= places where there are both, in which case the former is knock me soundly?] Shakspeare seems to design a ridilittle more than the constable's assistant. 7:) Brach Mer- cule on this clipped and ungrammatical phraseology; which riman, the poor cur is emboss'd,] The Cominentators are yet he has introduced in Othello: “I pray talk me of Casnot agreed as to the meaning of brach; it is a species of sio."= 24:) Where small experience grows. But in a few,] hound, but of what kind, uncertain. Mr. Malone thinks that In a few, means the same as in short, in few words. JoHNbrach is a verb; and Sir T. Haumer reads leech Merriman: SON. = 25:) (As wealth is burthen of my wooing dance,)] i. e. apply some remedies to him. Emboss'd is a hunting The burthen of a dance is an expression which I have never term. When a deer is hard run, and foams at the mouth, heard; the burthen of his wooing song had been more prohe is said to be emboss'd. A dog also when he is strained per. JOHNSON. 26:) Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,] with hard-running (especially upon hard ground,) will have The allusion is to a story told by Gower in the first Book his knees swelled, and then he is said to be emboss'd: from De Confessione Amantis. Florent is the name of a knight the French word bosse, which signifies a tumour. 8:) This who had bound himself to marry a deformed hag, provided do, and do it kindly,] Kindly means naturally.—§:) — mo- she taught him the solution of a riddle on which his life desty.] By modesty is meant moderation, without suffering depended. =27:) — aglet-baby ;] i. e. a diminutive being, not our merriment to break into an excess. = 10:) to accept exceeding in size the tag of a point, An aglet-baby was a our duty. It was in those times the custom of players to small image or head cut on the tag of a point, or lace. = travel in companies, and offer their service at great houses. 28:)-shrew'd,] here means, having the qualities of a shrew. JOHNSON. 11:)—take them to the buttery,] Mr. Pope had The adjective is now used only in the sense of acute, inprobably these words in his thoughts, when he wrote the telligent. = 29:)— an he begin once, he'll rail in his ropefollowing passage of his preface: "the top of the pro- tricks.] Ropery or rope-tricks originally signified abusive fession were then mere players, not gentlemen of the stage; language, without any determinate idea; such language as they were led into the buttery by the steward, not placed parrots are taught to speak. 30:) stand him—] i. e. withat the lord's table, or the lady's toilette." But he seems stand, resist him.31:)—that she shall have no more eyes not to have observed, that the players here introduced are to see withal than a cat:] It may mean, that he shall swell strollers: and there is no reason to suppose that our author, up her eyes with blows, till she shall seem to peep with a Heminge, Burbage, Condelle, &c. who were licensed by King contracted pupil, like a cat in the light. JOHNSON. = 32:) James, were treated in this manner. MALONE. At the period Therefore this order hath Baptista la'en,] To take order when this comedy was written, and for many years after, is to take measures. = 33:) Well seen in music,] Seen is the profession of a player was scarcely allowed to be re- versed, practised.=34:) at any hand;] i. e. at all events. putable. The imagined dignity of those who did not belong 35:) - with bugs.] i. e. with bug bears. 36:) Mr. Mato itinerant companies, is, therefore, unworthy consideration. lone gives this speech to Biondello.=37:) Please ye we may I can as easily believe that the blundering editors of the contrive this afternoon,] Contrive does not signify here to first folio were suffered to lean their hands on Queen Eliza-project, but to spend and wear out; probably from contero. beth's chair of state, as that they were admitted to the table =38:)—as adversaries do in law,] By adversaries in law, of the Earl of Leicester, or the toilette of Lady Hunsdon. I believe, our author means not suitors, but barristers, who, Like Stephen in Every Man in his Humour, the greatest however warm in their opposition to each other in the courts indulgence our histrionic leaders could have expected, would of law, live in greater harmony and friendship in private, have been "a trencher and a napkin in the buttery." STEE- than perhaps those of any other of the liberal professions. VENS. 12:) "this seven." MALONE. =13:) An oŭion-] It Their clients seldom "eat and drink with their adversaries is not unlikely that the onion was an expedient used by the as friends." MALONE. 39:)Fellows, let's begone.] Felactors of interludes. 14:) of Burton-heath; Marian lows means fellow-servants. Grumio and Biondello address Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot,] I suspect we should each other, and also the disguised Lucentio. MALONE,= read-Barton-heath. Barton and Woodmancot, or, as it is vulgarly pronounced, Woncot, are both of them in Gloucestershire, near the residence of Shakspeare's old enemy, Justice Shallow. Very probably too, this fat ale-wife might be a real character. STEEVENS.15:)-I am not bestraught:] Bestraught seems to have been synonymous to distraught or distracted. == 16:)-leet,] At the court-leet, or courts of the manor.=17:) - Is not a commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick?] Thus the old copies; the modern ones read It is not a commodity, &c. Commonty for comedy, &c. STEEVENS. In the old play the players themselves use the word commodity corruptly for a comedy. BLACKSTONE.= ACT I.: 1:)-ingenious-] It was probably writteningenuous studies, but of this and a thousand such observations there is little certainty. In Cole's Dictionary, 1677, it is remarked - "ingenuous and ingenious are too often confounded."=2:)—to serve all hopes conceiv'd,] To fulfil the expectations of his friends. In the preceding line, Mr. Malone reads "Vicentio's son." 3:) Aristotle's checks,] Tranio is here descanting on academical learning, and mentions by name six of the seven liberal sciences. I suspect this to be a mis-print, made by some copyist or compositor, for ethics. The sense confirms it. BLACKSTONE. 9:)-to quicken you,] i. e. animate. = 5:) A pretty peat!] Peat or pet is a word of endearment from petit, little, as if it meant pretty little thing. 6:) -so strange?] That is, so odd, so different from others in your conduct. JOHNSON. 