Not to be shak'd: the agent for his master; The hand-fast to her lord.-I have given him that, Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her Of liegers for her sweet; and which she, after, Except she bend her humour, shall be assur'd Re-enter PISANIO, and Ladies. To taste of too. So, so ;-well done, well done: Bear to my closet:-Fare thee well, Pisanio; But when to my good lord I prove untrue, I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you. [Exit. SCENE VII. Another Room in the Same. Enter IMOGEN. IMO. A father cruel, and a step-dame false A foolish suitor to a wedded lady, That hath her husband banish'd;-O, that husband! My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated Of LIEGERS for her sweet ;] A lieger ambassador is one that resides in a foreign court to promote his master's interest. JOHNSON. So, in Measure for Measure: "Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, "Intends you for his swift embassador, "Where you shall be an everlasting lieger." STEEvens. 9 And shall do:] Some words, which rendered this sentence less abrupt, and perfected the metre of it, appear to have been omitted in the old copies. STEEVENS. 1-O, that husband! My supreme CROWN of grief!] Imogen means to say, that Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stolen, As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable her separation from her husband is the completion of her distress. So, in King Lear : "This would have seem'd a period "To such as love not sorrow; but another, "To amplify too much, would make much more, Again, in Coriolanus : 66 the spire and top of praise." Again, more appositely, in Troilus and Cressida : "Make Cressid's name the very crown of falsehood." Again, in The Winter's Tale : "The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, 2 - but most miserable Is the desire that's glorious:] Her husband, she says, proves her supreme grief. She had been happy had she been stolen as her brothers were, but now she is miserable, as all those are who have a sense of worth and honour superior to the vulgar, which occasions them infinite vexations from the envious and worthless part of mankind. Had she not so refined a taste as to be content only with the superior merit of Posthumus, but could have taken up with Cloten, she might have escaped these persecutions. This elegance of taste, which always discovers an excellence and chooses it, she calls with great sublimity of expression, "The desire that's glorious; " which the Oxford editor not understanding, alters to-" The degree that's glorious." WARBURTON. 3 Blessed be those, How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, Which seasons comfort.] The last words are equivocal; but the meaning is this: who are beholden only to the seasons for their support and nourishment; so that, if those be kindly, such have no more to care for, or desire. WARBURTON. I am willing to comply with any meaning that can be extorted from the present text, rather than change it, yet will propose, but with great diffidence, a slight alteration: 66 Bless'd be those, "How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, Enter PISANIO and IACHIMO. Pis. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome; Comes from my lord with letters. Who gratify their innocent wishes with reasonable enjoyments. JOHNSON. I shall venture at another explanation, which, as the last words are admitted to be equivocal, may be proposed. "To be able to refine on calamity (says she) is the miserable privilege of those who are educated with aspiring thoughts and elegant desires. Blessed are they, however mean their condition, who have the power of gratifying their honest inclination, which circumstance bestows an additional relish on comfort itself." "You lack the season of all natures, sleep." Macbeth. Again, in Albumazar, 1615: 66 the memory of misfortunes past "Seasons the welcome." STEEVENS. In my apprehension, Imogen's sentiment is simply this: "Had I been stolen by thieves in my infancy, (or, as she says in another place, born a neat-herd's daughter,) I had been happy. But instead of that, I am in a high, and, what is called, a glorious station; and most miserable in such a situation! Pregnant with calamity are those desires, which aspire to glory; to splendid titles, or elevation of rank! Happier far are those, how low soever their rank in life, who have it in their power to gratify their virtuous inclinations: a circumstance that gives an additional zest to comfort itself, and renders it something more; or (to borrow our author's words in another place) which keeps comfort always fresh and lasting. A line in Timon of Athens may perhaps prove the best comment on the former part of this passage: "O the fierce wretchedness that glory brings!" In King Henry VIII. also, Anna Bullen utters a sentiment that bears a strong resemblance to that before us: 66 I swear, 'tis better "To dwell with humble livers in content, Of the verb to season, (of which the true explanation was originally given by Mr. Steevens,) so many instances occur as fully to justify this interpretation. It is used in the same metaphorical sense in Daniel's Cleopatra, a tragedy, 1594: "This that did season all my sour of life-." Again, in our author's Romeo and Juliet: Іасн. Change you, madam? The worthy Leonatus is in safety, And greets your highness dearly. [Presents a letter. Thanks, good sir: IMO. You are kindly welcome. LACH. All of her, that is out of door, most rich! If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare, [Aside. Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend! Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight; IMO. [Reads.]-He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your trustLEONATUS. "How much salt water thrown away in waste, Again, in Twelfth-Night: All this to season "A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh MALONE. I agree with Steevens that the word seasons, in this place, is used as a verb, but not in his interpretation of the former part of this passage. Imogen's reflection is merely this: "That those are happy who have their honest wills, which gives a relish to comfort; but that those are miserable who set their affections on objects of superior excellence, which are of course, difficult to obtain." The word honest means plain or humble, and is opposed to glorious. M. MASON. 4 Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your TRUST LEONATUS.] Were Leonatus writing to his Steward, this style might be proper; but it is so strange a conclusion of a letter to a princess, and a beloved wife, that it cannot be right. I have no doubt therefore that we ought to read : 66 as you value your TRUEST. "LBONATUS." M. MASON. So far I read aloud: But even the very middle of my heart Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.- This emendation is at once so neat and elegant, that I cannot refuse it a place in the text; and especially as it returns an echo to the words of Posthumus when he parted from Imogen, and dwelt so much on his own conjugal fidelity: "The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth." STEEVENS. Mr. M. Mason's conjecture would have more weight, if it were certain that these were intended as the concluding words of the letter. It is more probable that what warmed the very middle of the heart of Imogen, formed the conclusion of Posthumus's letter; and the words-so far, and by the rest, support that supposition. Though Imogen reads the name of her husband, she might suppress somewhat that intervened. Nor, indeed, is the adjuration of light import, or unsuitable to a fond husband, supposing it to be the conclusion of the letter. Respect my friend, says Leonatus, as you value the confidence reposed in you by him to whom you have plighted your troth. MALONE. It is certain, I think, from the break-" He is one," &c. that the omitted part of the letter was at the beginning of it; and that what follows (all indeed that was necessary for the audience to hear,) was its regular and decided termination.-Was it not natural, that a young and affectionate husband, writing to a wife whom he adored, should express the feelings of his love, before he proceeded to the detail of his colder business? STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens forgets that this is not a love letter, written in the ordinary course by Posthumus to Imogen, but a letter of recommendation, written for the express purpose of introducing lachimo to her. The paragraph therefore, "read aloud," was probably the very second sentence of her letter, as the first would naturally contain his name and quality-and after he has apprized her who the bearer of his letter is, and requested her to treat him kindly for his sake, he would naturally proceed to that which "warmed the very middle of her heart." Independent indeed of this consideration, if the learned commentator had been more conversant with these expressions of tenderness, he would have known that there is no part of a letter in which they are more likely to be found than in the end, and that no man who truly loved a woman would let his concluding words treat of the colder business, that had no connexion with his passion. On the contrary, the warmest and most passionate assurances of affection are always found there. MALONE. |