Chapter LXII: Act V: SCENE 1. Page 182

FLO. ... Good my lord,
She came from _Libya_.

_Perdita_ is here transformed into a _Moor_; and although this play among others affords the most unequivocal proofs of Shakspeare's want of skill in the science of geography, it is at least possible that an error of the press has substituted _Libya_ for _Lydia_ or _Lycia_.

SCENE 2. Page 194.

CLOWN. _Give me the lie_, do; and try whether I am not now a
_gentleman born_.

This is a satire on certain ridiculous punctilios very much in use at this time. Thus in _The booke of honor and armes_, 1590, 4to, "In saying _a gentleman borne_, we meane he must be descended from three degrees of gentry, both on the mother's and father's side." The same work has many particulars relating to the circumstances in which _the giving the lie_ is to be resented. See likewise Vincent Saviolo _On honor and honorable quarrels_, book ii.

THE CLOWN.

He is a mere country booby.

* * * * *

The observation by Dr. Warburton, that _The winter's tale_ with all its absurdities is very entertaining, though stated by Dr. Johnson to be just, must be allowed at the same time to be extremely frigid. In point of fine writing it may be ranked among Shakspeare's best efforts. The absurdities pointed at by Warburton, together with the whimsical anachronisms of Whitson pastorals, Christian burial, an emperor of Russia, and an Italian painter of the fifteenth century, are no real drawbacks on the superlative merits of this charming drama. The character of Perdita will remain for ages unrivalled; for where shall such language be found as she is made to utter?

COMEDY OF ERRORS.