5 O! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound Enough! no more: 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou, Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, ΙΟ 5. sound] F, Ff, and most edd.; sound, Camb., Globe, etc.; South Pope and others; Wind Rowe, i.; south-wind Keightley. notwithstanding thy capacitie, Receiveth as the sea. note below). 11. there,] F, thee Daniel. ... 5. sound] It might seem that Milton anticipated Pope's emendation of 66 south," as in the lines (Paradise Lost, iv. 156-159), gentle gales... odoriferous. whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils"; yet in Comus (555-557) he may also seem to have preferred the F reading "sound," for he writes, "a soft and solemn-breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes, And stole upon the air." More pertinent is the passage from Sidney's Arcadia, quoted by Steevens: "Her breath is more sweete than a gentle South-west wind, which comes creeping ouer flowrie fieldes and shadowed waters in the extreame heate of sommer"; for in the context of this passage (see the note on line 35) other resemblances occur, which make it probable that Shakespeare had Sidney's romance in his mind (see also Introduction, p. xiv). On the other hand, the foggy south puffing with wind and rain" (As You Like It, III. v. 50), would hardly commend itself to the author of Twelfth Night, whose notions of the south wind were, as I venture to suspect, slightly classical (cf. "floribus Austrum Porditus... immisi," Virgil, Ecl. ii. 58, 59; also references in Plutarch and in Golding's Ovid). But apart from all this, what we have to take into most careful account is Shakespeare's characteristic mode of dealing with nature, whether directly or through books, and his methods of weaving its materials almost everywhere into the texture of his verse either first hand, or, as in this instance, by means of the verbal figures (we may compare Swinburne, the sounds that shine," or Shelley, "music spread like light"). These principles may guide 66 10, 11.] Rowe, etc., That Nought enters there, F (see us here, and without further discussion of the passage I shall be content to leave the Folio reading "sound" to all lovers of the poetry of Shakespeare, and I will merely add the somewhat similar thought in Bacon (Essay, "Of Gardens"), "The breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes like the warbling of music) than in the hand." See also Introd. p. xxv. 7, 8.] We may note the rhymes in these lines; also in II and 12. In 7 and 8 they may serve to end the music, or at least to close the lyrical opening of the speech. In Shakespeare such rhymes often announce the fall of the curtain. 7. Enough] already the Duke "surfeits." 9. quick, etc.] Here "quick" is partly explained by "Even in a minute" (line 14), and "fresh" probably repeats quick." Therefore we may paraphrase: "O love, you are always wanting some new distraction, new food; you are as ready to swallow as the ocean itself, and what you have swallowed soon fails to satisfy; however valuable it may be, however excellent, straightway it loses its value, and sinks to neglect.' For the thought we must compare Bacon, "It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value (see 12, below) of things (Essay, "Of Love," v. i. 8). For the simile "receiveth as the sea," cf. "But mine is all as hungry as the sea, And can digest as much" (II. iv. 100, 101). 11.] The F reading of this line-see textual notes-must be an error, and Rowe changed the full stop after "sea" to a comma. II. there] Used loosely without any definite antecedent, but it refers chiefly to "capacity." Note the partial rhyme Of what validity and pitch soe'er, But falls into abatement and low price, Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy, That it alone is high fantastical. Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord? Duke. Cur. 15 What, Curio? The hart. Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have. O! when mine eyes did see Olivia first, 12. pitch] F, pith Gould; soe'er] so ere F; so e're F 3, 4, Rowe; soever Capell, Rann. 14. is fancy] is fancie F; in fancy Theobald, Warburton, Johnson; it's fancy Upton. 15. high fantastical] high fantasticall F, high-fantastical various edd. with "soe'er" in next line; this can be hardly intentional as in 7 and 8; F has "so, ere"; Capell suggests "soever"; thus the rhyme would be avoided. 12. validity] value. Cf. "Whose high respect and rich validity Did lack a parallel," All's Well that Ends Well, v. iii. 192; and for both thought and expression cf. also "unvalued jewels, All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea,' Richard III. I. iv. 27, 28. 12. pitch] figure from falconry. Here it may mean, first, "however high above the sea"; next, it carries on and almost repeats the notion of "validity"; and is further explained by "falls into abatement" (line 13). 13. falls] Suggested by "pitch" in line 12, but also a figure from the sea. 13. abatement] as contrasted with pitch"; in the same way "low price" is contrasted with "validity." 