" Pol. Press me not, 'beseech you, so; Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder Leon. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you. until You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, sir, The by-gone day proclaim'd; say this to him, Leon. Well said, Hermione. But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We'll thwack him hence with distaffs. Yet of your royal presence [To POLIXENES] I'll The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia 7 To let had for its synonymes to stay or stop; to let him there 8 i. e. indeed, in very deed, in troth. Good deed is used in the same sense by the Earl of Surrey, Sir John Hayward, and Gascoigne. 3 し I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind 9 No, madam. Pol. Her. Nay, but you will? Pol. I may not, verily. Her. Verily! You put me off with limber vows: But I, Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths, Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet? Force me to keep you as a prisoner, Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees, you depart, and save your thanks. say you? When How My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily, Pol. To be your prisoner, should import offending ; Your guest then, madam: Which is for me less easy to commit, Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you Of my lord's tricks, and yours, when You were pretty lordings 9 then. Pol. you were boys; Two lads that thought there was no more behind, And to be boy eternal. Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o'the two? i' the sun, And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd, 9 Lordings, a diminutive of lords, often used by Chaucer. The doctrine of ill doing, nor dream'd That any did Had we pursued that life, Hereditary ours. Her. By this we gather, You have tripp'd since. Pol. Her. Grace to boot 11! Of this make no conclusion; lest you say, Leon. Her. He'll stay, my Leon. Is he won yet? lord. At my request, he would not. Her. What? have I twice said well? when was't before? 10 i. e. setting aside original sin, bating the imposition from the offence of our first parents, we might have boldly protested our innocence. 11 Grace to boot.' An exclamation equivalent to give us grace. In King Richard III. we have:— 'Saint George to boot.' The phrase has been well explained by the author of the Diversions of Purley. 11 I pr'ythee, tell me : Cram us with praise, and make us less, ride us, Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that. With But to the goal; spur we heat an acre. What was my first? it has an elder sister, Or I mistake you: O,'would, her name were Grace! Leon. Her. It is Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice: grace, indeed.The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; The other, for some while a friend. Leon. [Giving her Hand to POLIXENEs. Too hot, too hot: [Aside. To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me: But not for joy,—not joy. This entertainment 12 At entering into any contract, or plighting of troth, this clapping of hands together set the seal. Numerous instances of allusion to the custom have been adduced by the editors, one shall suffice, from the old play of Ram Alley: Come clap hands a match.' The custom is not yet disused in common life. 13 that a letter has been omitted, and that we should read:- And well become the agent: it may, I grant: Mam. Leon. I'fecks? Why, that's my bawcock 15. What, hast smutch'd thy nose? They say, it's a copy out of mine. Come, captain, [Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE. Upon his palm?-How now, you wanton calf? Art thou my calf? Mam. Yes, if you will, my lord. Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have 17, 14 i.e. the death of the deer. The mort was also certain notes played on the horn at the death of the deer. 15 Bawcock.' A burlesque word of endearment supposed to be derived from beau-coq, or boy-cock. It occurs again in Twelfth Night, and in King Henry V. and in both places is coupled with chuck or chick. It is said that bra'cock is still used in Scotland. 16 Still playing with her fingers as a girl playing on the virginals. Virginals were stringed instruments played with keys like a spinnet, which they resembled in all respects but in shape, spinnets being nearly triangular, and virginals of an oblong square shape like a small piano-forte. Spineto and espinette are rendered in the Dictionaries by a paire of virginalles; this was the common term, as the organ was sometimes called a pair of organs. 17 Thou wantest a rough head, and the budding horns that I have. A pash in some places denoting a young bull calf whose horns are springing; a mad pash, a mad brained boy. |