She's an adultress; I have said with whom: 9 A federary with her; and one that knows That vulgars give bold titles;2 ay, and privy Her. Leon. No, no; if I mistake In those foundations which I build upon, The centre3 is not big enough to bear 9 A federary with her;] A federary (perhaps a word of our author's coinage) is a confederate, an accomplice. Steevens. We should certainly read-a feodary with her. There is no such word as federary. See Cymbeline, Act III, sc. ii. Malone. Malone says we should certainly read feodary, and quotes a passage in Cymbeline as a proof of his assertion; but surely this very passage is as good authority for reading federary, as that can be for reading feodary. Besides, federate is more naturally derived from faderis, the genitive of the Latin word fœdus; and the genitive case is the proper parent of derivatives, as its name denotes. M. Mason. 1 But with her most vile principal,] One that knows what we should be ashamed of, even if the knowledge of it rested only in her own breast and that of her paramour, without the participation of any confidant.-But, which is here used for only, renders this passage somewhat obscure. It has the same signification again in this scene: 2 "He, who shall speak for her is afar off guilty, give bold titles;] The old copy reads-bold'st titles; but if the contracted superlative be retained, the roughness of the line will be intolerable. Steevens. The centre &c.] That is, if the proofs which I can offer will not support the opinion I have formed, no foundation can be trusted. Johnson. Milton, in his Masque at Ludlow Castle, has expressed the same thought in more exalted language: A school-boy's top.-Away with her to prison: Her. There's some ill planet reigns: I must be patient, till the heavens look With an aspect more favourable.5-Good my lords, 6 Commonly are; the want of which vain dew, Shall best instruct you, measure me;-and so The king's will be perform'd! Leon. Shall I be heard? [To the Guards. Her. Who is 't, that goes with me?-'Beseech your highness, My women may be with me; for, you see, My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools; ▲ He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty, But that he speaks.] Far off guilty, signifies, guilty in a remote degree. Johnson. The same expression occurs in King Henry V: "Or shall we sparingly show you far off "The dauphin's meaning?" But that he speaks-means, in merely speaking. Malone. 5 till the heavens look With an aspéct more favourable.] An astrological phrase. The aspect of stars was anciently a familiar term, and continued to be such till the age in which Milton tells us 6 7 66 the swart star sparely looks." Lycidas, v. 138. but I have Steevens. That honourable grief lodg'd here,] Again, in Hamlet: which burns Worse than tears drown:] So, in King Henry VIII, Queen Katharine says my drops of tears "I'll turn to sparks of fire." Steevens. Has deserv'd prison, then abound in tears, -My women, come; you have leave. Leon. Go, do our bidding; hence. [Exeunt Queen and Ladies. 1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, call the queen again. Ant. Be certain what you do, sir; lest your justice Prove violence; in the which three great ones suffer, Yourself, your queen, your son. 1 Lord. For her, my lord, I dare my life lay down, and will do 't, sir, In this which you accuse her. If it prove Ant. 8 -this action, I now go on,] The word action is here taken in the lawyer's sense, for indictment, charge, or accusation. Johnson. We cannot say that a person goes on an indictment, charge, or accusation. I believe, Hermione only means, "What I am now about to do." M. Mason Mr. M. Mason's supposition may be countenanced by the following passage in Much Ado about Nothing, Act I, sc. i: 9 "When I went forward on this ended action." Steevens. I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife: Stable-stand (stabilis statio, as Spelman interprets it) is a term of the forest-laws, and signifies a place where a deer-stealer fixes his stand under some convenient cover, and keeps watch for the purpose of killing deer as they pass by. From the place it came to be applied also to the person, and any man taken in a forest in that situation, with a gun or bow in his hand, was presumed to be an offender, and had the name of a stable-stand. In all former editions this hath been printed stable; and it may perhaps be objected, that another syllable added spoils the smoothness of the verse. But by pronouncing stable short, the measure will very well bear it, according to the liberty allowed in this kind of writing, and which Shakspeare never scruples to use; therefore I read, stable-stand. Hanmer. There is no need of Sir T. Hanmer's addition to the text. So, in the ancient interlude of The Repentaunce of Marie Magdalaine, 1567: "Where thou dwellest, the devyll may have a stable." Steevens. Than when I feel, and see her, no further trust her;1 For every inch of woman in the world, Ay, every dram of woman's flesh, is false, Ant. