VOL. IV. VALENTINIAN. Page 274. BALBUS........ She pointed to a Lucrece that hung by, &c. Seward compares this passage with one in Fenton's Mariamne; but says that our poets have much the advantage of him: that Fenton rises into beauty like the gradual opening of a fair morning; but that they break out at once in full lustre, like the sun bursting from an eclipse. Mr. Seward forgets, that the sun's emerging from an eclipse, is precisely as gradual as his rising in the morning. Page 276. ARDELIA........ The honour of a woman is her praises; The way to get them, to be seen and sought too. We should surely read-- To be seen, and sought to. The second-- Be a maid, and take'em. That is, take them, which appears the true reading. I suppose, though there be no stage-direction for that purpose, that Ardelia offers some jewels to Lucinda, which she presses her to take: the word bere confirms the conjecture. Valentinian was neither present, nor had been mentioned in the scene. Page 277. LUCINA........ If ever any thing were constant in you Except your sins, or common but your curses. Seward and the last Editors agree in this reading, though unsupported by any of the old copies, but disagree with respect to the explanation of it. Seward supposing that by your curses, is meant the curses entailed on all womankind; (what those curses are, he has not specified) and the Editors supposing that by your curses, is meant the curses that should attend their sins. The second folio reads-- Or coming but your courses. Which must be wrong, for it is not intelligible; it leads, however, to what I suspect to be the true reading, viz. Or coming but your curtsies. Coming is here used in the sense of becoming; a license frequently assumed by the old dramatic writers. In Shakespeare, we find the word vail used for avail; bate for abate; force for enforce; currents for occurrents; and many other abbreviations of a similar nature; and comely, a word which might be substituted here instead of coming, is derived from the verb become, leaving out the first syllable. There is no great difference in the trace of the letters between courses and curtsies; and I think that no reader can be satisfied with the explanation given either by Seward, or the Editors, of the passage as it now stands. Page 279. LUCINA........ Ye are your purses' agents, not the prince's. Is this the virtuous lore you train'd me out to? We should certainly read lure, instead of lore: the allusion is to falconry; and the word train'd proves it. Page 280. PHORBA........ She were a mistress for no private greatness And such an anger as this lady learns us Stuck with such pleasing dangers, Gods, I ask ye This passage, as it is pointed, is unentelligible: to frown a ravished kiss from anger is absolute nonsense. There should be a full stop after frown, and the speech should run thus-- She were a mistress for no common greatness Stuck with such pleasing dangers, Gods, I ask ye, And the meaning is this: she would not be a mistress worthy of a great man, even in private life, if she could not frown; but to ravish a kiss, stuck with such pleasing dangers as arise from such resentment as this lady expresses, is a temptation for the Gods themselves. Page 284. ACCIUS........ That daring soul that first taught disobedience The sense requires that we should read fall, instead of feel. Page 284. AccIUS........ Whilst majesty is made to be obeyed, And not enquir'd into; whilst Gods and Angels I have no doubt but we should read-- Make that a rule as we do, Instead of but. Page 287. ACCIUS........ They say besides, you nourish strange devourers, A people, as they term them, made of paper, In which the secret sins of each man's monies The last Editors find no difficulty in this passage; but they have not attempted to shew how the last three lines can be applicable to bawds, or why bawds should be said to be a people made of paper. Seward was aware of the difficulty, and endeavours to get over it, by reading each man's body, instead of monies; yet even this amendment will not produce good sense. A very slight alteration will render the passage clearly intelligible. If we read and in the fourth line, instead of a, it will run thus-- Lazy and lustful creatures, that abuse you, And people, as they term them, made of paper, By the people last described, Accius means, not bawds, but informers, to whom his description is perfectly applicable. It is well known to those who are conversant in the history of Rome under the emperors, that every man of rank lay at the mercy of informers, and how frequently innocent persons were impeached by them, merely on account of their wealth. It would be strange if Accius, in stating the grievances of the empire, should have omitted these informers, who were the immediate objects of his fear, as we find in the next page but one, where he says to Valentinian-- Let not this body, That has look'd bravely in his blood for Cæsar, &c. |