(Who long'st, like me, to see thy lord; who long'st, O, let me 'bate,-but not like me :-yet long'st,- For mine's beyond beyond 5,) say, and speak thick, How we may steal from hence; and, for the gap 8 Why should excuse be born or e'er begot 3 ? 5 For mine's beyond beyond,)] The comma, hitherto placed after the first beyond, is improper. The second is used as a substantive; and the plain sense is, that her longing is further than beyond; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be beyond. So, in King Lear: 6 66 RITSON. Beyond all manner of so much I love you." STEEVENS. - speak thick,] i. e. croud one word on another, as fast as possible. So, in King Henry IV. Part II. Act II. Sc. III. : "And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish, "Became the accents of the valiant." Again, in Macbeth : 66 as thick as tale "Came post with post-." See vol. xi. p. 43, n. 3. 7-from our hence-going, STEEVENS. And our return,] i. e. in consequence of our going hence and returning back. All the modern editors, adopting an alteration made by Mr. Pope,—Till our return. In support of the reading of the old copy, which has been here restored, see Coriolanus, Act II. Sc. I. : "He cannot temperately support his honours, "From where he should begin and end.” See note on that passage. MALONE. 8 Why should excuse be born or e'er begot ?] Why should I contrive an excuse, before the act is done, for which excuse will be necessary? MALONE. We'll talk of that hereafter. Pr'ythee, speak, How many score of miles may we well ride "Twixt hour and hour? PIs. One score, 'twixt sun and sun, Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too. IMO. Why, one that rode to his execution, man, Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding 9 wagers, Where horses have been nimbler than the sands That run i' the clock's behalf' :--But this is foolery: Go, bid my woman feign a sickness; say She'll home to her father: and provide me, pre sently, A riding suit; no costlier than would fit A franklin's housewife 2. PIS. Madam, you're best consider3. IMO. I see before me, man, man, nor here, nor here, Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them, 9 of RIDING wagers,] Of wagers to be determined by the speed of horses. MALONE. This practice was, perhaps, not much less prevalent in Shakspeare's time, than it is at present. present. Fynes Moryson, speaking of his brother's putting out money to be repaid with increase 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 & lords' sonnes & gentlemen in our court put out money upon a horse race under themselves, yea, upon a journey on foote." Itin. Part I. b. 3. ch. i. BLAKEWAY. I That run i' the clock's behalf:] This fantastical expression means no more than sand in an hour-glass, used to measure time. WARBURTON. 2 A FRANKLIN's housewife.] A franklin is literally a freeholder, with a small estate, neither villain nor vassal. JOHNSON. 3 Madam, YOU'RE best consider.] That is, "you'd best consider." M. MASON. So afterwards, in Sc. VI. : "I were best not call." MALONE. That I cannot look through*. Away, I pr'ythee; Do as I bid thee: There's no more to say; Accessible is none but Milford way. SCENE III. [Exeunt. Wales. A mountainous Country, with a Cave. Enter BELARIUS, Guiderius, and ARVIRAGUS. BEL. A goodly day not to keep house, with such "I can see 4 I see before me, man, nor here, nor here, Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them, That I cannot look through.] The lady says: neither one way nor other, before me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable fog." There are objections insuperable to all that I can propose, and since reason can give me no counsel, I will resolve at once to follow my inclination. JOHNSON. I Dr. Johnson's paraphrase is not, I think, perfectly correct. believe Imogen means to say, "I see neither on this side, nor on that, nor behind me; 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: "Accessible is none but Milford way." By "what ensues," which Dr. Johnson explains perhaps rightly, by the words-“ behind me,” Imogen means, what will be the consequence of the step I am going to take. MALONE. When Imogen speaks these words, she is supposed to have her face turned towards Milford; and when she pronounces the words, nor here, nor here, she points to the right and to the left. This being premised, the sense is evidently this :-"I see clearly the way before me; but that to the right, that to the left, and that behind me, are all covered with a fog that I cannot penetrate. There is no more therefore to be said, since there is no way accessible but that to Milford."-The passage, however, should be pointed thus: 66 I see before me, man ;- -nor here, nor here, What ensues means what follows; and Shakspeare uses it here, somewhat licentiously, to express what is behind. M. Mason. Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys': This gate Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows you 6 To a morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs 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. Con sider, When you above perceive me like a crow, That it is place, which lessens, and sets off. And you may then revolve what tales I have told you, Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war: 5 - STOOP boys:] The old copy reads-Sleep, boys :-from whence Sir T. Hanmer conjectured that the poet wrote-Stoop, boys-as that word affords an apposite introduction to what follows. Mr. Rowe reads-See, boys,-which (as usual) had been silently copied. STEEVENS. 6 Night: 7 - may JET- i. e. strut, walk proudly. So, in Twelfth how he jets under his advanced plumes." 66 STEEVENS. Their impious turbands on,] 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. JOHNSON. 8 THIS service is not service, &c.] In war it is not sufficient to do duty well; the advantage rises not from the act, but the acceptance of the act. JOHNSON. As this seems to be intended by Belarius as a general maxim, Draws us a profit from all things we see: O, this life 2 not merely confined to services in war, I have no doubt but we should read: "That service is not service," &c. M. MASON. "This service" means, any particular service.' The observation relates to the court, as well as to war. MALONE. 9 The SHARDED beetle-] i. e. the beetle whose wings are enclosed within two dry husks or shards. So, in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, lib. v. fol. 103, b. : "That with his swerd, and with his sphere, "He might not the serpent dere : "He was so sherded all aboute, "It held all edge tocle withoute." Gower is here speaking of the dragon subdued by Jason. STEEVENS. See vol. xi. p. 155, n. 8. Cole, in his Latin Dict. 1679, has"A shard or crust-Crusta ;" which in the Latin part he interprets-"a crust or shell, a rough casing; shards." "The cases (says Goldsmith) which beetles have to their wings, are the more necessary, as they often live under the surface of the earth, in holes, which they dig out by their own industry." These are undoubtedly the safe holds to which Shakspeare alludes. MALONE. The epithet full-wing'd applied to the eagle, sufficiently marks the contrast of the poet's imagery; for whilst the bird can soar towards the sun beyond the reach of the human eye, the insect can but just rise above the surface of the earth, and that at the close of day. HENLEY. I attending for a CHECK ;] Check may mean, in this place, a reproof; but I rather think it signifies command, controul. Thus, in Troilus and Cressida, the restrictions of Aristotle are called Aristotle's checks. STEEVENS. 2 than doing nothing for a BABE ;] [Dr. Warburton reads -bauble.] i. e. vain titles of honour gained by an idle attendance at court. But the Oxford editor reads-for a bribe. WARBURTON. The Oxford editor knew the reason of this alteration, though his censurer knew it not. Of babe some correcter made bauble; and Sir Thomas Hanmer thought himself equally authorised to make bribe. I think babe can hardly be right. It should be remembered, however, that |