Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

pers" and

God give you good-morrow, master person ['parson'].-Master person,-quasi pers-on. An if one should be pierced [This passage aids in showing how " "pierce" were often pronounced alike. See "Percy" and "pierce" under PRONUNCIATION], which is the one ?-Love's L. L., iv. 2.

And Phibbus' [' Phoebus '] car shall shine.-Mid. N. D., i. 2.

But his phisnomy [' physiognomy'] is more hotter.—All's W., iv. 5.
They call themselves saltiers [' satyrs'], and they.-W. T., iv. 3.

Not Shafalus [Cephalus '] to Procrus [Procris'] was so true.—
As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.—Mid. N. D., v. I.

No; to the spital ['hospital'] go.-H. V., ii. 1.

News have I, that my Nell is dead i' the spital.—Ibid., v. 1,

She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores.-Timon, iv. 3.

Dost thou squiny ['squint '] at me?—Lear, iv. 6.

If he by chance escape your venomed stuck ['stock:' from the Italian, 'stoccata'], our purpose may hold there.—Hamlet, iv. 7.

And he gives me the stuck-in, with such a.—Tw. N., iii. 4.

I swoonded ['swooned '] at the sight.-R. & Jul., iii. 2.

To lure this tassel [' tiercel' or 'tercel'] -gentle back.-Ibid., ii. 2.

For I am his grace's tharborough ['third borough'].-Love's L. L., i. 1,

Thisne, Thisne ['Thisbe '].—Ah, Pyramus.-Mid. N. D., i. 2.

As pale as any clout in the varsal ['universal'] world.-R. & Jul., ii. 4.

Take your vizaments ['advisements'] in that.-Merry W., i. I.

Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot [ Wilmecote,' or 'Wilnecote'].-Tam. of S., Induc. 2.

To countenance William Visor of Wincot* against.—2 H. IV., v. 1.

Two shilling and twopence a-piece of Yead ['Ned' or 'Edward'] Miller, by these gloves.-Merry W., i. 1.

Hear ye, Yedward [‘Edward']; if I tarry.—1 H. IV., i. 2.

In the First Folio, the following passages contain words that are printed so as to afford the possibility that familiar corrupted verbal forms were intended; but in our editions of Shakespeare's works we have not preserved these corruptions in the text, believing them to have been merely the printer's error, and not the author's originating:

Take sixpence in earnest of the berrord ['bear-ward'].—M. Ado, ii. 1

And manacle the berard in their chains. despite the bearard that protects the bear.-2 H. VI., v. I.

Where is the master, boson ['boatswain '].-Temp. i., 1.

CROSSING SPEECHES.

In the course of Shakespeare's plays we meet with several instances of dialogue where a speech is made not in sequence with words uttered immediately preceding it; but either in reply to something said a short time before, or in a return to that of which the speaker has been

In this passage the First Folio prints "Woncot"; but it is probable that in both instances the same familiar abbreviation of the village near to Stratford-upon-Avon was intended by Shakespeare.

previously thinking. An extremely natural, and therefore extremely dramatic, effect is thus produced:

Gonzalo (to ALONZO). Sir, we were talking, that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now queen.

Antonio. And the rarest that e'er came there.
Sebastian. Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
Antonio. O, widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.

Gonzalo (to ALONZO). Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.

Antonio. That sort was well fished for.

Gonzalo (to ALONZO). When I wore it at your daughter's marriage:
Alonzo. You cram these words into mine ears, against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married my daughter there !-Temp., ii. 1.
Ferdinand. Miranda. We wish your peace.
Prospero (to ARIEL). Come with a thought.

Duke. No might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure 'scape; back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong,
Can tie the gall up in the slanderer's tongue?

[Exeunt.

(To them) I thank you.

Ibid., iv. I.

But who comes here? [Enter ESCALUS, &c.]—M. for M., iii. 2.

Mariana. Will 't please you walk aside?

[Exit with ISABELLA.

Duke. O place and greatness! millions of false eyes

Are stuck upon thee! volumes of report

Run with these false and most contrarious guests
Upon thy doings! thousand escapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream,

And rack thee in their fancies !—Ibid., iv. I.