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves: You are abus'd, and by some putter-on,2 That will be damn'd for 't; 'would I knew the villain, I would land-damn him: 3 Be she honour-flaw'd, If Hermione prove unfaithful, I'll never trust my wife out of my sight; I'll always go in couples with her; and, in that respect, my house shall resemble a stable, where dogs are kept in pairs. Though a kennel is a place where a pack of hounds is kept, every one, I suppose, as well as our author, has occasionally seen dogs tied up in couples under the manger of a stable. A dog-couple is a term at this day. To this practice perhaps he alludes in King John: "To dive like buckets in concealed wells, "To crouch in litter of your stable planks." In the Teutonick language, hund stall or dog-stable, is the term for a kennel. Stables or stable, however, may mean station stabilis statio, and two distinct propositions may be intended. I'll keep my station in the same place where my wife is lodged; I'll run every where with her, like dogs that are coupled together. Malone. 1 Than when I feel, and see her, &c.] The old copies read -Then when, &c. The correction is Mr. Rowe's. Steevens. The modern editors read-Than when, &c. certainly not without ground, for than was formerly spelt then; but here, I believe, the latter word was intended. Malone. 2 3 •putter-on,] i. e. one who instigates. So, in Macbeth: the powers divine "Put on their instruments." Steevens. land-damn him:] Sir T. Hanmer interprets, stop his urine. Land or lant being the old word for urine. Land-damn is probably one of those words which caprice brought into fashion, and which, after a short time, reason and grammar drove irrecoverably away. It perhaps meant no more than I will rid the country of him, condemn him to quit the land. Johnson. Land-damn him, if such a reading can be admitted, may mean, he would procure sentence to be past on him in this world, on this earth. Antigonus could no way make good the threat of stopping his urine. Besides, it appears too ridiculous a punishment for so atrocious a criminal. Yet it must be confessed, that what Sir T. Hanmer has said concerning the word lant, is true. I meet with I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven; the following instance in Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable, 1639: "Your frequent drinking country ale with lant in 't." And, in Shakspeare's time, to drink a lady's health in urine appears to have been esteemed an act of gallantry. One instance (for I could produce many) may suffice: "Have I not religiously vow'd my heart to you, been drunk for your health, eat glasses, drank urine, stabb'd arms, and done all the offices of protested gallantry for your sake?" Antigonus, on this occasion, may therefore have a dirty meaning. It should be remembered, however, that to damn anciently signified to condemn. So, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: "Vouchsafe to give my damned husband life." Again, in Julius Cæsar, Act IV, sc. i: "He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.” Steevens. I am persuaded that this is a corruption, and that either the printer caught the word damn from the preceding line, or the transcriber was deceived by similitude of sounds.-What the poet's word was, cannot now be ascertained, but the sentiment was probably similar to that in Othello: "O heaven, that such companions thoud'st unfold,” &c. I believe, we should read-land-dam; i. e. kill him; bury him in earth. So, in King John: "His ears are stopp'd with dust; he's dead." Again, ibid: "And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust.” Again, in Kendal's Flowers of Epigrams, 1577: "The corps clapt fast in clotter'd claye, "That here engrav'd doth lie -” Again, in Ben Jonson's Volpone: "Speak to the knave? "I'll ha' my mouth first stopp'd with earth." Malone. After all these aukward struggles to obtain a meaning, we might, I think, not unsafely read— "I'd laudanum him-," i. e. poison him with laudanum. So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman: "Have I no friend, that will make her drunk, or give her a little laudanum, or opium?" The word is much more ancient than the time of Shakspeare. I owe this remark to Dr. Farmer. Steevens. 4 The second, and the third, nine, and some five;] The second folio reads-sonnes five. Reed. This line appears obscure, because the word nine seems to refer to both "the second and the third." But it is sufficiently clear, referendo singula singulis. The second is of the age of nine, and the third is some five years old. The same expression, as Theobald has remarked, is found in King Lear: |