the concluding scene of The Winter's Tale, where the old copies give us “Then, all stand still : Although Mr. Knight adheres to the on and the point. 297. Cassius, be constant.-Vid. 263. 297. Populius Lena speaks not of our purposes.Although this verse has twelve syllables, it is not for that an Alexandrine. Its rhythm is the same as if the last word had been merely the dissyllable purpose, or even a monosyllable, such as act or deed. It is completed by the strong syllable pur- in the tenth place, and the two unaccented syllables that follow have no prosodical effect. Of course, there is also an oratorical emphasis on our, although standing in one of those places which do not require an accented syllable, but which it is a mistake to suppose incapable of admitting such. 297. Cæsar doth not change. In his manner of looking, or the expression of his countenance. 298. The stage direction attached to this speech is modern. 300. He is addressed.-To dress is the same word with to direct. Immediately from the French dresser, it is ultimately from the Latin rectus and directus, through the Italian rizzare and dirizzare ; and its jiteral meaning, therefore, is, to make right or straight. Formerly, accordingly, anything was said to be dressed or addressed when it was in complete order for the purpose to which it was to be applied. Thus, in the Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, iv. 4, the King says, “ Our navy is addressed, our power collected;" and in A Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1, Philostrate, the Master of the Revels, makes his official announcement to Theseus thus ;-—“So please your Grace, the prologue is addressed.” So He is addressed in the present passage means merely He is ready. The primary sense of the word is still retained in such phrases as To dress the ranks; and it is not far departed from in such as To dress cloth or leather, To dress a wound, To dress meat. The notion of decoration or embellishment which we commonly associate with dressing does not enter fully even into the expression To dress the hair. In To redress, meaning to set to rights again that which has gone wrong, to make that which was crooked once more straight, we have the etymological or radical import of the word completely preserved. To redress is to re-rectify. 301. You are the first that rears your hand.-In strict grammar, perhaps it should be either “rears rear your;.' but the business of an editor of Shakespeare is not to make for us in all cases perfect grammar, but to give ús what his author in all probability wrote. A writer's grammatical irregularities are as much part of his style, and therefore of his mind and of himself, as any other characteristic. 302. Casca. Are we all ready? 303. Cæs. What is now amiss, etc. There can, I think, be no doubt that Mr. Collier's MS. annotator has here again given us the true reading, and a valuable restoration. What Casca could possibly mean by exclaiming “ What is now amiss, That Cæsar and his Senate must redress ?" is nearly inconceivable. The question is plainly suit his” or able to Cæsar only, to the person presiding; the proceedings could never have been so opened by any mere member of the senate. And the absurdity of supposing it to have been spoken by Casca becomes still stronger when we have to consider it as a natural sequence of the “ Are we all ready?” which immediately precedes. Even if any one of the conspirators was likely to have made such a display, it was hardly Casca. 304. Most puissant Casar.-Puissant, and the substantive form puissance, are, I believe, always dissyllables in Milton; with Shakespeare they generally are so (as here), but not always. Thus in King John, ü. 1, the King says to the Bastard, “ Cousin, go draw our puissance together.” Walker, however, is mistaken in producing the line “Either past, or not arrived to pith and puissance" (from the Chorus before the Third Act of King Henry the Fifth) as necessarily to be read with the trisyllabic division of the word. It is not even probable that it ought to be so read, -barely possible. In Spenser too we have occasionally this pronunciation :-as in F. Q. v. 2, 7, “For that he is so puissant and strong;" and again in st. 17, “ His puissance, ne bear himself up right.” 305. These crouchings. This is the correction (for the couchings of the old printed copies) of Mr. Collier's MS. annotator. Surely, it does not admit of a doubt. 305. And turn pre-ordinance, etc.---The reading of the old text here is “ into the lane of children.” Ma lone actually attempts an explanation of " the lane of children;" he says it may mean "the narrow conceits of children, which must change as their minds grow more enlarged!" The prostration of the human understanding before what it has got to hold as authority can hardly be conceived to go beyond this. Johnson conjectured that lane might be a misprint for law; and Mr. Collier's MS. annotator, it appears, makes the same emendation. The new reading may still be thought not to be perfectly satisfactory; but at least it is not utter nonsense, like the other. In a passage which has evidently suffered some injury, we may perhaps be allowed to suspect that "first decree" should be "fixed decree." The word would be spelled fixt, as it is immediately afterwards in 310. 305. Be not fond, etc.—The sense in which fond is used here (that of foolish) appears to be the original one; so that when tenderness of affection was first called fondness it must have been regarded as a kind of folly. In like manner what was thought of doting upon anything, or any person, may be inferred from the import of the word dotage. In Chaucer a fonne is a fool; and the word fondling can scarcely be said to have yet lost that meaning (though it is omitted by Dr. Webster). 305. Such rebel blood That will be thawed.-Vid. 44. 305. Low-crouched courtesies.-This is the correction of Mr. Collier's MS. annotator: the Folios have "Low-crooked-curtsies" (with hyphens connecting all the three words). We say to crouch low, but not to crook low. Curt'sies, which we have here, is the same word which appears in the second line of the present speech as courtesies. It is akin to court and courte ous, the immediate root being the French cour; which, again, appears to be the Latin curia,-or rather curiata (scil. comitia ?), as is indicated by our English court, and the old form of the French word, which was the same, and also by the Italian corte and the Spanish corte and cortes. Mr. Collier prints curtesies. It is curtsies in the Second Folio, as well as in the First. 305. Know Cæsar doth not wrong, etc.—This is the reading of all the old printed copies, and Mr. Collier expressly states that is left untouched by his MS. corrector. We must take it as meaning, Cæsar never does what is wrong, or unjust; nor will he be appeased (when he has determined to punish) without sufficient reason being shown.” At the same time, it must be confessed both that these two propositions, or affirmations, do not hang very well together, and also that such meaning as they may have is not very clearly or effectually expressed by the words. “Nor without cause will he be satisfied” has an especially suspicious look. That “without cause” should mean without sufficient reason being shown why he should be satisfied or induced to relent is only an interpretation to which we are driven for want of a better. Now, all this being so, it is remarkable that there is good evidence that the passage did not originally stand as we now have it. Ben Jonson, in his Discoveries, speaking of Shakespeare, says, “Many times he fell into those things could not escape laughter; as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, Cæsar, thou dost me wrong,' he replied, ' Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause.' .?" And he ridicules the expression again in his Staple of News :-“Cry you mercy; you never did wrong but with just cause." |