It will be perceived that the above two passages, although in different scenes, are but one and the same soliloquy; the second being a resumption of the first, which was broken off by the entrance of Escalus, &c.

Don John. Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true.
Benedick. This looks not like a nuptial.
Hero.

Portia.

True! O God!-M. Ado, iv. 1.

You must take your chance;

And either not attempt to choose at all,

Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong

Never to speak to lady afterward

In way of marriage: therefore be advis'd.

Morocco. Nor will not.-Mer. of V., ii, 1.

Helena. If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal.
Bertram. Madam, I desire your holy wishes.

Lafeu. How understand we that ?—All's W., i. 1.

The First Folio (often deplorably erroneous in prefixes) assigns Helena's speech to the Countess, in whose mouth it has no significance; whereas, in Helena's mouth it is characteristically veiled in expression, yet clear to those who are aware of her secret affection for Bertram,-meaning, 'if the living man I love, dislike me and my grief, its excess will soon kill me.' Lafeu, who is not possessed of her secret, finds her speech enigmatical, and exclaims, "How understand we that?"

why, he's able to lead her a coranto.

Lafeu. Lustick, as the Dutchman says.
Parolles. Mort du vinaigre! Is not this Helen?
Lafeu. 'Fore God, I think so.-Ibid., ii. 3.

First Lord. Go, tell the Count Rousillon and my brother,
We have caught the woodcock, and will keep him muffled
Till we do hear from them.

Second Soldier.

Captain, I will.

First Lord. He will betray us all unto ourselves:
Inform on that.

Second Soldier. So I will, sir.-All's W., iv. I.

The First Lord's words, "Inform on that," have been altered by some commentators, who have not perceived that they are a following up of the previous portion of the speech, and that "he will" is elliptically understood as repeated before "inform." The First Lord is musing upon Parolles' answer to the words previously addressed to him, "haply thou may'st inform something to save thy life"; and says he will inform" on that point-something concerning "ourselves."

King Philip. Well could I bear that England had this praise,
So we could find some pattern of our shame.

Look, who comes here! a grave unto a soul;
Holding th' eternal spirit, against her will,
In the vile prison of afflicted breath.

Enter CONSTANCE.

I pr'ythee, lady, go away with me.

Constance. Lo, now! now see the issue of your peace!

King Philip. Patience, good lady! . . .

Bind up those tresses.

Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,

Sticking together in calamity.

Constance. To England, if you will.

King Philip. Bind up your hairs.—John, iii. 4.

The distracted mother's apparently irrelevant speech "to England &c.," is, in fact, a rejoinder to the French king's words addressed to her on her entrance. At the time he uttered them, her thoughts were too much engrossed to notice them; but afterwards-with that curious operation of the memory's ear which gives the echo of a sentence spoken to an absent-minded person many minutes subsequent to its sound-they recur to her, and she answers them in a wild and reckless spirit of despair. By the very repetition of King Philip's words, "Bind up your hairs," this is indicated; as if he would recall her to the point now at issue. Our interpretation of this passage differs from any given by previous commentators; but we think our view shows it in the light of one among many admirable touches whereby the poet has depicted a mind bordering on frenzy in this powerfully affecting scene, as in other scenes in other plays. Moreover, it is in accordance with the mode which, under the present heading of CROSSING SPEECHES, we have shown to be our dramatist's, of allowing a sentence to be spoken in reference to something said some time before in the dialogue. This he has made a special characteristic in one of his speakers, Hotspur, the impetuous-spirited, vehement-spoken man of strong and sudden impulses. Witness the following examples; the first and third of which afford instances of Hotspur's habit, while the second, besides referring to it, shows Prince Henry falling into a similar fashion for the moment himself:

Lady Percy. Oh, my good lord, why are you thus alone? . . .
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,

And I must know it, else he loves me not.

Hotspur. What, ho!

Enter a SERVANT.

Is Gilliams with the packet gone?

Servant. He is, my lord, an hour ago.
Hotspur. Hath Butler brought those horses .
What say'st thou, my lady?

Lady Percy. What is it carries you away?...
In faith, I'll break thy little finger, Harry,

An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.

