for it must be observed that it is the poor maid only, not maids in general, who has nothing to lose but the name of maid.' But the last line seems by one foot too long; 'tickling,' however, is trisyllabic: as England sometimes is pronounced by Shakespeare 'Engeland.' So, again, 'handling' in Henry IV. pt. ii. :

'A rotten case abides no handling.'-Act iv. sc. I. The scansion of the last line, then, is:

That smooth | fac'd gentl' | man tick | eling | commod'ty.

I

2

3

5.

The last foot is an amphibrach, which, as we shall have occasion to see, Shakespeare often uses as a fifth foot, and often forms by slurring two short syllables into one-so as to make four syllables into three-an amphibrachic foot, Seymour reads are cheated e'en of that.' This licentious emendation proceeds also on the erroneous construction of 'who' as relating to 'maid.'

Bast. This sway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent.

'Commodity.'] This word was used in the seventeenth century for 'profit.' So: 'There is a bird in Arabia called 'Cinnamologus, which with the twigs and branches of the ' cinnamon tree buildeth her nest. The inhabitants, &c., 'shake the same down by shooting arrowes headed with lead to 'make commodity thereof.'-Holl. Plin. booke x. ch. 38.

'Makes it take head from all indifferency.] As we should still say 'give the horse his head;' so Shakespeare considers the horse to be 'taking his head' when he escapes control. The same metaphor recurs in Rich II, act iii. sc. 3:

To shorten you,

'For taking so the head, your whole head's length.'

'From ' means, as often elsewhere in Shakespeare, 'away 'from,' and so at variance with, all indifferency,' &c. The sentiment is that commodity or self-interest not only allows a

direction to one side when no other direction is given, but also allows a direction contrary to that resolved upon before.

Bast. And this same bias, this commodity,
This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a resolved and honourable war.

'This all-changing word.'] The first folio gives 'word ' as does the text. The second, third, and fourth folios read 'world.' The dissatisfaction which prompted such an emendation is better than the emendation. How can either a 'world' or a 'word' be clapped on the outward eye? Certainly we should read the passage with such a change as this :

And this same bias, this commodity,

This bawd, this broker, this all-changing wand
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France
Hath drawn him, &c.

The wand, being the accredited instrument by which all the transformations of the magician and enchanter are ostensibly effected, is the very object to which the epithet 'all-changing' is appropriate, and it is most naturally imagined to exercise supernatural powers on vision by the actual application of it to the outward eye.' Possibly Shakespeare in writing. these lines called to mind the ceremonial of enchantment:

'Quæ simul arenti sitientes hausimus ore,
'Et tetigit summos virgâ dea dira capillos,
'Et pudet et referam, setis horrescere cœpi.'

where we ought, I should say, to read 'ut pudet ut referam ;’And of disenchantment:

'Percutimurque caput conversæ verbere virgæ,
'Verbaque dicuntur dictis contraria verbis.'

Ovid, Met.' lib. xiv. Fab. v. vi.

It is possible indeed that 'rod' not 'wand' is the right word; for the translators of the Bible use 'rod' for the 'wand' which transforms. Boyle too exchanges 'rod' and 'wand' as synonyms; and 'rod' like 'wand' resembles word' closely. But I decidedly prefer 'wand.'

Bast. And why rail I on this commodity?
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,
When his fair angels would salute my palm ;
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.

'But for because.'] 'But for' occurring in the fifth line means 'but because,' and is intelligible and sufficient. But for because' in the second line is to modern ears mere solecism or mere repetition. Pope accordingly amended by 'But that because,' and I thought, at first sight, of, 'But for the cause' more plausibly. The expression, however, but for because' is justified by the following example :

'Not that the sight of others' miseries
Doth any way the honest heart delight,
But for because it liketh with our eyes

To see harmes free that on ourselves might light.' Translation of Lucretius in preface of North's Plutarch.

'But for my hand, as unattempted yet,' &c.] The fifth and sixth lines ascribe 'railing' to the hand,-absurdly. I would read the lines thus:

But why rail I at this commodity?

But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:

Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,
When his fair angels would salute my palm,
But for my hand is unattempted yet :
Like a poor beggar raileth on the rich.

'Like,' as will appear from several quotations hereafter to be made, has often in Shakespeare the sense of 'like as,'' in the 'same manner as,'' as ;' in fact is often a conjunction. The whole passage means 'I rail on commodity, not because I 'have the power to close my hand, if commodity should offer 'me money, but for the simple reason that no money is yet 'offered to my hand,-just as a beggar rails on rich people.' The comparison effected by means of 'like' is that between myself railing on commodity' and 'a poor beggar railing on 'the rich,'-not between 'my hand railing' and 'a poor beggar 'railing,' as it would necessarily mean if 'as unattempted' were right.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Const. What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?

Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?

What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?
Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
Then speak again.

Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum '] Lamentable here is active, 'that rheum which vents lamentations.' 'Medicinable' is similarly used as healing' in Much Ado, act ii. sc. 2; and 'deceivable' similarly as deceptive in the phrase 'deceivable and false,' in Rich. II. act. ii. sc. 3.

'Be these sad signs,' &c.] I would observe, rather for the sake of the correct interpretation of other passages than of this, that the last note of interrogation, although universally placed here, appears to me erroneous. I would

read

Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words,
Then speak again.

That is, if these signs confirm thy words, speak again.' 'Be' serves to express a conditional proposition, not a question.

Const. If thou that bid'st me be content, wert grim, Ugly, and sland'rous to thy mother's womb, Full of unpleasing blots, and sightless stains.

Collier's Corrector' plausibly but erroneously reads unsightly' for 'sightless,' which Johnson had fairly well explained to have the meaning 'unsightly' here. In truth, Shakespeare always, I believe, uses 'sightless' as that, which from causes physical or moral is not an object of sight, and never as 'that which cannot see.' So in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth addresses the spirits of evil:

'Wherever in your sightless substances

'Ye wait on nature's mischief.'-Act i. sc. 5.

where 'sightless' means 'invisible.' So again, 'sightless' 'couriers of the air' means 'invisible.' Here sightless 'stains' means 'stains which one cannot endure to look at.' Nor is 'sightless' the only adjective which our author thus substitutes for its kindred negative. In King Richard II. we have:

Who performed

The bloody office of his timeless end.-Act iv. sc. I. where 'timeless' signifies 'untimely,' as here 'sightless' signifies 'unsightly.'

Const.

Am bound to underbear.

Which I alone

'Underbear,' i.e. 'support.' Similarly Shakespeare speaks of an 'undergoing stomach,' a proud courage which supports suffering.

Const. Nature and Fortune joined to make thee

great :

Of Nature's gifts thou may'st with lilies boast,