7:) cunning men-] Cunning had not yet lost its original signification of knowing, learned, as may be observed in the translation of the Bible. JoHNSON. = 8:)-your gifts -] Gifts for endowments. = 9). I will wish him to her father.] i.e. I will recommend him. 10:)—upon advice,] i. e. on consideration, or reflection. = 11:)- Happy man be his dole!] A proverbial expression. Dole is any thing dealt out or distributed, though its original meaning was the provision given away at the doors of great men's houses. STEE VENS. 12:) is not rated-] Is not driven out by chiding. 13:) Redime, &c.] Our author had tais line from Lilly, which I mention, that it might not be brought as an argument for his learning. JOHNSON. 14:)-longly-] i. e. longingly. I have met with no example of this adverb. STEEVENS. 15:) - daughter of Agenor-] Europa, for whose sake Jupiter transformed himself into a bull. 16:) Basta;] i. e. 'tis enough; Italian and Spanish. = 17:) - 1 have it full.] i. e. conceive our stratagem in its full extent, I have already planned the whole of it. 18:) - port,] Port is figure, show, appearance. 19:) Mr. Malone reads, "meaner man of Pisa."=20:)-good and weighty.] The division for the second Act of this play is neither marked in the folio nor quarto editions. Shakspeare seems to have meant the first Act to conclude here, where the speeches of the tinker are introduced; though they have been hitherto thrown to the end of the first Act, according to a modern and arbitrary regulation. STEEVENS. 21:)-wring it;] Here seems to be a quibble between ringing at a door, and wringing a man's ears. STEEVENS. 22:) - what he "leges in Latin.] i. e. I suppose, what he alleges in Latin. STEEVENS. = 23:) = ACT II. =1:)—hilding-] The word hilding or hindeling, is a low wretch: it is applied to Katharine for the coarseness of her behaviour. JOHNSON. 2:) And, for your love to her, lead apes in hell.] "To lead apes," was in our author's time, as at present, one of the employments of a bear-herd, who often carries about one of those animals along with his bear: but I know not how this phrase came to be applied to old maids. MALONE. That women who refused to bear children, should, after death, be condemned to the care of apes in leading-strings, might have been considered as an act of posthumous retribution. STEEVENS. = 3:) Baccare!] A proverbial word, meaning stand back, or give place. 4:) this small packet of Greek and Latin books:] In queen Elizabeth's time the young ladies of quality were usually instructed in the learned languages, if any pains were bestowed on their minds at all. Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Queen Elizabeth, &c. are trite instances. PERCY. = = 5:) - her frets,] A fret is that stop of a musical instrument which causes or regulates the vibration of the string. JOHNSON. 6:) And - twangling Jack:] To twangle is a provincial expression, and signifies to flourish capriciously on an instrument, as performers often do after having tuned it, previous to their beginning a regular composition. = 7:) A joint-stool.] This is a proverbial expression; "Cry you mercy, I took you for a join'd stool." See Ray's Collection. 8:) — a craven.] A craven is a degenerate, dispirited cock. Craven was a term also applied to those who in appeals of battle became recreant, and by pronouncing this word, called for quarter from their opponents; the consequence of which was they were for ever after deemed infamous. =S:) "a wild Kate to a Kate." MALONE. 10:) She vied so fast,] V'ye and revye were terms at cards, now superseded by the more modern word, brag. 11:) - 'tis a world to see, i. e. it is wonderful to see. This expression is often met with in old historians as well as dramatic writers. 12:) A meacock wretch-] i, e. a timorous, dastardly creature. 13:) - counterpoints,] These coverings for beds are at present called counterpanes; but either mode of spelling is proper. Counterpoint is the monkish term for a par ticular species of music, in which, notes of equal duration, but of different harmony, are set in opposition to each other. In like manner counterpanes were anciently composed of patch work, and so contrived that every pane or partition in them, was contrasted with one of a different colour, though of the same dimensions. STSEVENS.=14:) — two galliasses,] A galeas or galliass, is a heavy low-built vessel of burthen, with both sails and oars, partaking at once of the nature of a ship and a galley. STEEVENS, 15:)-out-vied.] This is a term at the old game of gleek. When one man was vied upon another, he was said to be out-vied. 16:) Sirrah, young gamester,] Gamester, in the present instance, has no reference to gaming, and only signifies a wag, a frolio some character. 17:) Yet I have faced it with a card of ten.] That is, with the highest card, in the old simple games of our ancestors.= = = = ACT III. 1:)-no breeching scholar-] i. e. no schoolboy liable to corporal correction. 2:)-pantaloon.] The old cully in Italian farces.3:) Pedascule,] Pedascule, from pedant.4:) but I be deceiv'd,] But, i. e. unless. = 5:) – full of spleen;] that is, full of humour, caprice, and inconstancy. JOHNSON. 6:) Mr. Malone reads, "invite them, and," MALONE.: &c. 7:) "vex a very saint," 8:)-two broken points: i. e. two broken tags to the laces. 9:) — infected with the fashions, past cure of the tives,] Fashions. So called in the West of England, but by the best writers on farriery, farcens or farcy. Fives. So called in the West: vives elsewhere, and avives by the French; a distemper in horses, little differing from the strangles. GREY. 10:) ne'er-legged before,] i. e. founder'd in his fore-feet. 11:) -crupper of velure,] Velure is velvet. Felours, Fr.=12:) -stock-i. e. stocking. = 13:)- an old hat, and The humour of forty fancies pricked in't for a feather:] This was some ballad or drollery at that time, which the poet here ridicules, by making Petruchio prick it up in his foot-boy's hat for a feather. His speakers are perpetually quoting scraps and stanzas of old ballads, and often very obscurely; for, so well are they adapted to the occasion, that they seem of a piece with the rest. WARBURTON. 14:)-to di gress;] To deviate from my promise. 15:) Quaff'd off the muscadel,] The fashion of introducing a bowl of wine into the church at a wedding, to be drank by the bride and bridegroom, and persons present, was very anciently a constant ceremony; and, as appears from this passage, not abolished in our author's age. 16:) And kiss'd her lips -] This also is a very ancient custom, as appears from the following rubric: "Surgant ambo, sponsus et sponsa, et accipiat sponsus pacem a sacerdote, et ferat sponsæ, osculans Manuale Saeam, et neminem alium, nec ipse, nec ipsa.' crum. Paris, 1533, 4to. fol. 69. = 17:) "And I, seeing this," MALONE. 