful. So, in K. John: "There was not such a gracious creature born." Again, in Albion's Triumph, 1631: "On which (the frieze) were festoons of several fruits in their natural colours, on which, in gracious postures lay children sleeping." Again, in The Malcontent, 1604: "The most exquisite, &c. that ever made an old lady gracious by torch-light." Steevens. Mr. Steevens's interpretation of the word gracious has been controverted, but it is right. We have the same sentiment in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "O what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults "Look handsome in three hundred pounds a year!" Malone. Speed. Why didst not tell me sooner? 'pox of your love-letters! [Exit. Laun. Now will he be swinged for reading my letter: An unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets! I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's correction. [Exit. SCENE II. The same. A room in the Duke's Palace. Enter DUKE and THURIO; PROTEUS behind. Duke. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will love you, Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight. Thu. Since his exíle she hath despis'd me most, Forsworn my company, and rail'd at me, That I am desperate of obtaining her. Duke. This weak impress of love is as a figure Pro. Gone, my good lord. Duke. My daughter takes his going grievously. - Pro. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief. Duke. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.— Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee, (For thou hast shown some sign of good desert) Makes me the better to confer with thee. Pro. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace, Let me not live to look upon your grace. Duke. Thou know'st how willingly I would effect The match between sir Thurio and my daughter. Pro. I do, my lord. Duke. And also, I think, thou art not ignorant Pro. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here. • Trenched in ice;] Cut, carved in ice. Trancher, to cut, French. Johnson. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592: "Is deeply trenched in my blushing brow." Steevens. What might we do, to make the girl forget Pro. The best way is to slander Valentine Therefore it must, with circumstance,7 be spoken Duke. Then you must undertake to slander him. Especially, against his very friend. Duke. Where your good word cannot advantage him, Your slander never can endamage him: Therefore the office is indifferent, Being entreated to it by your friend. Pro. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it, Thu. Therefore, as you unwind her love from him, Lest it should ravel, and be good to none, You must provide to bottom it on me: Which must be done, by praising me as much As you, in worth, dispraise sir Valentine. Duke. And, Proteus, we dare trust you in this kind; Because we know, on Valentine's report, 7 with circumstance,] With the addition of such incidental particulars, as may induce belief. Johnson. 8 9 his very friend.] Very is immediate. So, in Macbeth: "And the very ports they blow." Steevens. as you unwind her love-] As you wind off her love from him, make me the bottom on which you wind it. The housewife's term for a ball of thread, wound upon a central body, is a bottom of thread. Johnson. So, in Grange's Garden, 1557: "in answer to a letter written unto him by a Curtyzan:" "A bottome for your silke it seems "Which oft with winding off and on Steevens. You are already love's firm votary, And cannot soon revolt and change your mind. 3 For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;* 1 •you may temper her,] Mould her, like wax, to whatever shape you please. So, in King Henry IV, P. II: "I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb; and shortly will I seal with him." Malone. 2 3 lime,] That is, birdlime. Johnson. such integrity:] Such integrity may mean such ardour and sincerity, as would be manifested by practising the directions, given in the four preceding lines. Steevens. I suspect that a line, following this, has been lost; the import of which perhaps was "As her obdurate heart may penetrate." Malone. J 4 For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews;] This shews Shakspeare's knowledge of antiquity. He here assigns Orpheus his true character of legislator. For, under that of a poet only, or lover, the quality given to his lute is unintelligible. But, considered as a lawgiver, the thought is noble, and the imagery exquisitely beautiful. For, by his lute, is to be understood his system of laws; and by the poets' sinews, the power of numbers, which Orpheus actually employed in those laws, to make them received by a fierce and barbarous people. Warburton. Proteus is describing to Thurio the powers of poetry; and gives no quality to the lute of Orpheus, but those usually and vulgarly ascribed to it. It would be strange indeed, if, in order to prevail upon the ignorant and stupid Thurio to write a sonnet to his mistress, he should enlarge upon the legislative powers of Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones, Forsake unsounded deeps, to dance on sands. Visit by night your lady's chamber-window, Orpheus, which were nothing to the purpose. Warburton's observations frequently tend to prove Shakspeare more profound and learned than the occasion required, and to make the Poet of Nature the most unnatural that ever wrote. M. Mason. 5- - with some sweet concert:] The old copy has consort, which I once thought might have meant, in our author's time, a band or company of musicians. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo. "Mer. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels?" The subsequent words, " To their instruments seem to favour this interpretation; but other instances, that I have since met with, in books of our author's age, have convinced me, that consort was only the old spelling of concert, and I have accordingly printed the latter word in the text. The epithet sweet, annexed to it, seems better adapted to the musick itself than to the band. Consort, when accented on the first syllable (as here), had, I believe, the former meaning; when on the second, it signified a company. So, in the next scene: "What say'st thou? Wilt thou be of our consórt?" Malone. 6 Tune a deploring dump;] A dump was the ancient term for a mournful elegy.. |