Chapter VI: Part 6

IV.ii.14 (315,2) [_Take thou no scorn_] [T: In former editions: _Then sing him home, the rest shall bear his burden_. This is an admirable instance of the sagacity of our preceding editors, to say nothing worse. One should expect, when they were _poets_, they would at least have taken care of the _rhimes_, and not foisted in what has nothing to answer it. Now, where is the rhime to, _the rest shall bear this burden_? Or, to ask another question, where is the sense of it? Does the poet mean, that He, that kill'd the deer, shall be sung home, and the rest shall bear the deer on their backs? This is laying a burden on the poet, that we mist help him to throw off. In short, the mystery of the whole is, that a marginal note is wisely thrust into the text: the song being design'd to be sung by a single voice, and the stanzas to close with a burden to be sung by the whole company.] This note I have given as a specimen of Mr. Theobald's jocularity, and the eloquence with which he recommends his emendations.

IV.iii (316,4) [_Enter Rosalind and Celia_] The foregoing noisy scene was introduced only to fill up an interval, which is to represent two hours. This contraction of the time we might impute to poor Rosalind's impatience, but that a few minutes after we find Orlando sending his excuse. I do not see that by any probable division of the acts this absurdity can be obviated.

IV.iii.48 (318,3) [_That could do no vengeance to me] Vengeance_ is used for _mischief_.

IV.iii.59 (318,4) [youth and kind] _Kind_ is the old word for _nature_.

IV.iii.101 (319,5) [Within an hour] We must read, _within two hours_.

IV.iii.160 (321,6) [cousin--Ganymed!] Celia in her first fright forgets Rosalind's character and disguise, and calls out _cousin_, then recollects herself, and says Ganymed.

V.ii.21 (325,9) [And you, fair sister] I know not why Oliver should call Rosalind sister. He takes her yet to be a man. I suppose we should read, _and you_, and your _fair sister_.

V.ii.45 (326,1) [Clubs cannot part them] Alluding to the way of parting dogs in wrath.

V.ii.74 (327,2) [human as she is] That is, not a phantom, but the real Rosalind, without any of the danger generally conceived to attend the rites of incantation.

V.iii.17 (329,3) [_It was a lover and his lass_] The stanzas of this song are in all the editions evidently transposed: as I have regulated them, that which in the former copies was the second stanza is now the last.

The same transposition of these stanzas is made by Dr. Thirlby, in a copy containing some notes on the margin, which I have perused by the favour of Sir Edward Walpole. (see 1765, II,97,3)

V.iii.36 (330,4) [the note was very untuneable] [T: untimeable] This emendation is received. I think very undeservedly, by Dr. Warburton.

V.iv.4 (331,5) [As those that fear, they hope, and know they fear] [W: their hap, and know their] The deprivation of this line is evident, but I do not think the learned commentator's emendation very happy. I read thus,

_As those that fear_ with _hope, and hope_ with _fear_.

Or thus, with less alteration,

_As those that fear_, they _hope, and_ now _they fear_.

V.iv.36 (332,6) [Here comes a pair of very strange beasts] [W: unclean beasts] _Strange beasts_ are only what we call _odd_ animals. There is no need of any alteration.

V.iv.51 (333,7) [found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause] So all the copies; but it is apparent from the sequel that we must read, _the quarrel was_ not _upon the seventh cause_.

V.iv.56 (333,8) [I desire you of the like] [W: of you] I have not admitted the alteration, because there are other examples of this mode of expression. (1773)

V.iv.59 (333,9) [according as marraige binds, and blood breaks] I cannot discover what has here puzzled the commentator [W]: _to swear according as marriage binds_, ii to take the oath enjoin'd in the ceremonial of marriage.

V.iv.68 (334,1) [dulcet diseases] This I do not understand. For _diseases_ it is easy to read _discourses_: but, perhaps the fault may lie deeper.

V.iv.114 (336,4) [_Enter Hymen_] Rosalind is imagined by the rest of the company to be brought by enchantment, and is therefore introduced by a supposed aerial being in the character of Hymen.

V.iv.125 (336,5) [If there be truth in sight] The answer of Phebe makes it probable that Orlando says, _if there be truth in_ shape: that is, _if a form may be trusted_; if one cannot usurp the form of another.