18:) "my horse."-MALONE. = &c. - ACT IV. 1:). -man so rayed?] i. e. bewrayed, made dirty.2:) Jack boy! ho boy!] is the beginning of an old round in three parts. 3:) - Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without,] i. e. Are the drinking vessels clean, aud the maid servants dressed? Probably the poet meant to play upon the words Jack and Jill, which signify two drinking measures, as well as men and maid servants. 4:) -the carpets laid,] In our author's time it was customary to cover tables with carpets. Floors, as appears from the prescut = 5:) passage and others, were strewed with rushes. -bemoiled;] i.e. be-draggled; bemired. 6:)-was burst;] i. e. broken. 7:)-he is more shrew than she.] The term shrew was anciently applicable to either sex. 8:) their blue coats brushed,] The dress of servants at the time. 9:) garters of an indifferent knit:] Perhaps by "garters of au indifferent knit," the author meant parti-colour'd garters; garters of a different knit. In Shakspeare's time indifferent was sometimes used for different.=10:) no link to colour Peter's hat,] A link is a torch of pitch. 11:) Where, &c.] A scrap of some old ballad. Ancient Pistol elsewhere quotes the same line. In an old black letter book intituled, A gorgious Gallery of gallant Inventions, London, 1578, 4to. is a song to the tune of Where is the life that late lled. 12:) Soud, soud, &c.] This, I believe, is a word coined by our poet, to express the noise made by a person heated and fatigued. MALONE. 13:) It was the friar of orders grey,] Dispersed through Shakspeare's plays are many little fragments of ancient ballads, the entire copies of which cannot now be recovered. Many of these being of the most beautiful and pathetic simplicity, Dr. Percy has selected some of them, and connected them together with a few supplemental stanzas; a work, which at once demonstrates his own poctical abilities, as well as his respect to the truly venerable remains of our most ancient bards. STEEVENS.=14:) Come, Kate, and wash,] It was the custom in our author's time, (and long before,) to wash the hands immediately before dinner and supper, as well as afterwards. As our ancestors eat with their lingers, which might not be over-clean before meals, and after them must be greasy, we cannot wonder at such repeated ablutions. STEEVENS. 15:)-full-gorg'd, &c.] A hawk too much fed was never tractable. The lure was only a thing stuffed like that kind of bird which the hawk was designed to pursue. The use of the lure was to tempt him back after he had flown. 16:)-to man my haggard,] A haggard is a wild hawk; to man a hawk is to tame her.17:) That bate,] To bate is to flutter as a hawk does when it swoops upon its prey. 18:) amid this hurly, I intend,] Intend is sometimes used by our author for pretend. MALONE. 19:) "that mistress Bianca" 20:) cullion:] A term of degradation, with no very decided meaning: a despicable fellow, a fool, &c. 21:) An ancient angel-] For angel Mr. Theobald, and after him Sir T. Haniner and Dr. Warburton, read engle, or a gull, but angel may mean messenger. = 22:) Master, a mercatanté-] The old editious read marcantant. The Italian word mercatanté is frequently used in the old plays for a merchant, and therefore I have made no scruple of placing it here. STEEVENS. 23:) To pass assurance-] To pass assurance means to make a conveyance or deed. Deeds are by law-writers called, "The common assurances of the realm," because thereby each man's property is assured to him. = 24:) Go with me, &c.] There is an old comedy called Supposes, translated from Ariosto, by George Gascoigue. Thence = -- Shakspeare borrowed this part of the plot, (as well as some = = ACT V. =1:) — a copatain hat!] is, I believe, a hat with a conical crown, anciently worn by well-dressed men. JOHNSON, 2:) coney catched-] i. e. deceived, cheated. 3:) While counterfeit supposes blear'd thine eyne. To blear the eye was an ancient phrase signifying to deceive. 4:) Here's packing,] i. e. plotting, underhand contrivance. 5:) My cake is dough:] A phrase generally used when any project miscarried, or rather when any disappointment was sustained, contrary to every appearance or expectation. 6:) My banquet-] A banquet, or (as it is called in some of our old books,) an afterpast, was a slight refection, like I our modern desert, consisting of cakes, sweetmeats, and fruit = 7:) fears his widow.] Vo fear, as has been already observed, meant in our author's time both to dread, and to intimidate. The widow understands the word in the latter sense; and Petruchio tells her, he used it in the former MALONE. 8:) "You are very sensible," &c. MALONE.=6 - that gird,] A gird is a sarcasm, a gibe. 10:) Mr. Malone omits the word come. == 11:) "As frosts do bite,” de MALONE. 12:) our soft conditions,] The gentle qualities of our minds. 13:) "we indeed least are." MALONE=1 Then vail your stomachs,] i.e. abate your pride, your spicit. 15:) you two are sped.] i. e. the fate of you both is decided; for you have wives to exhibit early proofs of dis. obedience. = 16:) though you hit the white;] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery: the mark was commonly white. Here it alludes to the name, Bianca, et white. XIII. WINTER'S TALE. ACT I. =1:)—our entertainment, &c.] Though we cannot give you equal entertainment, yet the consciousness ef our good-will shall justify us. JOHNSON. = :)-regally attornied,] Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies, AC JOHNSON. 8:)-shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds.] Shakspeare, has, more than once, taken his imagery from the prists, with which the books of his time were ornamented. If my memory do not deceive me, he had his eye on a wood-cal in Holinshed, while writing the incantation of the weird sisters in Macbeth. There is also an allusion to a print el = = = one of the Henries holding a sword adorned with crowns. In this passage he refers to a device common in the titlepage of old books, of two hands extended from opposite clouds, and joined as in token of friendship over a wide waste of country. HENLEY.4:) physics the subject,] Affords a cordial to the state; has the power of assuaging the sense of misery. JOHNSON. 5:) winds- i. e. Oh! that. Sneaping, nipping winds.b:) This That may blow No sneaping is put forth too truly!] i. e. to make me say, I had too good reason for my fears. = 7:)—this satisfaction—] Welhad satisfactory accounts yesterday of the state of Bohemia. JOHNSON. 