[So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awak'd them]
[W: no contempt or] The original edition reads the first line thus,
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness.
The sense is the same. Nor was used without reduplication. So in Measure for Measure,
More nor less to others paying, Than by self-offences weighing.
The old text needs to be explained. He was so like a courtier, that there was in his dignity of manner nothing contemptuous, and
I.ii.41 (19, 5) [His tongue obey'd his hand] We should read,
His tongue obeyed the hand.
That is, the hand of his honour's clock, shewing the true minute when exceptions bad him speak.
I.ii.44 (19, 7) [Making then proud of his humility, In their poor praise he humbled] [W: proud; and his] Every man has seen the mean too often proud of the humility of the great, and perhaps the great may sometimes be humbled in the praises of the mean, of those who commend them without conviction or discernment: this, however is not so common; the mean are found more frequently than the great.