Sear'd otherwife; no worfe of worst extended, Mr. Steevens, in his very ingenious note upon this obfcure paffage, has not, I think, cleared all the difficulties of it. He imagines that Helen, in her covenant with the King, to fuffer all manner of indignities if she does not perform the promifed cure, excepts the violation of her chastity. But fhe is fo confident of fuccess, that she does not imagine a poffibility of failure; besides, the infamous violation of a virgin, or woman, has been no part of the penal laws in Chriftian Europe, though it certainly was the practice in old Rome, and especially during the emperors. If we attend a little to the mode of expreffion, we may fairly conclude, that Helen, by • no worfe of worft extended,' meant, that the branding her maiden character with the name of a whore was the worst punishment that could be extended to her. Scene Scene the third. LA FEU. We make trifles of terrors, enfconcing ourselves into feeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear. Our author, in feveral of his plays, ridicules the philofophers of the times in which he lived, who endeavoured to account for all uncommon appearances in nature, either by attributing them to the agency of fecond caufes, or to fome principle still more bold and uncertain: whereas Shakspeare infinuates, that it would be more modeft to confefs our ignorance, in things beyond our capacities to comprehend, and attribute their existence to fome cause unknown to us. KING. Good alone Is good without a name. Vileness is fo. That is, if vice be deteftable, as it certainly is, from its intrinfic baseness; so VOL. II. C muft 1 muft virtue be, from its own purity, without the help of any addition whatsoeever.' I believe Mr. Steevens, whom nothing. escapes, is rather beforehand with me in this explanation, or at least in something very near it. KING. My honour's at the ftake; which to defeat, Mr. Theobald, who was not well pleafed with his exaltation to the throne of dulnefs, embraces every opportunity to turn into ridicule Pope's emendations of Shakspeare; he laughs at the word defeat, and terms it nonfenfical; he proposes to subftitute the word defend in its room. Dr. Farmer candidly and ingeniously fuppofes, that Mr. Theobald was not aware that the clause of the fentence ferved for the antecedent. Mr. Tyrrwhit very improperly taxes Theobald with pertnefs; he recommends the old reading, and fortifies it from from an explanation of the French verb défaire. I must confess that Theobald's defend answers the purpose of the reader and auditor much better than the old word defeat, which cannot be maintained without much fubtlety of argument. However the critics may determine, I would advise the actor to retain defend, as more intelligible to an audience. LA FEU. I think thou waft created for men to breathe themfelves upon. Lafeu is not very nice in the choice of terms to express his fcorn and contempt of Parolles. • Breathe upon' is to be understood in the fame fenfe as a speech of Prince Henry to Poins, concerning the tavernwaiters, act 2d of Henry IV. First Part: And, when you breathe in your watering, they cry hem! and bid you play it off. Act III. Scene V. HELEN. I thank you, and will wait upon your leisure. An ufual phrafe of civility in Shakspeare's time, and explains a paffage in Hamlet, act the 3d: The players wait upon your patience. Act IV. Scene II. DIAN A. 'Tis not the many oaths that make the truth, But take the High'ft to witness; then, pray you, tell me, If I fhould fwear by Jove's great attributes, &c. Mr. In the explanation of these lines, much has been faid by the commentators. Steevens has, from the revisal, judiciously fupported the text. Perhaps a fhort interpretation of Diana's intention may fatisfy the |