14, 15. so full . fantastical First we note that "alone" has the force of "beyond others"; cf. "I am alone the villain of the earth,” Antony and Cleopatra, IV. vi. 30; next, some word play and antithesis relate "fantastical" to "fancy"; also the reading "high-fantastical" would make clearer the force of "high," and give fuller meaning to the whole passage. With regard to the interpretation of this"complicated nonsense Warburton unwisely called it-we first question the "alone," and cf. A MidsummerNight's Dream, v. 7, 8, "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact"; next we quote lines " 4-6-a yet more important parallel "Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends." For Shakespeare's views of love and poetry in connection with this passage, see the author's Handbook to Shakespeare, chapters iv. and vii.; and, as another example of "so full of shapes is fancy," compare, (Love) "Formed by the eye, and therefore like the eye, Full of strange shapes, ... and of forms," Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 771-773. 14. is fancy] The true reading, doubtless, as may appear from the following note (lines 14, 15); "fancy," i.e. love, especially of the lighter kind, is here the "love" of line 1, and the "spirit of love" of line 9. See also Introduction, p. xxxv, footnote 2. says 16. The hart] "The poet, Hazlitt, "runs riot in a conceit, and idolises a quibble." But as we shall have to protest more than once in these notes-the practice, if sometimes pleasing, is sometimes pernicious. This particular pun, which was started" in As You Like It, III. ii. 260, and is closely followed up in Twelfth Night, Iv. i. 63, will be hunted to the death -or, the metaphor apart-will reach its perilous climax in Julius Cæsar, III. i. 204, 207, 208. 17. the noblest that I have] i.e. the noblest part of me. After the pun we might expect that the Duke should hunt his heart in line 17, and be hunted by his desires in lines 20 to 22. Methought she purg'd the air of pestilence; Enter VALENTINE. 20 How now! what news from her? Val. So please my lord, I might not be admitted; With eye-offending brine: all this to season 25 19.] In parenthesis, Capell and others. 25. years' heat] yeares heate F, yeares heat F 3, years heat F 4 and some edd., years hence Rowe and others; years' heat as in text is the reading adopted by most edd. 28. chamber] Chamber F; chambers Ff, Rowe, and others; chamber's Capell conj. 19. purg'd the air of pestilence] An apposite figure in those days, and very frequent in Shakespeare. 22. pursue me] The reference is to the fable of Action, which Shakespeare may have derived from Golding's Ovid (Met. III. 138 sqq.); but we must also compare the following four lines from the fifth sonnet in Daniel's Delia, 1594: "Which turn'd my sport into a hart's despaire, Which still is chac'd, while I have any breath, By mine own thoughts, sette on me by my faire; My thoughts like hounds pursue me to my death"; and for a later use of the fable we may refer to Shelley, Adonais, "And his own thoughts, along that rugged way, Pursued like raging hounds their father and their prey. 23. might] in older sense of "was able," or "could." 25. element] Here and in III. 1. 62 it means the sky. In III. iv. 130 it is used metaphorically, almost as in our "out of one's element." For the four "elements," see Henry V. III. vii. 22, 23, "He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him." Later, the word was sometimes used of one element, the air, or sky, as in Euphues (quoted by Craig), "the beautifulnesse of the element"; or North's Plutarch, "the dust in the element"; or Julius Cæsar, 1. iii. 128, "the complexion of the element," i.e. the appearance of the sky. See also note on III. i. 62. 25. till seven years' heat] Probably we should omit the apostrophe after "years," and interpret "heated seven years," i.e. by seven revolutions of the sun. For "heat as a participle, cf. King John, IV. i. 61, "The iron of itself, though heat red-hot." But some regard "heat as a noun, and explain, "till the heat of seven years (i.e. summers) has passed"; and others would read "hence" for "heat." 26. ample] full; cf. "at ample point," Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 89. 28. chamber round] Probably suggested by walking the cloisters, in line preceding. 29. eye-offending brine] Cf. Othello, III. iv. 51, "I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me." A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh 30 Duke. O she that hath a heart of that fine frame To pay this debt of love but to a brother, 35 31. remembrance] Almost a quadri- lines 36-38 which we may interpret as syllable. 33. To pay] as to pay. 34. golden shaft] Possibly again a suggestion from Golding's Ovid: "There from hys quiuer full of shafts two arrowes did he take Of sundrie workes: tone causeth Loue, the tother doth it slake, That causeth loue, is all of golde with point full sharpe and bright, That chaseth loue is blunt, whose steele with leaden head is dight." Cf. also A Midsummer-Night's Dream, 1. i. 170. 