Who with dagger of lath,
In his rage and his wrath,
Cries, ah, ha! to the devil:
Like a mad lad,

Pare thy nails, dad,

Adieu, goodman devil.

I am for receiving the common reading, goodman drivel.

Oli.

P. 273.-98.-150.

He shall conceal it,

Whiles you are willing it shall come to note.

I have frequently heard while used corruptly for till, particularly at Harrow, in Middlesex. I find it is used in this sense in the trial of Spencer Cowper and others at Hertford, 5 State Trials, 195. "Mr. Jones. My Lord, then we should keep you "here while to-morrow morning." While is also used in this sense by Sir John Freind at his trial. On his applying to the court to have a witness sent for who was a prisoner in the Gatehouse, the Lord Chief Justice Holt asks: "Sir John, why did you not send, and desire this before?" to which Freind answers: "My Lord, I did not hear of him while last night." So too Ben Jonson :

66

66

I am born a gentleman,

A younger brother, but in some disgrace

Now with my friends; and want some little means
To keep me upright, while things be reconciled.

Devil is an Ass, Act I. Sc. 3d.

P. 282.-105.-159.

Sir To. Sot, did'st see Dick surgeon, sot ?

Clo. O he's drunk, sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes

were set at eight i'the morning.

Sir To. Then he's a rogue. After a passy-measure, or a
pavin, I hate a drunken rogue.

I incline to agree with Malone.

P. 286.-108.-164.

Vio. All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady, and this lord.

I think Malone is right.

P. 287.-109.-166.

Oli. Open it, and read it.

Clo. Look then to be well edified, when the fool delivers
the madman,-By the Lord, madam,-

Oli. How now! art thou mad?

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: an your lady-
ship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow vox.

Malone is certainly right. Mr. Steevens's misconception of the meaning seems to me very strange.

P. 291.-113.-170.

Clo. Why some are born great, some atchieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrown upon them. I was one,
sir, in this interlude; one sir Topas, sir; but that's all
one:- -By the Lord, fool, I am not mad ;-But do you
remember? Madam, why laugh you at such a barren ras-
cal? an you smile not, he's gagg'd: And thus the whirli-
gig of time brings in his revenges.

Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.

I think the regulation proposed by Mr. Tyrwhit is very judicious.

P. Ibid.171.

Duke. He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,
A solemn combination shall be made

Of our dear souls.

There is no need of any change: convents means suits, convenient.

THE WINTER'S TALE.

WARBURTON's remark on the merit of this play is perfectly just. I have always been astonished at the judgment pronounced on it by Mr. Pope. I entirely agree with Dr. Farmer with respect to Sir Thomas Hanmer's alteration of Bohemia to Bithynia.

You take my lord, I'll give him my commission,
To let him there a month, behind the gest
Prefix'd for his parting.

I incline to read you with Warburton.

P. 304.-125.-12.

yet, good-deed, Leontes,

I love thee not a jar o'the clock behind
What lady she her lord.

Good-deed is right.

I think the reading of the 2d folio is right. Taking doctrine for a trisyllable, the verse would be one of the harshest ever written.

Leon.

P. 307.-130.-20.

But were they false
As o'er-died blacks, as wind, as waters; false

As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
Το say, this boy were like me.

I think Sir Thomas Hanmer understands this expression (o'er-died blacks) rightly.

Leon.

P. 311.-132.-21.

Sweet villain!

Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam ?-may't be?
Affection! thy intention stabs the center.

Intention is here used for intenseness.

I

Pol.

P. 310.-131.-23.

How, my lord?

What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?

I am angling now,

Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

[Aside. Observing Polixenes and Hermione.
How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife
To her allowing husband.

I cannot think that allowing here means approving. Every word Leontes utters shews he does not approve Hermione's conduct. Allowing means the same as he before expresses by giving line, permitting unrestrained conversation between Polixenes and Hermione.

ر

Cam.

P. 317.-137.-31.

In your affairs, my lord,

If ever I were wilful-negligent,

It was my folly; if industriously

I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out

Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
Which oft infects the wisest.

I think Dr. Johnson has given the true meaning of this obscure expression in the latter part of his note, which Mr. Malone (for what reason I do not conceive) has thought fit to suppress.

Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,
So sovereignly being honourable.

I have lov'd thee,

Leon. Make't thy question, and go rot!

I rather incline with Theobald to give these words to Leontes, but I am by no means confident.

As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerklike, experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle.

Success here means succession.

P. 324.-145.—42.

Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears,

As he had seen't, or been an instrument

have touch'd his queen

Forbiddenly.

Mr. Steevens's explanation (the first of those in the edition of Johnson and Steevens) is, I believe, the true one.