V.iv.136 (337,6) [If truth holds true contents] That is, if there be _truth in truth_, unless truth fails of veracity.

V.iv.147 (337,7) [_Wedding is great Juno's crown_] Catullus, addressing himself to Hymen, has this stanza:

Quae tuis careat sacris, Non queat dare praesides Terra finibus: at queat Te volente. Quis huic deo Compararier ausit? (1773)

Epilogue.7 (340,5) [What a case am I in then] Here seems to be a chasm, or some other depravation, which destroys the sentiment here intended. The reasoning probably stood thus, _Good wine needs no bush, good plays need no epilogue_, but bad wine requires a good bush, and a bad play a good epilogue. _What case am I in then_? To restore the words is impossible; all that can be done without copies is, to note the fault.

Epilogue.10 (340,1) [furnish'd like a beggar] That is dressed: so before, he was _furnished_ like a huntsman.

Epilogue.13 (340,2) [I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this Play as pleases them: and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women----that between you and the women] [W: pleases them...pleases them] The words _you_ and _of_ written as was the custom in that time, were in manuscript scarcely distinguishable. The emendation is very judicious and probable.

(341,4) General Observation. Of this play the fable is wild and pleasing. I know not how the ladies will approve the facility with which both Rosalind and Celia give away their hearts. To Celia much may be forgiven for the heroism of her friendship. The character of Jaqaes is natural and well preferred. The comick dialogue is very sprightly, with less mixture of low buffoonery than in some other plays; and the graver part is elegant and harmonious. By hastening to the end of his work, Shakespeare suppressed the dialogue between the usurper and the hermit, and lost an opportunity of exhibiting a moral lesson in which he might have found matter worthy of his highest powers.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Induction.i.l (346,1) [I'll pheeze you] To _pheeze_ or _fease_. is to separate a twist into single threads. In the figurative sense it may well enough be taken, like _teaze_ or _toze_, for to _harrass_. to _plague_. Perhaps _I'll pheeze you_, may be equivalent to _I'll comb your head_, a phrase vulgarly used by persons of Sly's character on like occasions. The following explanation of the word is given by Sir Tho. Sayth in his book de Sermone Anglico, printed by Robert Stephens, 4vo. To _feize_. means _in fila diducere_. (see 1765, III,[3],1)

Induction.i.3 (347,2) [no rogues] That is _vagrants_, no mean fellows, but gentlemen.

Induction.i.17 (348,7) [Brach Merriman, the poor cur is imboat] Sir T. Banner reads, Leech _Merriman_. that is, apply some remedies to Merriman, the poor cur has his _joints swelled_. Perhaps we might read, _bathe_ Merriman, which is I believe the common practice of huntsmen, but the present reading may stand:

--_tender well my hounds_:
Brach--Merriman--_the poor cur is imboat._

Induction.i.64 (351,8) [And when he says he is,--say that he dreams] [steevens:he's poor,--say] If any thing should be inserted, it may be done thus,

"And when he says he's _Sly_, say that he dreams."

The likeness in writing of _Sly_ and _say_ produced the omission.(1773)

Induction.i.67 (352,9)

[It will be pastime excellent, If it be husbanded with modesty]

By _modesty_ is meant _moderation_, without suffering our merriment to break into an excess.

Induction.i.82 (352,1) [to accept our duty] It was in those times the custom of players to travel in companies, and offer their service at great houses.

Induction.i.101 (353,4) [property] in the language of a playhouse, is every implement necessary to the exhibition.

Induction.i.125 (355,7) [To rain a shower of commanded toars, An onion will do well for such a shift]

It is not unlikely that the _onion_ was an expedient used by the actors of interludes.

Induction.ii.89 (359,8) [Leet] As the _Court leet_. or courts of the manor.

I.i.9 (362,2) [ingenious studies] I rather think it was written ingenuous studies, but of this and a thousand such observations there is little certainty.

I.i.18 (363,4) [Virtue, and that part of philosophy Will I apply] Sir Thomas Hammer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read to virtues but formerly ply and apply were indifferently used, as to ply or apply his studies.

I.i.78 (365,7) [A pretty peat!] Peat or pet is a word of endearment from petit, little, as if it meant pretty little thing.

