Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

no more;

That strain again ;-it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear, like the fweet fouth,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour. Enough
'Tis not so sweet now, as it was before.
O fpirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the fea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch foe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute; fo full of fhapes in fancy,

It is true, we do not talk of the death of appetite, because we do not ordinarily fpeak in the figurative language of poetry; but that appetite fickens by a furfeit is true, and therefore proper. 2 That firain again;—it had a dying fall!

O! it came o'er my ear, like the fweet fouth,

That breathes upon a bank of

violets,

Stealing and giving odour.-] Amongst the beauties of this charming fimilitude, its exact propriety is not the leaft. For,

as a fouth wind, while blowing
over a violet-bank, wafts away
the odour of the flowers, it, at
the fame time, communicates its
own sweetness to it; fo the foft
affecting mufick, here described,
tho' it takes away the natural,
fweet, tranquillity of the mind,
yet, at the same time, it com-
municates a new pleasure to it.
Or, it may allude to another
of mufick, where the
property
fame ftrains have a power to
excite pain or pleasure, as the
tate is, in which it finds the
hearer. Hence Milton makes

That

the self-fame ftrains of Orpheus proper to excite both the affections of mirth and melancholy, juft as the mind is then difpofed. If to mirth, he calls for fuch mufick,

[ocr errors]

That Orpheus' felf may heave bis head

From golden flumbers on a bed Of heapt Elyfian flowers, and bear

Such strains as would have won

the ear

Of Pluto, to have quite set free
His half-regain'd Eurydice.
L'allegro.

If to melancholy-
Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing
Such notes as-warbled to the
firing,

Drew iron tears down Pluto's
cheek,

And made Hell grant what love did feek. 11 penferofo.

WARBURTON. 3. fo full of shapes IN fancy, That it alone is HIGH famafti.

cal. This complicated nonfenfe fhould be rectified thus,

fo full of shapes un fancy, That it alone is HIGHT fan taftical.

That it alone is high fantastical.
Cur. Will you go hunt, my Lord?
Duke. What, Curio?

Cur. The hart.

Duke. Why, fo I do, the nobleft that I have:
O, when my eyes did fee Olivia firft,
Methought, fhe purg'd the air of peftilence;
That inftant was I turn'd into a hart 4,

And my defires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er fince pursue me. How now, what news from her?

Enter Valentine.

Val. So please my Lord, I might not be admitted, But from her hand-maid do return this answer The element itself, 'till feven years hence, Shall not behold her face at ample view; But, like a cloyftrefs, fhe will veiled walk, And water once a day her chamber round With eye-offending brine: all this to feafon A brother's dead love, which fhe would keep fresh And lafting in her fad remembrance.

Duke. O, fhe, that hath a heart of that fine frame, Το pay this debt of love but to a brother,

i. e. love is fo full of fhapes in fancy, that the name of fantafli: cal is peculiarly given to it alone. But, for the old nonfenfe, the Oxford Editor gives us his new.

-Jo full of shapes is fancy, And thou all o'er art high fantaftical, fays the Critic.

WARBURTON. 4 That infant I was turn'd into a bart,] This image evidently alludes to the ftory of Acteon, by which Shakespeare feems to think men cautioned against too great familiarity with forbidden beauty. Acteon, who faw Diana paked, and was torn in

pieces by his hounds, reprefents a man, who indulging his eyes, or his imagination, with the view of a woman that he cannot gain, has his heart torn with inceffant

longing. An interpretation far more elegant and natural than that of Sir Francis Bacon, who, in his Wifdom of the Antients, fuppofes this story to warn us against enquiring into the fecrets of princes, by fhowing, that thofe who knew that which for reafons of ftate is to be concealed, will be detected and deftroyed by their own fervants.

[blocks in formation]

How will she love, when the rich golden fhaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections elfe

That live in her? when liver, brain, and heart,
5 Three fov'reign thrones, are all fupply'd, and fill'd,
Her fweet perfections, with one felf-fame King!
Away before me to fweet beds of flowers;
Love-thoughts lye rich, when canopy'd with bowers.

