Lys. 'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea. Well, there's for you ;-leave us. BAWD. I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and I'll have done presently. LYS. I beseech you, do. BAWD. First, I would have you note, this is an honourable man. [To MARINA, whom she takes aside. MAR. I desire 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. 2 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; you must take some pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will leave his honour and her together.* [Exeunt Bawd, PANDER, and BOULT. ·without any more virginal fencing,] This uncommon adjective occurs again in Coriolanus: 3 My lord, she's not paced yet;] She has not yet learned her paces. MALone. 4 * 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, sir? Lys. What I cannot name but I shall offend.5 MAR. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it. Lys.. How long have you been of this profession? MAR. Ever since I can remember. Lys. Did you go to it so young? Were you a gamester at five, or at seven ? MAR. Earlier too, sir, 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 authority and impatience, I think, belong to Lysimachus. He had before expressed his desire to be left alone with Marina: - Well, there's for you;-leave us." MALONE. These words may signify only-Go back again; and might have been addressed by the Bawd to Marina, who had offered to quit the room with her. STEEVENS. • 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 signify a wanton. So, in All's well that ends well: "She's impudent, my lord, "And was a common gamester to the camp." MALOne. Again, in Troilus and Cressida: sluttish spoils of opportunity, "And daughters of the game.". STEEVENS. such resort, and will come into it? I hear say, you are of honourable parts, and are the governor of this place. Lys. Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am? MAR. Who is my principal? Lrs. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof" for more serious wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my authority shall not see thee, or else, look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place. Come, come. MAR. If you were born to honour, show it now; If put upon you, make the judgment good That thought you worthy of it. 7-and so stand aloof-] Old copies-aloft. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. If you were born to honour, show it now;] In the Gesta Romanorum, Tharsia (the Marina of the present play) preserves her chastity by the recital of her story: "Miserere me propter Deum et per Deum te adjuro, ne me violes. Resiste libidini tuæ, et audi casus infelicitatis meæ, et unde sim diligenter considera. Cui cum universos casus suos exposuisset, princeps confusus et pietate plenus, ait ei,- Habeo et ego filiam tibi similem, de qua similes casus metuo.' Hæc dicens, dedit ei viginti aureos, dicens, ecce habes amplius pro virginitate quam impositus est. Dic advenientibus sicut mihi dixisti, et liberaberis.' The affecting circumstance which is here said to have struck the mind of Athenagoras, (the danger to which his own daughter was liable,) was probably omitted in the translation. It hardly, otherwise, would have escaped our author. MALONE. It is preserved in Twine's translation, as follows: "Be of good cheere, Tharsia, for surely I rue thy case; and I myselfe have also a daughter at home, to whome I doubt that the like chances may befall," &c. STEEVENS. Lrs. How's this? how's this?-Some more ;be sage.9 MAR. For me, That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune Hath plac'd me here within this loathsome stie, Where, since I came, diseases have been sold Dearer than physick,-O that the good gods Would set me free from this unhallow'd place, Though they did change me to the meanest bird That flies i'the purer air! Lys. I did not think Thou could'st have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou could'st. Had I brought hither a corrupted mind, Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee: Perséver still in that clear way thou goest,'. Lys. 9 Some more;-be sage.] Lysimachus says this with a sneer.-Proceed with your fine moral discourse. MALONE. 1 1 Perséver still in that clear way thou goest,] Continue in your present virtuous disposition. So, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1634: 66 For the sake "Of clear virginity, be advocate "For us and our distresses." MALOne. See Vol. XIX. p. 94, n. 2. STEEVENS. Tempest: a piece of virtue,] This expression occurs in The thy mother was "A piece of virtue-," STEEVENS, I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.Hold; here's more gold for thee. A curse upon him, die he like a thief, That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou hear'st from me, It shall be for thy good. [AS LYSIMACHUS is putting up his Purse, BOULT enters. BOULT. I beseech your honour, one piece for me. Lrs. Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper! Your house, But for this virgin that doth prop it up, [Exit LYSIMACHUS. BOULT. How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole houshold, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways. MAR. Whither would you have me? BOULT. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your way. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say. Again, in Antony and Cleopatra: "Let not the piece of virtue, which is set Octavia is the person alluded to. MALONE. 3 under the cope,] i. e. under the cope or covering of heaven. The word is thus used in Cymbeline. In Coriolanus we have "under the canopy;" with the same meaning. STEEVENS. |