I.i.85 (365,8) [will you be so strange?] That is, so odd, so different from others in your conduct.

I.i.97 (366,9) [cunning men] Cunning had not yet lost its original signification of knowing, learned, as nay be observed in the translations of the Bible.

I.i.167 (368,2) [Redime te captum quasi queas minimi] Our author had this line from Lilly, which I mention, that it may not be brought as an argument of his learning.

I.i.208 (369,3) [port] Pert, is figure, show, appearance.

I.ii.52 (372,5) [Where small experience grows. But, in a few] Why this should seem nonsense, I cannot perceive. In few words it means the same as in short.

I.ii.68 (373,6) [As wealth is burthen of my wooing dance] The burthen of a dance is an expression which I have never heard; the burthen of his wooing song had been more proper.

I.ii.72 (373,8) [Affection's edge in me] Surely the sense of the present reading is too obvious to be missed or mistaken. Petruchio says, that, if a girl has money enough, no bad qualities of mind or body will remove affection's edge; i.e. hinder him from liking her.

I.ii.112 (375,1) [an' he begin once, he'll rail--In his rope-tricks] This is obscure. Sir Thomas Hammer reads, he'll rail in his rhetorick; I'll tell you, &c. Rhetorick agrees very well with figure in the succeeding part of the speech, yet I am inclined to believe that rope-tricks is the true word.

I.ii.115 (375,2) [that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat] It may mean, that he shall swell up her eyes with blows, till she shall seem to peep with a contracted pupil like a cat in the light. (1773)

I.ii.276 (381,9) [Please ye, we may contrive this afternoon] The word is used in the same sense of spending or wearing out in the Palace of Pleasure.

II.1.17 (382,2) [You will have Gremio, to keep you fair] I wish to read, To keep you fine. But either word may serve.

II.i.26 (388,3) [hilding] The word hildlng or hinderling--a low wretch; it is applied to Catharine for the coarseness of her behaviour.

II.i.209 (389,7) [Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard] Perhaps we may read better, Ay, for a turtle, and he take a buzzard. That is, he may take me for a turtle, and he shall find me a hawk.

II.i.310 (393,9) [kill on kiss She vy's so fast] I know not that the word vie has any construction that will suit this place; we may easily read,

--kiss on kiss She ply'd so fast.

II.i.340 (394,1)

[Tra. Grey-beard! thy love doth freeze. Ore. But thine doth fry]

Old Gremio's notions are confirmed by Shadwell:

The fire of love in youthful blood. Like what is kindled in brush-wood. But for a moment burns-- But when crept into aged reins, It slowly burns, and long remains, It glows, and with a sullen heat. Like fire in logs, it burns, and warms us long; And though the flame be not so great, Yet is the heat as strong.

II.1.407 (397,4) [Yet have I fac'd it with a card of ten] [W. quoted Jonson for "a hart of ten"] If the word hart be right, I do not see any use of the latter quotation.

II.1.413 (398,5)[Here the former editors add, Sly. Sim, when will the fool come again? Steevens.] The character of the fool has not been introduced in this drama, therefore I believe that the word again should be omitted, and that Sly asks, When will the fool come? the fool being the favourite of the vulgar, or, as we now phrase it, of the upper gallery, was naturally expected in every interlude.

III.1.37 (400,6) [pantaloon] the old cully in Italian farces.

III.ii.10 (403,1) [full of spleen] That is, full of humour, caprice; and inconstancy.

III.ii.45 (404,3) [a pair of boots that have been candle--eases; one buckled, another lac'd; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town armory, with a broken hilt, and chapeless, with two broken points] Bow a sword should have two broken points, I cannot tell. There is, I think, a transposition caused by the seeming relation of point to sword. I read, a pair of boots, one buckled, another

_laced_ with two broken points; _an old rusty sword_--_with a broken hilt, and chapeless_.

III.ii.109 (406,7) [to digress] to deviate from any promise.

IV.i.3 (412,9) [was ever man so ray'd?] That is, was ever man so mark'd with lashes.

IV.i.93 (416,7) [garters of an indifferent knit] What is the sense of this I know not, unless it means, that their _garters_ should be _fellows_; _indifferent_, or _not different_, one from the other.