Hotspur. Away,

Away, you trifler!-Love?—I love thee not,

I care not for thee, Kate: this is no world

To play with mammets, and to tilt with lips.—1 H. IV., ii. 3.

Prince Henry. I am now of all humours that have showed themselves humours, since the old days of goodman Adam to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight. [FRANCIS crosses the stage, with wine.] What's o'clock, Francis ?

Francis. Anon, anon, sir.

[Exit. Prince Henry. That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry is, upstairs and downstairs; his eloquence, the parcel of a reckoning. I am not yet of Percy's mind, the Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, "Fie upon this quiet life! I want work." "Oh, my sweet Harry," says she, "how many hast thou killed to-day?" "Give my roan horse a drench," says he; and answers, “some fourteen," an hour after-" a trifle, a trifle."—Ibid., ii. 4. Douglas. Thou art the king of honour :

No man so potent breathes upon the ground,
But I will beard him.

[blocks in formation]

Bardolph. Pray thee, go down, good ancient.
Falstaff. Hark thee hither, Mistress Doll.

Pistol. Not I: I tell thee what, Corporal Bardolph.—2 H. IV., ii. 4.
Volumnia. Oh, he is wounded-I thank the gods for 't.

Menenius. So do I too, if it be not too much :—brings 'a victory in his pocket ?—the wounds become him.

Volumnia. On's brows: Menenius, he comes the third time home with the oaken garland. Coriol., ii. 1.

Coriolanus.

Hear'st thou, Mars.

Ha!

Aufidius. Name not the god, thou boy of tears!
Coriolanus.

Aufidius. No more [than a boy of tears].—Ibid., v. 5.
Cassius. No, it is Casca; one incorporate

To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

Cinna. I am glad on't. What a fearful night.-Jul. C., i. 3.
Bernardo. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

Horatio. Most like: it harrows me with fear.—Hamlet, i. 1.
Horatio. Two nights together.. A figure like your father

Arm'd at all points exactly, cap-à-pé,

Appears before them. .

Ham. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?

Marcellus. Bernardo.

We do, my lord.

Ham. Arm'd, say you?

Marcellus. Bernardo. Arm'd, my lord.-Hamlet, i. 2.
Horatio. Have after. To what issue will this come?
Marcellus. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Horatio. Heaven will direct it.—Ibid., i. 5.

Polonius. He will come straight.

Pray you, be round with him.

Hamlet (within). Mother, mother, mother!
Queen.

I'll warrant you;

Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.—Ibid., iii. 4.

Duke. Whoe'er he be that, in this foul proceeding,
Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself,

And you of her, the bloody book of law,
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter,

After your own sense; yea, though our proper son
Stood in your action.

Brabantio.

Humbly I thank your grace.
Here is the man, this Moor; whom now,
Your special mandate, for the state affairs,

Hath hither brought

seems,

Duke and Senators. We are very sorry for it.

Duke (to OTHELLO). What, in your own part, can you say to this?
Brabantio. [He can say] Nothing, but [that] this is so.-Oth., i. 3.
Desdemona. So, get thee gone, good night. Mine eyes do itch;
Doth that bode weeping?

Emilia.

'Tis neither here nor there.

Desdemona. I have heard it said so [that it does bode weeping].

[blocks in formation]

Ibid., iv. 3.

Empress !

Charmian. Peace, peace, Iras!

Cleopatra. No more [a queen or empress], but e'en a woman.

Belarius (Aside).

Oh, worthiness of nature!

Ant. & C., iv. 13.

Oh, noble strain !

Brother, farewell.

(Aloud) 'Tis the ninth hour o' the morn.

Arviragus.

Imogen. I wish ye sport.

Arviragus. You health. So please you, sir [we are ready to attend you].

Cym., iv. 2. See UNFINISHED SENTENCES for somewhat similar examples of the kind of naturally and dramatically crossing speeches here instanced.

DEVIATING INTO VARIOUS TENSES.

In the course of narrating an incident that has occurred, Shakespeare sometimes suddenly deviates into an expression denoting actual time; so that while the majority of the verbs he uses in the speech or dialogue are in the past tense, he abruptly introduces a verb in the present tense; which imparts a spirited effect to the description:

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: sometimes I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,

« PředchozíPokračovat »