8:) behind the gest] Gest signifies a stage, or journey. In the time of royal progresses the king's stages, as we may see by the journals of them in the herald's of fice, were called his gests; from the old French word giste, diversorium. 9:) yet, good deed,] signifies, indeed, in very deed. 10:)-a jar o'the clock-] A jar is, I believe, a single repetition of the noise made by the pendulum of a clock: what children call the ticking of it. STEEVENS.=11:) "no, nor dream'd" Mr. Malone omits no. = imposition clear'd, || Hereditary ours.] i. e. setting aside 12:)the original sin; bating the imposition from the offence of our first parents, we might have boldly protested our innocence to Heaven. WARBURTON. 18:) Grace to boot!] Grace, or Heaven help me! 14:) And clap thyself my love;] She opened her hand, to clap the palm of it into his, as people do when they confirm a bargain. Hence the phrase-to clap up a bargain, i. e. make one with no other ceremony than the junction of hands.=15:) The mort o'the deer;] A lesson upon the horn at the death of the deer 16:) I' fecks?] A supposed corruption of in faith. Our present vulgar pronounce it-fegs.=17:) Why, that's my baw cock.] Perhaps from beau and coq. It is still said in vulgar language that such a one is a jolly cock, a cock of the game. = Still virginalling- Still playing with her fingers, as a 18:) girl playing on the virginals. A virginal is a very small kind of spinnet. Queen Elizabeth's virginal-book is yet in being, and many of the lessons in it have proved so difficult, as to baffle our most expert players on the harpsichord. STEEVENS. 19:) Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have, I have lately learned that pash in Scotland signifies a head. The meaning, therefore, I suppose, is this: You tell me, (says Leontes to his son,) that you are like me; that you are my calf. I am the horned bull: thou wantest the rough head and the horns of that animal, completely to resemble your father. MALONE. died blacks,] Sir T. Hanmer understands blacks died too 20:) As o'ermuch, and therefore rotten. JOHNSON. == Bourn is boundary. 21:) No bourn-] eye of the same colour with the welkin, or sky. 22:) - welkin eye:] Blue eye; an my collop!] So, in The First Part of King Henry VI. "God 23:) knows, thou art a collop of my flesh."=24:) Affection! thy intention stabs the center:] Affection means here imagination, or perhaps more accurately "the disposition of the mind when strongly affected or possessed by a particular idea."=25:) - credent,] i. e. credible. =26:) This squash,] A squash is a pea-pod, in that state when the young peas begin to swell in it.=27:) Will you take eggs for money?] The meaning of this is, will you put up affronts? The French have a proverbial saying, A qui vendez-vouz coquilles? i. e. whom do you design to affront? Mamillius's answer plainly proves it. Mam. No, my Lord, I'll fight. share in life be to be a happy man. The expression is pro- happy man be his dole!] May his dole or verbial. Dole was the term for the allowance of provision given to the poor, in great families. The alms immemorially given to the poor by the Archbishops of Canterbury, is still called the dole. See The History of Lambeth Palace, p. 31, in Bibl. Top. Brit. NICHOLS.=29) Apparent -] that is, heir apparent, or the next claimant. = 30:) The word is commonly pronounced and written nib. It signithe neb,] fies here the mouth. 31:) To her allowing husband!] "Allowing in old language is approving. MALONE. 32:)-a fork'd one.] That is, a horned one; a cuckold. still came home.] This is a seafaring expression, meaning, 33:)-it the anchor would not take hold. 34:)—— made His business more material.] i. e. the more you requested him to stay, the more urgent he represented that business to be which summoned him away. 35:)-whispering, rounding,] To round in the car is to whisper, or to tell secretly. 36:) gust it-] i. e. taste it. STEEVENS. messes, Lower messes is perhaps used as an expression to 37:) - lower signify the lowest degree about the court. 38:) — hoxes honesty behind,] To hox, is to ham-string. The proper word is, to hough, i. e. to cut the hough, or ham-string. 39:) Whereof the execution did cry out Against the nonperformance,] This is one of the expressions by which Shakspeare too frequently clouds his meaning. This sounding phrase means, think, no more than a thing necessary to be done, JoHNSON. 40:) the eye. 41:) like her medal,] i. e. her portrait. Mr. the pin and web,] Disorders in Malone reads, "his medal."=42:) Make't thy question, and go rot! &c.] This refers to what Camillo has just said, reTative to the queen's chastity. 43:) Could man so blench;] To blench is to start off, to shrink. cess we are gentle-] Success here means succession. Gentle : 44:) In whose sucis evidently opposed to simple; alluding to the distinction between the gentry and yeomanry. Him to murder you.] i. c.I am the person appointed by him 45:) I am appointed|| to murder you. 46:) To vice-] i. e. to draw, persuade you; probably for advise. 47:) i. c. Judas. = 48:) whose SMITH. =28:) = = = 1= 975 foundation | Is pil'd upon his faith,] This folly which is erected on the foundation of settled belief.= = ACT II. =1:) "my lord?" MALONE.=2:) "sir."― Mr. Malone reads, "good sir."=3:) In my just censure? in my true opinion?] Censure, in the time of our author, was ge4) Alack, for lesser knowledge!] That is, O that my knownerally used (as in this instance) for judgment, opinion. ledge were less.=5:) A spider steep'd-] Spiders were esteemed venomous. is heaved up. 7:) He has discover'd my design, and I || Re6:)hefts:] Hefts are heavings, what main a pinch'd thing;] The sense, I think, is, He hath now baby, a thing pinched out of clouts, a puppet for them to discovered my design, and I am treated as a mere child's move and actuate as they please. HEATH.8:) will sear -] ary-i. e. confederate.=10:) But with her most vile prini. e. will stigmatize or brand as infamous. = :) A federcipal, One that knows what we should be ashamed of, even if the knowledge of it rested only in her own breast and that of her paramour, without the participation of any confidant. But, which is here used for only, renders this passage somewhat obscure. =12:) He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty, || But 11:) "bold'st titles;"-MALONE. degree. But that he speaks means, in merely speaking.= that he speaks.] Far off guilty, signifies, guilty in a remote 13:) I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife;] If Hermione prove unfaithful, I'll never trust my wife out of my sight; I'll always go in couples with her; and, in that respect, my house shall resemble a stable, where dogs are putter-on,] i, e. one who instigates.