Vio.

SCENE II,

The Street.

Enter Viola, a Captain and Sailors.

[Exeunt.

HAT country, friends, is this?

WH

W Cap. Illyria, Lady.

Vio. And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elyftum.

Perchance, he is not drown'd; what think you, failors? Cap. It is perchance, that you yourself were fav'd. Vio. O my poor brother! fo, perchance, may he be. Cap. True, Madam and to comfort you with chance,

Affure yourself, after our ship did split,

When you, and that poor number fav'd with you,
Hung on our driving boat: I faw your brother,
Moft provident in peril, bind himself
(Courage and hope both teaching him the practice)
To a strong maft, that liv'd upon the fea;
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,

I faw him hold acquaintance with the waves,
So long as I could fee.

5 THESE foreign thrones-] We should read THREE fovereign thrones. This is exactly in the manner of Shakespeare. So, afterwards, in this play, Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and

Spirit, do give thee five fold blazon. WARBURTON.

6

HER fweet perfections,-] We should read, and point it thus, ( feet perfection!)

WARBURTON.

[ocr errors]

Vio. For faying fo, there's gold.
Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
Whereto thy speech ferves for authority,

The like of him. Know'ft thou this country?
Cap. Ay, Madam, well; for I was bred and born,
Not three hours travel from this very place.

Vio. Who governs here?

Cap. A noble Duke, in nature, as in name 7.
Vio. What is his name?

Cap. Orfino.

Vio. Orfino! I have heard my father name him:
He was a batchelor then.

Cap. And fo is now, or was fo very late;
For but a month ago I went from hence,
And then 'twas fresh in murmur (as you know,
What Great ones do, the lefs will prattle of)
That he did feek the love of fair Olivia.

Vio. What's fhe?

Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a Count,
That dy'd fome twelve months fince, then leaving her
In the protection of his fon, her brother,

Who fhortly alfo dy'd; for whofe dear love,
They fay, fhe hath abjur'd the fight

And company of men.

Vio. O, that I ferv'd that lady,

8

And might not be deliver'd to the world
'Till I had made mine own occafion mellow
What my estate is!

Cap. That were hard to compass;

7 A noble Duke in nature, as

in name.] I know not whether the nobility of the name is comprised in Duke, or in Orfino, which is, I think, the name of a great Italian family.

And might not be deliver'd, &c.] I wish I might not be made publick to the world, with regard to the fate of my birth

and fortune, till I have gained a ripe opportunity for my defign.

Viola feems to have formed a very deep defign with very little premeditation: fhe is thrown by fhipwreck on an unknown coast, hears that the prince is a batchelor, and refolves to fupplant the lady whom he courts.

[blocks in formation]

Because fhe will admit no kind of fuit,

No, not the Duke's.

Vio. There is a fair behaviour in thee, Captain; And tho' that nature with a beauteous wall Doth oft close in pollution; yet of thee, I will believe, thou haft a mind that fuits With this thy fair and outward character : I pr'ythee, and I'll pay thee bounteously, Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For fuch difguife as, haply, fhall become The form of my intent. I'll ferve this Duke'; Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him, It may be worth thy pains; for I can fing, And speak to him in many forts of mufick, That will allow me very worth his service. What else may hap, to time I will commit; Only shape thou thy filence to my wit.

Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not fee. Vio. I thank thee; lead me on.

Sir To.

SCENE III.

An Apartment in Olivia's Houfe.

Enter Sir Toby, and Maria.

[Exeunt,

HAT a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I

[ocr errors]

am fure, care's an enemy to life.

Mar. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier a-nights; your niece, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours.

Sir To. Why let her except, before excepted.

Mar. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modeft limits of order,

9

Fil ferve this Duke ;] Viola is an excellent fchemer, never at a lois; if the cannot

ferve the lady, fhe will ferve the Duke.

« PředchozíPokračovat »