Of general wonder. But alack!
That monster envy, oft the wrack
Of earned praise, Marina's life
Seeks to take off by treason's knife.
And in this kind hath our Cleon
One daughter, and a wench full grown,

Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder.] The old copies read:

Which makes high both the art and place &c.
The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. MAlone.
Which makes her both the heart and place

Of general wonder.] Such an education as rendered her the center and situation of general wonder. We still use the heart of oak for the central part of it, and the heart of the land in much such another sense. Shakspeare in Coriolanus says, that one of his ladies is" the spire and top of praise." STEEVENS.

So, in Twelfth-Night:

"I will on with my speech in your praise, and then show you the heart of my message.'

""

Again, in Antony and Cleopatra: the very heart of loss."

66

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"On her bare breast, the heart of all her land.” Place here signifies residence. So, in A Lover's Complaint: "Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place." In this sense it was that Shakspeare, when he purchased his house at Stratford, called it The New Place. MALONE.

5

oft the wrack

Of earned praise,] Praise that has been well deserved. The same expression is found in the following lines, which our author has imitated in his Romeo and Juliet:

"How durst thou once attempt to touch the honor of his name?

"If we have unearned luck-." MALONE.

"Whose deadly foes do yeld him dew and earned praise." Tragicall Hystorie of Romeus and Juliet, 1562.5

So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:

VOL. XXI.

And in this kind hath our Cleon

One daughter, and a wench full grown,] The old copy reads:
And in this kind our Cleon hath

One daughter, and a full grown wench..

U

Even ripe for marriage fight; this maid
Hight Philoten: and it is said
For certain in our story, she

Would ever with Marina be:

8

Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk s
With fingers, long, small, white as milk;

The rhyme shows evidently that it is corrupt. For the present regulation the reader is indebted to Mr. Steevens. MALONE. Even ripe for marriage fight;] The first quarto reads: Even right for marriage sight;

The quarto, 1619, and all the subsequent editions, have— Even ripe for marriage sight

Sight was clearly misprinted for fight. We had before in this play Cupid's wars. MALONE.

I would read:

Even ripe for marriage rites. PERCY.

Read fight; i. e. the combats of Venus; or night, which needs no explanation.

"Let heroes in the dusty field delight,

"Those limbs were fashion'd for a softer fight."

Dryden's version of Ovid's Epistle from Helen to Paris. STEEVENS.

Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk-] The old copies read:

or when to the lute

"She sung," &c. MALONE.

Be it when they wear'd &c.

But the context shows that she was the author's word. To have praised even the hands of Philoten would have been inconsistent with the general scheme of the present chorus. In all the other members of this sentence we find Marina alone mentioned: "Or when she would &c.

66

Sleided silk is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley or slay. PERCY.

For a further explanation of sleided silk, see Vol. X. p. 112, n. 9; and Mr. Malone's edit. of our author, Vol. X. p. 353, n. 5.

STEEVENS.

With fingers, long, small, white &c.] So, in Twine's translation: "beautified with a white hand, and fingers long and slender."

STEEVENS.

Or when she would with sharp neeld wound'
The cambrick, which she made more sound
By hurting it; or when to the lute
She and made the night-bird mute,
sung,
That still records with moan; or when
She would with rich and constant pen

21

Or when she would with sharp neeld wound-] All the copies read-with sharp needle wound; but the metre shows that we ought to read neeld. In a subsequent passage, in the first quarto, the word is abbreviated :

66

and with her neele composes."

So, in Stanyhurst's Virgil, 1582:
on neeld-wrought carpets."
See also Vol. X. p. 511, n. 9. MALONE.

2

66

or when to the lute

She sung, and made the night-bird mute,

That still records with moan;] The first quarto reads:
the night-bed mute,

That still records with moan;

for which in all the subsequent editions we find
and made the night-bed mute,
That still records within one.

There can, I think, be no doubt, that the author wrotenight-bird. Shakspeare has frequent allusions, in his works, to the nightingale. So, in his 101st Sonnet:

"As Philomel in summer's front doth sing, "And stops her pipe in growth of riper days, "Not that the summer is less pleasant now "Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night," &c. Again, in his Rape of Lucrece, 1594:

"And for, poor bird, thou sing'st not in the day, "As shaming anie eye should thee behold,-." So, Milton's Paradise Lost, Book IV:

66

These to their nests

99

"Were slunk; all but the wakeful nightingale; "She all night long her amorous descant sung. To record anciently signified to sing. So, in Sir Philip Sidney's Ourania, by N. B. [Nicholas Breton] 1606: "Recording songs unto the Deitie❞

See Vol. IV. p. 297, n. 7.-“ A bird (I am informed) is said to

Vail to her mistress Dian; still

This Philoten contends in skill

With absolute Marina: so
With the dove of Paphos might the crow
Vie feathers white. Marina gets
All praises, which are paid as debts,

record, when he sings at first low to himself, before he becomes master of his song and ventures to sing out. The word is in constant use with bird-fanciers at this day." MALONE.

3

- with rich and constant pen

Vail to her mistress Dian;] To vail is to bow, to do homage. The author seems to mean-When she would compose supplicatory hymns to Diana, or verses expressive of her gratitude to Dionyza.

We might indeed read-Hail to her mistress Dian; i. e. salute her in verse. STEEVENS.

I strongly suspect that vail is a misprint. We might read: Wail to her mistress Dian.

i. e. compose elegies on the death of her mother, of which she had been apprized by her nurse, Lychorida.

That Dian, i. e. Diana, is the true reading, may, I think, be inferred from a passage in The Merchant of Venice; which may at the same time perhaps afford the best comment on that before

us:

"Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn;
"With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,
"And draw her home with musick.”

Again, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:
"To be a barren sister all your life,

"Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon."

MALONE.

With absolute Marina:] i. e. highly accomplished, perfect. So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

<<

at sea

"He is an absolute master."

Again, in Green's Tu Quoque, 1614: "-from an absolute and most complete gentleman, to a most absurd, ridiculous, and fond lover." MALONE.

Vie feathers white.] See note on The Taming of a Shrew, Vol. IX. p. 89, n. 1. STEEVENS.

And not as given. This so darks
In Philoten all graceful marks,"
That Cleon's wife, with envy rare,"
A present murderer does prepare
For good Marina, that her daughter
Might stand peerless by this slaughter.
The sooner her vile thoughts to stead,
Lychorida, our nurse, is dead;
And cursed Dionyza hath
The pregnant instrument of wrathR

Old copy:

SO

The dove of Paphos might with the crow
Vie feathers white.

The sense requires a transposition of these words, and that we should read:

So

With the dove of Paphos might the crow
Vie feathers white. M. MASON.

I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's judicious arrangement.

6

This so darks

In Philoten all graceful marks,] So, in Coriolanus:
and their blaze

66

"Shall darken him for ever."

Again, ibidem:

STEEVENS.

66 You are darken'd in this action, sir,

"Even by your own." MALONE.

7

with envy rare,] Envy is frequently used by our ancient writers, in the sense of malice. See Vol. XVI. p. 301, n. 2. It is, however, I believe, here used in its common acceptation.

MALONE.

• The pregnant instrument of wrath-] Pregnant, in this instance, means prepared, instructed. It is used in a kindred sense in Measure for Measure. See Vol. VI. p. 191, n. 5.

STEEVENS.

Pregnant is ready. So, in Hamlet:

"And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,—.”

MALONE.