Chapter 17

... “My dearest husband, I something fear my father’s wrath; but nothing (Always reserved my holy duty) what His rage can do on me;”

Place the emphasis on “me”; for “rage” is a mere repetition of “wrath.”

“_Cym._ O disloyal thing; That should’st repair my youth; thou heapest A year’s age on me!”

How is it that the commentators take no notice of the un-Shakespearian defect in the metre of the second line, and what in Shakespeare is the same, in the harmony with the sense and feeling? Some word or words must have slipped out after “youth,”—possibly “and see”:—

“That should’st repair my youth!—and see, thou heap’st,” &c.

_Ib._ sc. 3. Pisanio’s speech:—

... “For so long As he could make me with _this_ eye or ear Distinguish him from others,” &c.

But “_this_ eye,” in spite of the supposition of its being used δεικτικῶς, is very awkward. I should think that either “or” or “the” was Shakespeare’s word;—

“As he could make me or with eye or ear.”

_Ib._ sc. 6. Iachimo’s speech:—

... “Hath nature given them eyes To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop Of sea and land, which can distinguish ’twixt The fiery orbs above, and the twinn’d stones Upon the number’d beach.”

I would suggest “cope” for “crop.” As to “twinn’d stones”—may it not be a bold _catachresis_ for muscles, cockles, and other empty shells with hinges, which are truly twinned? I would take Dr. Farmer’s “umber’d,” which I had proposed before I ever heard of its having been already offered by him: but I do not adopt his interpretation of the word, which I think is not derived from _umbra_, a shade, but from _umber_, a dingy yellow-brown soil, which most commonly forms the mass of the sludge on the sea-shore, and on the banks of tide-rivers at low water. One other possible interpretation of this sentence has occurred to me, just barely worth mentioning;—that the “twinn’d stones” are the _augrim_ stones upon the number’d beech,—that is, the astronomical tables of beech-wood.