35. flock]" No more all that our eyes can see of her... is to be matched with the flocke of unspeakable vertues, laid up delightfully in that best builded fold." From Sidney's Arcadia, in the context of the passage quoted in the note on line 5. 35-38. all affections... self king] For readings, punctuation, etc., see textual notes. Some would transpose "Her sweet perfections " thus (lines 37 and 38)-"These sovereign thrones, her sweet perfections Are all supplied and fill'd with one self king." But I think it better to retain the F reading altogether, except for the comma after "supplied," though (unless we explain, "And her sweet perfections are filled") a comma before and after "Her sweet perfections" seems not inadmissible. Some even print these three words as a parenthesis, which is not so commendable. As to the thought of the passage, which the poet may seem to have left somewhat ambiguous (App. II.), opinion differs considerably, and Hunter is inclined to doubt the authenticity of the text; but we may begin by noting that "all affections else" means both "all her affection for others" and "all her other affections"; and thus it leads naturally up to the expansion (see note on II. iv. 112) in follows:-"The one affection, love, which is, moreover, an affection for one, shall dominate and satisfy all her affections, that is, her sweet perfections, including liver, brain, and heart." With this interpretation we retain the F reading "perfections"; if "perfection" be the accepted reading, then we may paraphrase "When the one affection, love, shall dominate and satisfy all her affections, and at the same time perfect her woman's nature." But this interpretation is less likely, though it is just possible (App. II.) that the poet includes the singular notion within the plural "perfections." We may even identify it with the word "perfection," as, possibly, in Henry V. III. vii. 50, or better, "whose fulness of perfection lies in him," King John, II. i. 440; or again, in this play, "when they (women) to perfection grow" (II. iv. 41). Cf. also "Pour parfaire ce qui reste de la perfection de nos âmes," Belleforest; also a note on the subject in my Handbook to Shakespeare, ch. vii. As to "liver, brain, and heart" (cf. Plato, Timaus, III. 69, 70), they are the organs of such leading passions or faculties as (i.) love, (ii.) intellect, (iii.) affection or emotion (or, according to Steevens, “(i.) passions, (ii.) judgement, (iii.) sentiments"). See also Fletcher, The Purple Island, note to Canto III. (10), "Here Plato disposed the seats of Love," etc. And as to their being "sovereign thrones," cf. "seats and domiciles which the several faculties of the mind do take and occupate in the organs of the body" (Bacon, Advancement of Learning, II. ix. 3); or, in this play (II. iv. 22), "It gives a very echo to the seat where Love is throned." This is the "hearted throne" of Othello, 111. iii. 448. See also notes on II. iv. 24, II. iv. 99, and 111. ii. 19, 20. These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd Away before me to sweet beds of flowers; [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The Sea-coast. Enter VIOLA, Captain, and Sailors. Vio. What country, friends, is this? 37. These] F, Three Warburton and others. 37, 38.] F prints without any stop from are all to self king; other readings are fill'd, (O sweet perfection!) Warburton; fill'd, (Her sweet perfection) Capell and others; fill'd of her sweet perfections Keightley; fill'd, Her sweet perfections Pope, etc. 38. self king] selfe king F; selfe same king F 2; self same king F 3; self-same king F 4; selfking Malone, Keightley. F. Scene II. The Sea-coast: added by Capell; The Street. Rowe. 1. friends] (Friends) 2. This is] omitted by Pope and some others. " 38. self] Almost equivalent to "self same" (as printed in F 2, 3). "Self" meant "same"; cf. German selbe; self king may mean, 'one and the same king," "one exclusive king,” “a king one with herself," or less probably, "king of herself"; and the expression is probably an example of Shakespeare's fondness for moralising two meanings in one word. See Appendix II. 39, 40.] Already therefore love seeks another distraction" (see note on line 9). Scene II. 1, 2.] Apparently an Alexandrine; cf. lines 17, and 35, 36, and others in this scene, where the exigencies of dialogue, as so often in Shakespeare, overrule the pentameter arrangement. 2. Illyria] This is not the scene of story in any of Shakespeare's originals, so far as we have discovered them; nor does the poet make any other reference to this country, though we have "Illyrian" in 2 Henry VI. iv. i. 108. It was often Shakespeare's practice to vary from his authorities in respect of locality (as also of the names of his Dramatis Persona), or purposely to leave it vague, as in the case of As You Like It, The Tempest, etc. (See, for example, Introduction to the latter play in the "Arden" Edition, pp. The |