IV.i.139 (417,8) [no link, to colour Peter's hat] _Link_, I believe, is the name with what we now call _lamp-black_.

IV.i.145 (418,9) [Soud, soud] That is, _sweet, sweet_. _Soot_, and sometimes _sooth_, is _sweet_. So in Milton, _to sing soothly_, is, to sing sweetly.

IV.i.196 (420,3) [to man my haggard] A _haggard_ is a _wild hawk_; to _man_ a hawk is to _tame_ her.

IV.iii.43 (428,8) [And all my pains is sorted to no proof] And all _my_ labour has ended in nothing, or _proved_ nothing. _We tried an experiment, but it_ sorted _not. Bacon_.

IV.iii.56 (428,9) [With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, With ruffs, and cuffs, and fardingals, and things] Though _things_ is a poor word, yet I have no better, and perhaps the authour had not another that would rhyme. I once thought to transpose the words _rings_ and _things_, but it would make little improvement.

IV.iii.91 (430,2) [censer] in barber's shops, are now disused, but they may easily be imagined to have been vessels which, for the emission of the smoke, were cut with great number and varieties of interstices.

IV.iii.107 (430,3) [thou thimble] The taylor's trade having an appearance of effeminacy, has always been, among the rugged English, liable to sarcasms and contempt.

IV.iii.140 (431,3) [a small compass'd cape] A _compass'd cape_ is a round cape. To _compass_ is _to come round_. (1773)

IV.iv (434,5) I cannot but think that the direction about the Tinker, who is always introduced at the end of the acts, together with the change of the scone, and the proportion of each act to the rest, make it probable that the fifth act begins here.

IV.iv.48 (436,7) [Where then do you know best, Be we affied] This seems to be wrong. We may read more commodiously, ----_Where then_ you do _know best_ _Be we affied_;-----

Or thus, which I think is right, _Where then do you_ trow _best_, _We be affied_;------

V.i.70 (443,2) [a copatain hat!] is, I believe, a hat with a conical crown, such as was anciently worn by well-dressed men.

V.ii.54 (448,5) [A good swift simile] besides the original sense of _speedy in motion_, signified _witty, quick-witted_. So in As You Like It, the Duke says of the Clown, _He is very_ swift _and sententious. Quick_ is now used in almost the same sense as _nimble_ was in the age after that of our author. Heylin says of Hales, that _he had known Laud for a_ nimble, _disputant_.

V.ii.186 (453,7) [tho' 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_, or _white_.

(454) General Observation. From this play the Tatler formed a story, [Johnson here copies out the _Tatler_ story.] It cannot but seen strange that Shakespeare should be so little known to the author of the Tatler, that he should suffer this story to be obtruded upon him; or so little known to the publick, that he could hope to make it pass upon his readers as a real narrative of a transaction in Lincolnshire; yet it is apparent, that he was deceived, or intended to deceive, that he knew not himself whence the story was taken, or hoped that he might rob so obscure a writer without detection.

Of this play the two plots are so well united, that they can hardly be called two without injury to the art with which they are interwoven. The attention is entertained with all the variety of a double plot, yet is not distracted by unconnected incidents.

The part between Catharine and Petruchio is eminently spritely and diverting. At the marriage of Bianca the arrival of the real father, perhaps, produces more perplexity than pleasure. The whole play is very popular and diverting, (see 1765, III,97,5)

Vol. IV

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

I.i.1 (3,2) [In delivering my son from me] [W: dissevering] Of this change I see no need: the present reading is clear, and, perhaps, as proper as that which the great commentator would substitute; for the king _dissevers_ her son from her, she only _delivers_ him.

I.i.5 (4,3) [to whom I am now in ward] Under his particular care, as my guardian, till I come to age. It is now almost forgotten in England that the heirs of great fortunes were the king's _wards_. Whether the same practice prevailed in France, it is of no great use to enquire, for Shakespeare gives to all nations the manners of England.

I. i.19 (4,5) [This young gentlewoman had a father, (O, that _had_! how sad a passage 'tis!)] [W: presage 'tis] This emendation is ingenious, perhaps preferable to the present reading, yet since _passage_ may be fairly enough explained, I have left it in the text. _Passage_ is _anything that passes_, so we now say, a _passage_ of an _authour_. and we said about a century ago, the _passages_ of a _reign_. When the _countess_ mentions Helena's loss of a father, she recollects her own loss of a husband, and stops to observe how heavily that word _had_ passes through her mind.

