With age, and altering rheums? Can he speak? hear?

Know man from man? dispute his own estate?3 Lies he not bed-rid? and again does nothing, But what he did being childish?

FLO. No, good sir; He has his health, and ampler strength, indeed, Than most have of his age.

POL. By my white beard, You offer him, if this be so, a wrong Something unfilial: Reason, my son Should choose himself a wife; but as good reason, The father, (all whose joy is nothing else But fair posterity,) should hold some counsel In such a business.

FLO.

I yield all this;
But, for some other reasons, my grave sir,
Which 'tis not fit you know, I not acquaint
My father of this business.

2-altering rheums?] Rowe has transplanted this phrase into his Jane Shore, Act II. SC. i:

66

when altering rheums

"Have stain'd the lustre of thy starry eyes,"

99

STEEVENS.

3

dispute his own estate?]

Perhaps for dispute we might read compute; but dispute his state may be the same with talk over his affairs. JOHNSON.

The same phrase occurs again in Romeo and Juliet:

"Let me dispute with thee of thy estate." STEEVENS.

Does not this allude to the next heir suing for the estate in cases of imbecility, lunacy, &c? CHAMIER.

It probably means- -"Can he assert and vindicate his right to his own property." M. MASON.

FLO.
Mark our contract.

POL.

POL.

FLO. He shall not.

POL.

FLO.

No, he must not.

SHEP. Let him, my son; he shall not need to

grieve

At knowing of thy choice.

Let him know't.

Pr'ythee, let him.

Come, come he must not :

Mark your divorce, young sir, [Discovering himself.

Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base
To be acknowledg'd: Thou a scepter's heir,
That thus affect'st a sheep-hook!-Thou old traitor,
I am sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but
Shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece
Of excellent witchcraft; who, of force, must know
The royal fool thou cop'st with;

SHEP.

O, my heart! POL. I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briars, and made

More homely than thy state.-For thee, fond boy,If I may ever know, thou dost but sigh,

That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as

never

I mean thou shalt,) we'll bar thee from succession; Not hold thee of our blood, no not our kin,

who, of force,] Old copy-whom. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as never old copy reads, with absurd redundancy:

-] The "That thou no more shalt never see," &c. STEEVENS.

6

Far than Deucalion off:-Mark thou my words;
Follow us to the court.-Thou churl, for this time,
Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee
From the dead blow of it.-Andyou, enchantment,-
Worthy enough a herdsman; yea, him too,
That makes himself, but for our honour therein,
Unworthy thee,-if ever, henceforth, thou
These rural latches to his entrance open,
Or hoop his body' more with thy embraces,
I will devise a death as cruel for thee,
As thou art tender to't.

[Exit.

PER. Even here undone ! I was not much afeard:" for once, or twice, I was about to speak; and tell him plainly, The selfsame sun, that shines upon his court, Hides not his visage from our cottage, but Looks on alike.-Will't please you, sir, be gone? [TO FLORIZEL.

• Far than] I think for far than we should read-far as. We will not hold thee of our kin even so far off as Deucalion the common ancestor of all. JOHNSON.

The old reading farre, i. e. further, is the true one. The ancient comparative of fer was ferrer. See the Glossaries to Robert of Glocester and Robert of Brunne. This, in the time of Chaucer, was softened into ferre:

"But er I bere thee moche ferre." H. of Fa. B. II, v. 92. "Thus was it peinted, I can say no ferre."

Knight's Tale, 2062. TYRWHItt. Or hoop his body-] The old copy has-hope. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

8

I was not much afeard: &c.] The character is here finely sustained. To have made her quite astonished at the King's discovery of himself had not become her birth; and to have given her presence of mind to have made this reply to the King, had not become her education. WARBURTON.

9 I was about to speak; and tell him plainly,

The selfsame sun, that shines upon his court,
Hides not his visage from our cottage, but

Looks on alike. So, in Nosce Teipsum, a poem, by Sir John Davies, 1599:

I told you, what would come of this: 'Beseech you, Of your own state take care: this dream of mine, Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch further, But milk my ewes, and weep.

Why, how now, father?

CAM.

Speak, ere thou diest.

SHEP.

I cannot speak, nor think, Nor dare to know that which I know.-O, sir,

[TO FLORIZEL. You have undone a man of fourscore three,1

"Thou, like the sunne, dost with indifferent ray,
"Into the palace and the cottage shine."

"9

Again, in The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, 1597:
"The sunne on rich and poor alike doth shine.'
Looks on alike is sense, and is supported by a passage in King
Henry VIII:

No, my lord,

"You know no more than others, but you blame
"Things that are known alike."

66

i. e. that are known alike by all.

To look upon, without any substantive annexed, is a mode of expression, which, though now unusual, appears to have been legitimate in Shakspeare's time. So, in Troilus and Cressida : "He is my prize; I will not look upon."

Again, in King Henry VI. P. III: "Why stand we here

"And look upon, as if the tragedy

"Were play'd in jest by counterfeited actors."

MALONE.

To look upon, in more modern phrase, is to look on, i. e. to be a mere idle spectator. In this sense it is employed in the two preceding instances. STEEVENS.

the selfsame sun, &c.] "For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good." St. Matthew, v. 45. DOUCE.

1 You have undone a man of fourscore three, &c.] These sentiments, which the poet has heightened by a strain of ridicule that runs through them, admirably characterize the speaker; whose selfishness is seen in concealing the adventure of Perdita; and here supported, by showing no regard for his son or her, but being taken up entirely with himself, though fourscore three.

WARBURTON.

That thought to fill his grave in quiet; yea,
To die upon the bed my father died,
To lie close by his honest bones: but now
Some hangman must put on my shroud, and lay me
Where no priest shovels-in dust.2-O cursed wretch!
[TO PERDITA.
That knew'st this was the prince, and would'st ad-

venture

To mingle faith with him.-Undone ! undone!
If I might die within this hour, I have liv'd
To die when I desire.3

FLO.

[Exit. Why look you so upon me?^ I am but sorry, not afeard; delay'd, But nothing alter'd: What I was, I am : More straining on, for plucking back; not following My leash unwillingly.

CAM.

5

Gracious my lord,
You know your father's temper: at this time
He will allow no speech,-which, I do guess,
You do not purpose to him ;-and as hardly
Will he endure your sight as yet, I fear :
Then, till the fury of his highness settle,

Where no priest shovels-in dust.] This part of the priest's office might be remembered in Shakspeare's time: it was not left off till the reign of Edward VI. FARMER.

That is-in pronouncing the words earth to earth, &c.

3

If I might die within this hour, I have liv'd

To die when I desire.] So, in Macbeth:

"Had I but died an hour before this chance,

"I had liv'd a blessed time." STEEVENS.

HENLEY.

4

Why look you so upon me?] Perhaps the two last words should be omitted. STEEVENS.

You know your father's temper :] The old copy reads-my
Corrected by the editor of the second folio.

father's.

MALONE.