=16:) -land-damn him :] kept in pairs. 14:) "Then when," &c. MALONE. =15:)Mr. Steevens, after giving various opinions on this expression, says, After all these awkward struggles to obtain a meaning, we might, I think, not unsafely read danum him, -"i. c. poison him with laudanum.=17:)— "I'd lauI see't, and feel't, || As you feel doing thus; and see withal The instruments that feel.] Some stage direction seems necessary in this place; but what that direction should be, it is not easy to decide. Sir T. Haumer gives- Laying hold of his arm: Dr. Johnson— tigonus with his fore and middle fingers forked in imitathinks that Leontes, perhaps, touches the forehead of Anstriking his brows. Mr. Henley tion of a SNAIL'S HORNS; for these, or imaginary horns of his own like them, are the instruments that feel, to which he alluded. Mr. Malone reads "but I do see't," &c.= "Relish a truth," MALONE. 19:)-nought for approba:18:) tion,] Approbation is put for proof. = 20:)-stuff'd sufficiency:] i. e. of abilities more than enough. 21:) These signify frenzy, lunacy. But it is a mode of expression with dangerous unsafe lunes o' the king! I have no where, but in our author, observed this word adopted in our tongue, to the French Il y a de la lune: (i. e. he has got the moon in his head; he is frantic.) Cotgrave. "Lune, folie. Les femmes ont des luncs dans la tête. Richelet." =22:)-Leave me solely:] That is, leave me alone.=23:) THEOBALD. "who professes." - MALONE. 24:) evils,] Comforting is here used in the legal sense of comin comforting your forting and abetting in a criminal action. 25:)—the worst yet claim the combat against any accuser.=26:) A mankind about you.] Were I the weakest of your servants, I would witch!] i.e. masculine. 27:)-thou art woman-tir'd,] Wocrone.] i. e. thy old worn-out woman. A croan is an old man-tir'd, is peck'd by a woman; hen-pecked. 28:) thy toothless sheep: thence an old woman. 29:) Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou || Tak'st up the princess, by that forced baseness] Leontes had ordered Antigonus to take up, the bastard; Paulina forbids him to touch the princess under that appellation. Forced is false, uttered with violence to truth. JOHNSON. = =30:) No yellow in't;] Yellow is the colour of jealousy, 31:) And, lozel,] A term of contempt, meaning worthless, dishonest. 32:)-Swear by this sword,] It was anciently the custom to swear by the cross on the handle of a sword. 33:) commend it strangely to some place,] Commit it to some place, as a stranger, without more provision. SON.= = ACT III. = 1:) The time is worth the use on't.] The time is worth the use on't, means, the time which we have spent in visiting Delos, has recompensed us for the trouble of so spending it.=2:) Even to the guilt, or the purgation.] The word even is not to be understood here as an adverb, but as an adjective, signifying equal or indifferent. = 8:)· pretence-] is, in this place, taken for a scheme laid, a design formed.—4:) — mine integrity, &c.] that is, my virtue being accounted wickedness, my assertion of it will pass but for a lie. Falsehood means both treachery and lie. JOHNgrief, and as such only is considered by me: I would there= 5:) - For life, I prize it-] Life is now to me only fore willingly dismiss it. JOHNSON. from me to mine,] This sentiment, which is probably bor=0:) 'Tis a derivative rowed from Ecclesiasticus, iii. 11, cannot be too often impressed on the female mind: "The glory of a man is from the honour of his father; and a mother in dishonour is a reproach unto her children." STEEVENS. 7:) I ne'er heard yet,|| That any of these bolder viccs wanted || Less impudence to gainsay what they did, || Than to perform it first.] It is apparent that according to the proper, or at least, according to the present, use of words, less should be more, = = er wanted should be had. But Shakspeare is very uncertain in his use of negatives. It may be necessary once to observe, that in our language, two negatives did not originally affirm, but strengthen the negation. This mode of speech was in time changed, but, as the change was made in opposition to long custom, it proceeded gradually, and uniformity was not obtained but through an intermediate confusion. JOHNSON. 8:) My life stands in the level-] To be in the level is, to be within the reach. :) (Those of your fact are so,)] i. e. guilt. 10:) "For as' -Mr. Malone adds these words to the preceding line. =11:) Starr'd most unluckily,] i. e. born under an inauspicious planet. 12:)strength of limit.] Strength to pass the limits of the childbed chamber. 13:) The flatness of my misery; that is, how low, how flat I am laid by my calamity. JOHNSON, = 14:) Of the queen's speed,] Of the event of the queen's trial: so we still say, he sped well or ill. JOHNSON.15:) "to the hazard" MALONE. 16:)-commended,] i. e. coinmitted. = 17:) Does my deeds make the blacker] This vehement retraction of Leontes, accompanied with the confession of more crimes than he was suspected of, is agreeable to our daily experience of the vicissitudes of violent tempers, and the eruptions of minds oppressed with guilt. JouNSON.=18:) Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honour,] How should Paulina know this? No one had charged the king with this crime except himself, while Paulina was absent, attending on Hermione. The poet seems to have forgotten this.1:)--though a devil | Would have shed water out of fire, ere don't:] i. e, a devil would have shed tears of pity o'er the damued, ere he would have committed such an action.=20:) I am sorry for't;] This is another instance of the sudden changes incident to vehement and ungovernable minds. 21:) Thou art perfect then,] Perfect is often used for certain, well assured, or well informed, by almost all our ancient writers. 22:) thy character:] thy description; i. e. the writing afterwards discovered with Perdita. = 23:) — A boy, or a child,] I am told, that in some of our inland counties, a female infant, in contradistinction to a male one, is still termed, among the peasantry a child. STEEVENS.24:) - flap-dragoned it:] f. e. swallowed it, as our ancient topers swallowed flap-dragons. 25:)—a bearing cloth - A bearing cloth is the fine mantle or cloth with which a child is usually covered, when it is carried to the church to be baptized. PERCY. 20:) some changeling:] i. e. some child left behind by the fairies in the room of one which they had stolen. 