I.i.48 (6,6) [for where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity, they are virtues and traitors too; in her they are the better for their simpleness; she derives her honesty, and atchieves her goodness] [W: her simpleness] This is likewise a plausible but unnecessary alteration. _Her virtues are the better for their simpleness_, that is, her excellencies are the better because they are artless and open, without fraud, without design. The learned commentator has well explained _virtues_. but has not, I think, reached the force of the word _traitors_, and therefore has not shown the full extent of Shakespeare's masterly observation. _Virtues in an unclean mind are virtues and traitors too_. Estimable and useful qualities, joined with evil disposition, give that evil disposition power over others, who, by admiring the virtue, are betrayed to the malevolence. The _Tatler_ mentioning the sharpers of his time, observes, that some of them are men of such elegance and knowledge, that _a young man who falls into their way is_ betrayed _as much by his judgment as his passions_.

I.i.86 (7,8) [If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal] [W: be not enemy] This emendation I had once admitted into the text, but restored the old reading, because I think it capable of an easy explication. _Lafeu_ says, _excessive grief is the enemy of the living_: the countess replies, _If the living be an enemy to grief, the excess soon makes it mortal_: that is, _if the living do not indulge grief, grief destroys itself by its own excess_. By the word _mortal_ I understand _that which dies_, and Dr. Warburton, _that which destroys_. I think that my interpretation gives a sentence more acute and more refined. Let the reader judge.

I.i.78 (8,9) [That thee may furnish] That may help thee with more and better qualifications.

I.i.84 (8,1) [The best wishes that can beforg'd in your thoughts, be servants to you!] That is, may you be mistress of your wishes, and have power to bring then to effect.

I.i.91 (8,2) [And these great tears grace his remembrance more] The tears which the king and countess shed for him.

I.i.99 (8,3) [In his bright radiance and collateral light Must I be comforted, not in his sphere] I cannot be united with him and move in the same _sphere_, but _must be comforted_ at a distance by the _radiance_ that shoots _on all sides_ from him.

I.i.107 (9,4) [Of every line and trick of his sweet favour!] So in King John; _he hath a_ trick _of Coeur de Lion's face. Trick_ seen to be some peculiarity of look or feature.

I.i.122 (9,6) [you have some stain of soldier in you] [W: _"Stain_ for colour."] _Stain_ rather for what we now say _tincture_, some qualities, at least superficial, of a soldier. (1773)

I.i.150 (10,8) [He, that hangs himself, is a virgin] [W: As he...so is] I believe most readers Will spare both the emendations, which I do not think much worth a claim or a contest. The old reading is more spritely and equally just.

I.i.165 (11,1) [Marry, ill, to like him that ne'er it likes] Parolles, in answer to the question, _how one shall lose virginity to her own liking?_ plays upon the word _liking_, and says, _she must do ill, for_ virginity, to be so lost, _must like him that likes not_ virginity.

I.i.178-191 (12,5) [Not my virginity yet] This whole speech is abrupt, unconnected, and obscure. Dr. Warburton thinks much of it suppofititious. I would be glad to think so of the whole, for a commentator naturally wishes to reject what he cannot understand. Something, which should connect Helena's words with those of Parolles, seems to be wanting. Hammer has made a fair attempt by reading,

_Not my virginity yet_--You're for the court,
_There shall your master_, &c.

Some such clause has, I think, dropped out, but still the first words want connection. Perhaps Parolles, going away after his harangue, said, _will you any thing with me_? to which Helen may reply--I know not what to do with the passage.

I.i.184 (13,7) [a traitress] It seems that traitress was in that age a term of endearment, for when Lafeu introduces Helena to the king, he says, _You like a_ traytor, _but such_ traytors _his majesty does not much fear_.

I.i.199 (14,8) [And shew what we alone must think] And _shew_ by realities what we now _must only think_.

I.i.218 (14,9) [is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear well] [W: good ming] This conjecture I could wish to see better proved. This _common_ word _ming_ I have never found. The first edition of this play exhibits wing without a capital: yet, I confess, that a _virtue of good wing_ is an expression that I cannot understand, unless by a metaphor taken from falconry, it may mean, _a virtue that will fly high_, and in the stile of Hotspur, _Pluck honour from the moon_.

