  Act i. sc. 2. Charles's speech:— ... “For what concerns tillage, Who better can deliver it than Virgil In his Georgicks? and to cure your herds, His Bucolicks is a master-piece.” Fletcher was too good a scholar to fall into so gross a blunder, as Messrs. Sympson and Colman suppose. I read the passage thus:— ... “For what concerns tillage, Who better can deliver it than Virgil, In his Georgicks, or to cure your herds (His Bucolicks are a master-piece); but when,” &c. Jealous of Virgil's honour, he is afraid lest, by referring to the Georgics alone, he might be understood as undervaluing the preceding work. “Not that I do not admire the Bucolics too, in their way.—But when,” &c. Act iii. sc. 3. Charles's speech:— ... “She has a face looks like a story; The story of the heavens looks very like her.” Seward reads “glory;” and Theobald quotes from Philaster:— “That reads the story of a woman's face.” I can make sense of this passage as little as Mr. Seward;—the passage from Philaster is nothing to the purpose. Instead of “a story,” I have sometimes thought of proposing “AstrÆa.” [pg 296]Ib. Angellina's speech:— ... “You're old and dim, Sir, And the shadow of the earth eclips'd your judgment.” Inappropriate to Angellina, but one of the finest lines in our language. Act iv. sc. 3. Charles's speech:— “And lets the serious part of life run by As thin neglected sand, whiteness of name. You must be mine,” &c. Seward's note, and reading:— ... “Whiteness of name, You must be mine!” Nonsense! “Whiteness of name” is in apposition to “the serious part of life,” and means a deservedly pure reputation. The following line—“You must be mine!” means—“Though I do not enjoy you to-day, I shall hereafter, and without reproach.” |
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