27:) You're a made old man ;] i. e. your fortune's made. 28:)-the next way.] i. e. the nearest way. 29:) never curst,] Curst, signifies mischievous. = the stile-a:] To hent the stile, is to take hold of it. = 2} your extremes,] That is, the extravagance of his coRduct, in obscuring himself "in a swain's wearing," while he "pranked her up most goddess-like."=24:) The gracious mark-] The object of all men's notice. = 25:) praak d up:] To prank is to dress with ostentation, = 26:) To me, the difference] i, e, between his rank and hers. =27:) his work, so noble, || Filely bound up?] It is impossible for any man to rid his mind of his profession. The authorship of Shakspeare has supplied him with a metaphor, whica, rather than he would lose it, he has pat with no great pro priety into the mouth of a country maid. Thinking of his own works, his mind passed naturally to the binder. I as glad that he has no hint at an editor. JOHNSON. 28) −0 but, sir," - MALONE.=25:) For 1 have--] For, in this plans, signifies because that. 30:) — dibble-] An instrument used by gardeners to make holes in the earth for the reception of young plants. 31:) --violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,] I suspect that our autant mistakes Juno for Pallas, who was the goddess of bine curi, Sweeter than an eye-lid is an odd image, but perhaps ar uses sweet in the general sense for delightful. JonsON. = 32:) — Each your doing, &c.] That is, your manner in each act crowns the act. 33:)- we stand, &c.] That is, we are now on our behaviour. = 34:) — a worthy feeding:] I cou ceive feeding to be a pasture, and a worthy feeding to be a tract of pasturage not inconsiderable, not unworthy of my daughter's fortune. JOHNSON. 35:) He looks like soots: Sooth is truth. Obsolete.=36:) — judings:] An Irish daare of this name is mentioned by Ben Jonson, ia The iriza Masque at Court. It is called Rinca fada, and is still praetised in some parts of Ireland: but here fading means De burthen of a song. = 37:) — unbraided wares?] By unbraided wares, the clowa means, has he any thing besides laces which are braided, and are the principal commodity sold ey ballad-singing pedíers?=38:)-caddisses,] Caddis is, I b lieve, a narrow worsted galloon. I remember when very young to have heard it enumerated by a pedler among the articles of his pack. There is a very narrow slight serge of this name, now made in France, inkle is a kind of tape also. MALONE.—39:) — the sleeve-hand, and the work about the square on't.] Perhaps the sleeves and bosom part of a shift. = =40:) - kila hole,) Kiln-hole is the place into whea coals are put under a stove, a copper, or a kiln in which lime, &c. are to be dried or burned. To watch the kiln-hole, or stoking-hole, is part of the oflice of female servants ia farm-houses. = 41:) Clamour your tongues,] Perhaps the meaning is, give one grand peal, and then have done. “A good clam" as 1 learn from Mr. Nichols,) in some villages ' is used in this sense, signifying a grand peal of all the Leis at one. MALONE. = 42:) — you promised me a tawdry lace,, Tawdries were a kind of necklaces worn by country weurães. =43:) — sad —] For serious. = 44:) That doth uiter — utter; to vend by retail. = 45:)—all men of hair;) Men of hair, are hairy men, or satyrs. A dance of satyrs was no unusual entertainment in the middle ages. 46:)—they call themselves saltiers:] He means satyrs. = 47:) — gullim.efry- A confused heap of things together. 48:) -- by the squire.] i. e. by the foot rule. Esquierre, Fr. = 4S:) Pol O, father, you'll know more of that hereafter.] This is an answer to something which the shepherd is supposed to have said to Polixenes during the dance.=50:) — straited – i. e. put to difficulties. = 51:)——or the fann'd snow, bolted, &c.] The fine sieve used by millers to separate flower from bran is called a bolting clota.=52:) — dispute his own estate? Perhaps for dispute we might read compute: b dispute his estate may be the same with talk over his af fairs. JOHNSON. =53:) Mr. Malone reads, “shalt never see. 54:) I was not much afeard: &c.] The character is here finely sustained. To have made her quite astonished at the king's discovery of himself had not become her birth; and to have given her presence of mind to have made this repș to the king, had not become her education. WARBURTON 55:) and by my fancy:] It must be remembered that fancy in our author very often, as in this place, means lore. = 56:) Your discontenting father strive to qualify,] Discon tenting is in our author's language the same as discontented. 57:) But as the unthought on accident is guilty To what we wildly do;] Guilty to, though it sounds harsh to our ears, was the phraseology of the time, or at least of Shakspeare and this is one of those passages that should caution as pet to disturb his text merely because the language appears different from that now in use. MALONE.=58:) But not tair in the mind. To take in anciently meant to conquer, to get the better o}. = = 59:) "She is 'the rear our birth.” Ma LONE. = 60:) - pomander,] A pomander was a little bali made of perfumes and worn in the pocket, or about the neck. to prevent infection in times of plague. = 61:)-boot.] thai is, something over and above; or, as we now say, some thing to boot. = 62:) — is half flayed already.] i. e. half stripped already.=63:)—what have we twain forgot? This is one of our author's dramatic expedients to introduce a conversation apart, account for a sudden exit, &c. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dr. Caius suddenly exelaas -"Qu'ay-j'oublié ?"— and Mrs. Quickly — “Out upon't! what have I forgot?" STEEVENS, 64:) "If I thought it were a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would se do't." MALONE. 65:) of what having,] i, e. estate, pro perty. 66:) therefore they do not give us the lie) Ia. meaning is, they are paid for lying, therefore they do a = 22:)-hent || give us the lie, they sell it us. 67:) — with the manner ACT IV. 1:)—and leave the growth untried || Of that wide gap:] Our author attends more to his ideas than to his words. The growth of the wide gap, is somewhat irregalar; but he means, the growth, or progression of the time which filled up the gap of the story between Perdita's birth and her sixteenth year. To leave this growth untried, is, to leave the passages of the intermediate years unnoted and unexamined. Untried is not, perhaps, the word which he would have chosen, but which his rhyme required. JoHNSON. =2:) Is the argument of time:] Argument is the same with subject. 