I.i.235 (15,1) [What power is it, which mounts my love so high; That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?]

She means, by what influence is my love directed to a person so much above me. [why am I made to discern excellence, sad left to long after it, without the food of hope.]

I.i.237 (15,2)

[The mightiest space in fortune, nature brings To join like likes, and kiss, like native things. Impossible be strange attempts, to those That weigh their pain in sense; and do suppose, What hath been]

All these four lines are obscure, and, I believe, corrupt. I shall propose an emendation, which those who can explain the present reading, are at liberty to reject.

Through _mightiest space in fortune nature brings_ Likes to join likes, _and kiss, like native things._

That is, _nature_ brings _like qualities_ and dispositions _to meet_ through any _distance_ that _fortune_ may have set between them; she _joins_ them and makes them _kiss like things born together._

The next lines I read with Hammer.

_Impossible be strange attempts to those That weigh their pains in sense, and do suppose What_ ha'n't _been, cannot be._

_New_ attempts seen impossible to those who estimate their _labour_ or _enterprises_ by sense, and believe that nothing can be but what they see before them.

I.ii.32 (17,3)

[He had the wit, which I can well observe To-day in our young lords, but they may jest, Till their own scorn return to them; unnoted, Ere they can hide their levity in honour]

I believe _honour_ is not _dignity of birth or rank,_ but _acquired reputation: Your father_, says the king, _had the same airy flights of satirical wit-with the young lords of the present time, but they do not what he did_, hide their unnoted _levity_ in honour, _cover petty faults with great merit._

This is an excellent observation. Jocose follies, and slight offences, are only allowed by mankind in him that overpowers them by great qualities.

I.ii.36 (18,4)

[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._

I.ii.50 (19, 8)

[So in approof lives not his epitaph, As in your royal speech]

[W: _Epitaph_ for character.] I should wish to read,

_Approof_ so lives not _in his_ epitaph,
_As in your royal speech._

_Approof_ is _approbation._ If I should allow Dr. _Warburton's_ interpretation of _Epitaph,_ which is more than can be reasonably expected, I can yet find no sense in the present reading.

I.ii.61 (20, 9) [_whose judgments are meer fathers of their garments_] Who have no other use of their faculties, than to invent new modes of dress.

I.iii (21, 1) [_Enter Countess, Steward, and Clown_] A _Clown_ in Shakespeare is commonly taken for a _licensed jester,_ or domestick _fool._ We are not to wonder that we find this character often in his plays, since fools were, at that time, maintained in all great families, to keep up merriment in the house. In the picture of Sir Thomas More's family, by Hans Holbein, the only servant represented is Patison the _fool._ This is a proof of the familiarity to which they were admitted, not by the great only, but the wise.

In some plays, a servant, or a rustic, of remarkable petulance and freedom of speech, is likewise called a clown.

I.iii.3 (21, 2) [to even your content] To act up to your desires.

I.iii.45 (23, 4) [You are shallow, madam, in great friends; for the knaves come to do that for me, which I am a weary of] [Tyrwhitt: my great] The meaning seems to be, you are not deeply skilled in the character of offices of great friends. (1773)

I.iii.96 (26, 1) [Clo. That man should be at woman's command, and yet no hurt done!--Tho' honesty be no puritan, yet it will do no hurt; it will wear the surplice of humility over the black gown of a big heart] The clown's answer is obscure. His lady bids him do as he is _commanded._ He answers with the licentious petulance of his character, that _if a man does as a woman commands, it is likely he will do amiss;_ that he does not amiss, being at the command of a woman, he makes the effect, not of his lady's goodness, but of his own _honesty,_ which, though not very nice or _puritanical,_ will _do no hurt;_ and will not only do no hurt, but, unlike the _puritans_, will comply with the injunctions of superiors, and wear the _surplice of humility over the black gown of a big heart_; will obey commands, though not much pleased with a state of subjection.

Here is an allusion, violently enough forced in, to satirize the obstinacy with which the _puritans_ refused the use of the ecclesiastical habits, which was, at that time, one principal cause of the breach of union, and, perhaps, to insinuate, that the modest purity of the surplice was sometimes a cover for pride.

