CLOWN. Truly I have him: but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal; those, that do die of it, do seldom or never recover. CLEO. Remember'st thou any that have died on't? CLOWN. Very many, men and women too. I' heard of one of them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman, but something given to lie; as a woman should not do, but in the way of honesty: how she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt, -Truly, she makes a very good report o' the worm: But he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do*: But this is most fallible, the worm's an odd worm. CLEO. Get thee hence; farewell. CLOWN. I wish you all joy of the worm. CLEO. Farewell. [Clown sets down the Basket. CLOWN. You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind ". "Now when the barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand," &c. TOLLet. ✦ But he that will believe ALL that they say, shall never be saved by HALF that they do:] Shakspeare's clowns are always jokers, and deal in sly satire. It is plain this must be read the contrary way, and all and half change places. WARBURTON. Probably Shakspeare designed that confusion which the critick would disentangle. STEEVENS. 5 - will do his kind.] The serpent will act according to his nature. JOHNSON. So, in Heywood's If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, 1633: "Good girls, they do their kind." Again, in the ancient black letter romance of Syr Tryamoure, no date: "He dyd full gentylly his kinde." Again, in Philemon Holland's translation of the 8th book of Pliny's Nat. Hist. ch. 42: "Queene Semiramis loved a great horse that she had so farre forth, that she was content hee should doe his kind with her." STEEVENS. CLEO. Ay, ay; farewell. CLOWN. LOOk you, the worm is not to be trusted, but in the keeping of wise people; for, indeed, there is no goodness in the worm. CLEO. Take thou no care; it shall be heeded. CLOWN. Very good: give it nothing, I pray you, for it is not worth the feeding. CLEO. Will it eat me? CLOWN. You must not think I am so simple, but I know the devil himself will not eat a woman: I know, that a woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her not. But, truly, these same whoreson devils do the gods great harm in their women; for in every ten that they make, the devils mar five. CLEO. Well, get thee gone; farewell. CLOWN. Yes, forsooth; I wish you joy of the worm. [Exit. Re-enter IRAs, with a Robe, Crown, &c. CLEO. Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me: Now no more Again, in The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562: "For tickle Fortune doth, in changing, but her kind." MALONE. 6 IMMORTAL LONGINGS in me :] This expression appears to have been transplanted into Addison's Cato: "This longing after immortality." STEEVENS. 7-Now no more The juice of Egypt's grape shall MOIST this lip:] This verb occurs also in Chapman's version of the 22d Iliad: the wine he finds in it, "Scarce moists his palate." STEEVENS. 8 Yare, yare,] i. e. make haste, be nimble, be ready. So, in the old bl. romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys: "Ryght soone he made him yare." See Tempest, Act I. Sc. I. STEEVENS. Antony call; I see him rouse himself [Kisses them. I give to baser life .-So,-have you done? 3 CHAR. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may say, The gods themselves do weep! A preceding passage precisely ascertains the meaning of the word: to proclaim it civilly, were like "A halter'd neck, which does the hangman thank "For being yare about him." MALONE. 9 I am FIRE, and AIR; my other elements I give to baser life.] So, in King Henry V.: "He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never ap pear in him." "Do not our lives (says Sir Andrew Aguecheek,) consist of the four elements?" MALONE. Homer, Iliad vii. 99, speaks as contemptuously of the grosser elements we spring from: ̓Αλλ ὑμεῖς μὲν πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γένοισθε. STEEVENS. I Have I the aspick in my lips?] Are my lips poison'd by the aspick, that my kiss has destroyed thee? MALONE. 2-Dost fall?] Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while her mistress was settling her dress, or I know not why she should fall so soon. STEEVENS. 3-a lover's PINCH,] So before, p. 209: "That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black." STEEVENS. CLEO. This proves me base: If she first meet the curled Antony, He'll make demand of her*; and spend that kiss, Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou mortal wretch 5, [To the Asp, which she applies to her Breast. With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool, Be angry, and despatch. O, could'st thou speak! That I might hear thee call great Cæsar, ass Unpolicied! CHAR. CLEO. O eastern star! Peace, peace! Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, That sucks the nurse asleep?? 4 He'll make demand of her ;] He will enquire of her concerning me, and kiss her for giving him intelligence. JOHNSON. 5-Come, mortal wretch,] Old copies, unmetrically: 6 66 Come, thou mortal wretch." STEEVENS. ass UNPOLICIED!] i. e. an ass without more policy than to leave the means of death within my reach, and thereby deprive his triumph of its noblest decoration. STEEVENS. 7 That sucks the nurse asleep?] Before the publication of this piece, The Tragedy of Cleopatra, by Daniel, 1594, had made its appearance; but Dryden is more indebted to it than Shakspeare. Daniel has the following address to the asp: "Better than death death's office thou dischargest, "That with one gentle touch can free our breath; "And in a pleasing sleep our soul enlargest, Making ourselves not privy to our death. "Therefore come thou, of wonders wonder chief, "That open canst with such an easy key "The door of life; come gentle, cunning thief, "That from ourselves so steal'st ourselves away." See Warton's Pope, vol. iv. 219, v. 73, Dryden says on the same occasion : Welcome, thou kind deceiver ! "Thou best of thieves; who with an easy key CHAR. O, break! O, break! CLEO. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,O Antony !-Nay, I will take thee too : [Applying another Asp to her Arm. [Falls on a Bed, and dies. CHAR. In this wild world?-So, fare thee What should I stay well. Now boast thee, death in thy possession lies Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry'; "Death's dreadful office better than himself, In this WILD world?] Thus the old copy. I suppose she means by this wild world, this world which by the death of Antony is become a desert to her. A wild is a desert. Our author, however, might have written vild (i. e. vile according to ancient spelling), for worthless. STEEVENS. 9- Downy windows, close ;] So, in Venus and Adonis : "Her two blue windows faintly she upheaveth." MALONE. Charmian, in saying this, must be conceived to close Cleopatra's eyes; one of the first ceremonies performed toward a dead body. RITSON. Your crown's AWRY ;] This is well amended by the editors. The old editions had 66 Your crown's away." JOHNSON. So, in Daniel's Tragedy of Cleopatra, 1594: "And senseless, in her sinking down, she wryes "Which Charmian (poor weak feeble maid) espyes, "For Eras now was dead." STEEVENS. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. The author has here as usual followed the old translation of Plutarch; "They found Cleopatra starke dead layed upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of her two women, which was called Iras, dead at her feete; and her other woman called Charmian half dead, and trembling, trimming the diadem which Cleopatra wore upon her head." MALONE. and then PLAY.] i. e. play her part in this tragick scene |