3:) - Of this allow,] To allow in our author's time signified to approve. 4:) It is fifteen years,] We should read-sixteen, according to several preceding passages.= 5:)—and my profit therein, the heaping friendships.] Friendships is, I believe, here used, with sufficient licence merely for friendly offices. MALONE.:)-missingly,] Missingly, i. e. at intervals, not constantly. 7:) -some questioni. e. some talk. = 8) When daffodils begin to peer, - And Jog on, jog on, the foot path way,]"Two nonsensical songs, by the rogue Autolycas," says Dr. Burney: who subsequently observes, that "This Autolycus is the true ancient Minstrel, as described in the old Fabliaux." I believe, that many of our readers will push the comparison a little further, and concur with me in thinking that our modern minstrels of the opera, like their predecessor Autolycus, are pickpockets as well as singers of nonsensical ballads. STEEVENS. 9:) For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.] The meaning is, the red, the spring blood now reigns o'er the parts lately under the dominion of winter. The English pale, the Irish pale, were frequent expressions in Snakspeare's time; and the words red and pale were chosen for the sake of the antithesis. FARMER. 10:)-pugging tooth-] perhaps progging, i. e. thievish. 11:) my aunts,] Aunt appears to have been at this time a cant word for a bawd. 12:) - wore three-pile;] i. e. rich velvet. = 13:) — With die, and drab,] i. e. with gaming and whoring, 14:) the silly cheat:] Cant term for picking pockets. 15:) tods-] "Every eleven wether tods; i. e. will produce a tod or twenty-eight pounds of wool: every tod yields a pound and some odd shillings; what then will the wool of fifteen hundred yield?" Mr. Malone considers tods as a verb. 16:) -three-man song-men all] i. e. singers of catches in three parts.=17:) meaus- Means are tenors. 18:) - warden pies;] Wardens are a species of large pears. 19:) with trol my dames:] Trou-madame, French The old English title of this game was pigeon-holes; as the arches in the machine through which the balls are rolled, resemble the cavities made for pigeons in a dore house 20:) motion of the prodigal son, i. e. the puppet-show, then called motions. A term frequently occurring in our author. 21:) Prig, for my life, prig:] To prig is to filch. = To That's In the fact. 68:) — insinuate, or toze-] To insinuate, and to teaze, or toaze, are opposite. The former signifiés to introduce itself obliquely into a thing, and the latter to get something out that was knotted up in it. = 69:)—the hottest day prognostication proclaims,] that is, the hottest day foretold in the almanac. 70:) being something gently considered,] Means, I having a gentlemanlike consideration given me, i. e. a bribe, will bring you, &c.: = = = ACT V. 1:) Or, from the all that are, took something good,] This is a favourite thought; it is bestowed on Miranda and Rosalind. JOHNSON. 2:) incense me-] i. e. instigate me, set me on. = 3:) Shou'd rift] i. e. split. : 4:) "Stars, stars," MALONE. 5:) Affront his eye.] To affront, is to meet.=6;) Is colder than that theme,)] i. e. than the lifeless body of Hermione, the theme or subject of your writing.-MALONE.=7:) “Once more to look on him." MALONE. 8:) that a king, at friend,] At friend, perhaps means, at friendship. = 9:) — in question.] i. e. conversation.=10:) The odds for high and low's alike.] A quibble upon the false dice so called. 11:) Remember since you ow'd no more to time, &c.] Recollect the period when you were of my age. -12:)-if the importance were joy, or sorrow:] Importance here means, the thing imported. — 13:) — the affection of nobleness,] Affection here perhaps means disposition or quality. = 14) favour.] i. e. countenance, features. = 15:) — with clipping her ;] i. e. embracing her.=16:)—most marble there,] i. e. those who had the hardest hearts. 17:) Who would be thence, that has the benefit of access?] It was,. suppose, only to spare his own labour that the poet put this whole scene into narrative, for though part of the transaction was already known to the audience, and therefore could not properly be shown again, yet the two kings might have met upon the stage, and, after the examination of the old shepherd, the young lady might have been recognised in sight of the spectators. JOHNSON. 18:) - franklins say it,] Franklin is a freeholder, or yeoman, a man above a villain, but not a gentleman. 19:)-wrought-Ji. e. worked, agitated.20:) The fixure of her eye has motion in't,] The meaning is, though the eye be fixed, [as the eye of a statue always is, yet it seems to have motion in it: that tremulous motion, which is perceptible in the eye of a living person, how much soever one endeavour to fix it.=21:) As we are mock'd with art.] As, is used by our author here as in some other places, for "as if." With has the force of by. = 22:) You precious winners all;] You who by this discovery have gained what you desired, may join in festivity, in which 1, who have lost what never can be recovered, can have no part. =23:)——your exultation || Partake to every one.] Partake here means participate. = XIV. COMEDY OF ERRORS. = bestow'd-] i. e. stowed or lodged it. 15:) — that merry sconce of yours,] Sconce is head. 16:) - o'er-raught-1 That is, over-reached. 17:) They say, this town is full of cozenage;] This was the character the ancients give of it. Heuce Epevra keraguana was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander uses it, and Eprota reapuara, in the same sense. WARBURTON, 18:)-liberties of sin:] By liberties of sin, Shakspeare perhaps means licensed offenders, such as mountebanks, fortune-tellers, &c. who cheat with impunity; or it may mean sinful liberties. = ACT II. 1:) Adr. There's none, but asses, will be bridled so. Luc. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe.] Should it not rather be leash'd, i. e. coupled like a headstrong hound? Or perhaps the meaning of this passage may be, that those who refuse the bridle must bear the lash, and that woe is the punishment of headstrong liberty. Mr. M. Mason inclines to leashed. 2:) "subject" - Mr. Malone reads subjects. 3:)-start some other where?] Probably where has here the power of a noun. The sense is, How if your husband fly off in pursuit of some other woin quiet.=5:) They can be meck, that have no other cause.] man? 4:)-though she pause;] To pause is to rest, to be That is, who have no cause to be otherwise. 