I.iii.140 (28,3) [By our remembrances] That is, _according to_ our recollection. So we say, he is old _by_ my reckoning.

I.iii.169 (29,5)

[--or, were you both our mothers I care no more for, than I do for heaven. So I were not his sister]

[W: I can no more fear, than I do fear heav'n.] I do not much yield to this emendation; yet I have not been able to please myself with any thing to which even my own partiality can give the preference.

Sir Thomas Banner reads,

_Or were you both our mothers_.
I cannot ask for more than that of heaven.
_So I were not his sister_; can be no other
Way _I your daughter_, but _he must be my brother_?

I.iii.171 (30,6) [can't no other, But, I your daughter, he must be my brother?] The meaning is obscur'd by the elliptical diction. Can _it_ be _no other_ way, but if _I_ be _your daughter he must be my brother_?

I.iii.178 (30,8) [Your salt tears' head] The force, the fountain of your tears, the cause of your grief.

I.iii.208 (31,9) [captious and intenible sieve] The word _captious_ I never found in this sense; yet I cannot tell what to substitute, unless _carious,_ for _rotten_, which yet is a word more likely to have been mistaken by the copyers than used by the author.

I.iii.232 (32,2)

[As notes, whose faculties inclusive were Receipts in which greater _virtues_ were _inclosed]

_Do not throw from you; you, my lord,, farewell; Share the advice betwixt you; if both_ gain all, _The gift doth stretch itself as 'tis receiv'd, And is enough for both._

The first edition, from which the passage is restored, was sufficiently clear; yet it is plain, that the latter editors preferred a reading which they did not understand.

II.i.12 (35,8)

[let higher Italy (Those 'hated, that inherit but the fall Of the last monarchy) [see, that you come Not to woo honour, but to wed it]

[Hammer: Those bastards that inherit] Dr. Warburton's observation is learned, but rather too subtle; Sir Tho. Hanmer's alteration is merely arbitrary. The passage is confessedly obscure, and there-fore I may offer another explanation. I am of opinion that the epithet _higher_ is to be understood of situation rather than of dignity. The sense may then be this,_Let upper Italy,_ where you are to exercise your valour, _see that you come to gain honour, to the_ abatement, _that is, to the disgrace and depression of those_ that have now lost their ancient military fame, and _inherit but the fall of the last monarchy_. To _abate_ is used by Shakespeare in the original sense of _abatre_, to _depress_, to _sink_, to _deject_, to _subdue_. So in Coriolanus,

--_'till ignorance deliver you. As moat_ abated _captives to some nation That won you without blows_. And bated is used in a kindred sense in the Jew of Venice.

--_in a bondman's key With _bated_ breath and whisp'ring humbleness_.

The word has still the same meaning in the language of the law.

II.i.21 (37,9) [Beware of being captives, Before you serve] The word _serve_ is equivocal; the sense is, _Be not captives before _ you serve in the war. _Be not captives before you are soldiers._

II.i.36 (37,1) [I grow to you, and our parting is a tortur'd body] I read thus, _Our parting is_ the parting of _a tortured body._ Our parting is as the disruption of limbs torn from each other. Repetition of a word is often the cause of mistakes, the eye glances on the wrong word, and the intermediate part of the sentence is omitted.

II.i.54 (38,3) [they wear themselves in the cap of the time, there, do muster true gait] [W: to muster] I think this amendation cannot be said to give much light to the obscurity of the passage. Perhaps it might be read thus, They do _muster_ with the _true gaite._ that is, they have the true military step. Every man has observed something peculiar in the strut of a soldier, (rev. 1778, IV,35,8)

II.i.70 (39,4) [across] This word, as has been already observed, is used when any pass of wit miscarries.

II.i.74 (39,5) [Yes, but you will, my noble grapes, as if] These words,_my noble grapes_, seem to Dr. Warburton and Sir T. Hammer, to stand so much in the way, that they have silently omitted them. They may be indeed rejected without great loss, but I believe they are Shakespeare's words. _You will eat_, says Lafen, _no grapes. Yes, but you will eat such noble grapes_ as I bring you, _if you could reach them._

II.i. 100 (41,8) [I am Cressid's uncle] I am like Pandarus. See Troilus and Cressida. (see 1765, III,310,2)

II.i.114 (41,9) [wherein the honour Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power] Perhaps we may better read,--_ wherein the power Of my dear father's gift stands chief in_ honour,

II.i.144 (42,1) [When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd] I do not see the import or connection of this line. As the next line stands without a correspondent rhyme, I suspect that something has been lost.