6:) With urging helpless patience-] By exhorting me to patience which affords no help. = 7:)—fool-begg'd-] She seems to mean, by fool begg'd patience, that patience which is so near to idiotical simplicity, that your next relation would take advantage from it to represent you as a fool, and beg the guardianship of your fortune. 8:)-that I could scarce understand them.] i. e. that I could scarce stand under them. This quibble, poor as it is, seems to have been a favourite with Shakspeare. 9:) Am I so round with you, as you with cal, applied to himself, and unrestrained, or free in speech me,] He plays upon the word round, which signifies spherior action spoken of his mistress. = 10:) case me in leather.] Still' alluding to a football, the bladder of which is always covered with leather.=11:) Of my defeatures:] By defeatures is here meant alteration of features for the worse. At the end of this play the same word is used with a somewhat different siguification. 12:) My decayed_ fair -] Fair for fairness.—13:) - poor I am but his stale.] i. e. his pretence.14:) "and no man," - MALONE.=15:) I see, the jewel,, best enamelled, Will lose his beauty; and though gold bides still, That others touch, yet often touching falsehood and corruption doth it shame.] The sense is this: will Wear gold; and so no man, that hath a name, || But "Gold, indeed, will long bear the handling; however, often touching will wear even gold; just so the greatest character, though as pure as gold itself, may, in time, be injured, by the repeated attacks of falsehood and corruption." WARBURTON.16:) And make a common of my serious hours.] i. e. intrude on them when you please. The allusion is to those tracts of ground destined to common use, which are thence called commons. 17:)- know my aspect,Ji. e. study my countenance. 18:)— and insconce it too;] A sconce was a petty fortification. - 19:) — by fine and recovery?] This attempt at pleasantry must have originated from our author's clerkship to an attorney. He has other jokes of the same school. STEEVENS, 20:) falsing.] This word is now obsolete. Spenser and Chaucer often use the verb to false. Mr. Heath would read falling, STEEVENS. 21:) "e'en no time." MALONE. 22:) - wafts us-]i. e. beckons us.=23:) "or look'd, or touch'd," MALONE.=24:)-may'st thou fall-] To fall is here a verb active. = 25:) you are from me exempt,] Johnson says that exempt means separated, parted; yet think that Adriana does not use the word exempt in that sense, but means to say, that as he was her husband she had no power over him, and that he was privileged to do her wrong. M. MASON. = 26:) idle moss;] That is moss that produces no fruit, but being unfertile is useless. =27:) And shrive you] That is I will call you to confession, and make you tell your tricks.= = -- ACT I. = 1:) "Syracusians," uniformly in Mr. Malone's edit. = 2:) Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,] All his hearers understood that the punishment he was about to undergo was in consequence of no private crime, but of the public enmity between two states, to one of which he belonged: but it was a general superstition among the ancients, that every great and sudden misfortune was the vengeance of heaven pursuing men for their secret offences. Hence the sentiment put into the mouth of the speaker was proper. By my past life (says he,) which I am going to relate, the world may understand, that my present death is according to the ordinary course of Providence, [wrought by nature,] and not the effects of divine vengeance overtaking me for my crimes. [not by vile offence.] WARBURTON. The real meaning of this passage is much less abstruse than that which Warburton attributes to it. By nature is meant natural affection. Egeon came to Ephesus in search of his son and tells his story, in order to show that his death was in consequence of natural affection for his child, not of any criminal intention. M. MASON.3:) "And the great care of goods at random left"- MALONE. 4:) "wished light,' MALONE. Next line, "discover'd." We have not thought it always necessary to notice these trifling variations. Many of them seem accidental, and are not to be found in Mr. Malone's first edition. 5:) My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care,] Shakspeare has here been guilty of a little forgetfulness. Ageon had said, page 282, that the youngest son was that which his wife had taken care of:-"My wife, more careful for the latter-born, "Had fasten'd him unto a small spare mast." He himself did the same by the other; and then each fixing their eyes on whom their care was fixed, fastened themselves at either end of the mast. M. MASON. 6:) "so his case was like," - MALONE.= =7:) "farthest" MALONE. 8:) Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia," In the northern parts of England this word is still used instead of quite, fully, perfectly, completely. = 9:) "if no," - MALONE.=10)-wend,] i. e. go. An obsolete word. 11:) A trusty villain,] i. e. servant. = 12:) -confounds himself:] i, e. destroys himself. MALONE. 18:)I shall be post indeed; | For she will score your fault upon my pate.] Perhaps, before writing was a general accomplishment, a kind of rough reckoning, concerning wares issued out of a shop, was kept by chalk or notches on a post, sion." MALONE.=10:) And, in despight of mirth,] Though = till it could be entered on the books of a trader. = 14:) ACT III. =1:)—carkanet,] Seems to have been a necklace, or rather chain, perhaps hanging down double from the neck. = 2:) Mome,] A dull stupid blockhead, a stock, a post; from one of those similar words in many languages, signifying something foolish. It may also owe its original to the French word momon, which signifies the gaming at dice in masquerade, the custom and rule of which is, that a strict silence is to be observed; whatever sum one stakes, another covers, but not a word is to be spoken. From hence also comes our word mum! for silence. HAWKINS, and DOUCE. = 3:) patch i. e. fool. Alluding to the party-coloured coats worn by the licensed fools or jesters of the age.= =4:) - I owe?] i. e. I own, am owner of = 5:) — we shall part with neither.] Mr. Tyrwhitt says, that in our old language, to part, signified to have part. But part does not signify to share or divide, but to depart or go away; and Balthazar means to say, that whilst debating which is best, they should go away without either. 6:) Once this,] Once this, may mean, once for all, at once. 7:)-the doors are made against you.] To make the door is the expression used to this day in some counties of England, instead of, to bar the door. 8:) "of it;" MALONE. 9:) "where it gets possesmirth has withdrawn herself from me, and seems determined |