II.i.159 (43,2) [Myself against the level of mine aim] I rather think that she means to say, _I am not an impostor that proclaim_ one thing and design another, _that proclaim_ a cure and aim at a fraud: I think what I speak.

II.i.174 (43,3)

[a divulged shame Traduc'd by odious ballds; my maiden's name Sear'd otherwise; no worse of worst extended, With vilest torture let my life be ended]

This passage is apparently corrupt, and how shall it be rectified? I have no great hope of success, but something must be tried. I read the whole thus,

King. _What darest thou venture?_ Hal. _Tax of impudence. A strumpet's boldness; a divulged shame, Traduc'd by odious ballads my maiden name; Sear'd otherwise,_ to worst _of worst extended; With vilest torture let my life be ended._

When this alteration first came into my mind, I supposed Helen to mean thus, _First,_ I venture what is dearest to me, my maiden reputation; but if your distrust _extends_ my character _to the worst of_ the _worst, and supposes me _seared_ against the sense of infamy, I will add to the stake of reputation, the stake of life. This certainly is sense, and the language as grammatical as many other passages of Shakespeare. Yet we may try another experiment.

Fear _otherwise_ to worst of _worst extended; With vilest torture let my life be ended._ That is, let me act under the greatest terrors possible.

But once again we will try to find the right way by the glimmer of Hanmer's amendation, who reads thus,

--_my maiden name
Sear'd; otherwise_ the worst of _worst extended._ etc.

Perhaps it were better thus,

--_ my maiden name
Sear'd; otherwise_ the worst to _worst extended; _

_With vilest torture let my life be ended._

II.i.182 (45,5) [Thy life is dear; for all, that life can rate Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate] May be _counted_ among the gifts enjoyed by them.

II.i.185 (45,7) [prime] Youth; the spring or morning of life.

II.ii.40 (48,1) [To be young again] The lady censures her own levity in trifling with her jester, as a ridiculous attempt to return back to youth.

Il.iii.6 (49,3) [unknown fear] _Fear_ is here the object of fear.

II.iii.11 (50,4)

[_Par._ So I say, both of Galen and Paracelsus. _Laf._ Of all the learned and authentic fellows]

As the whole merriment of this scene consists in the pretensions of Parollei to knowledge and sentiments which he has not, I believe here are two passages in which the words and sense are bestowed upon him by the copies, which the author gave to Lafen. I read this passage thus,

Laf. _To be relinquished of the artists----_ Par. _So I. say._ Laf. _Both of Galen and Paracelsus, of all the learned and authentick fellows----_ Par. _Right, so I say.__

II.iii.41 (51,7)

[which should, indeed, give us a farther use to be made, than alone the recovery of the King; as to be-- _Laf._ Generally thankful]

I cannot see that there is any _hiatus_, or other irregularity of language than such as is very common in these plays. I believe Parolles has again usurped words and sense to which he has no right; and I read this passage thus,

Laf. _In a most weak and debile minister, great power, great transcendence; which should, indeed, give us a farther use to be made than the mere recovery of the king._ Par. _As to be._ Laf. _Generally thankful._

II.iii.66 (52,9) [My mouth no more were broken than these boys'] A broken mouth is a mouth which has lost part of its teeth.

II.iii.77 (53,1) [Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever] [W: dearth] The white death is the chlorosis.

II.iii.80 (53,2) [And to imperial Love] [W. The old editions read IMPARTIAL, which is right.] There is no edition of this play older than that of 1623, the next is that of 1632, of which both read imperials the second reads imperial Jove.

II.iii.92 (53,3) [Laf. Do they all deny her?] None of them have yet denied her, or deny her afterwards but Bertram. The scene must be so regulated that Lafeu and Parolles talk at a distance, where they nay see what passes between Helena and the lords, but not hear it, so that they know not by whom the refusal is made.

II.iii.105 (54,4) [There's one grape yet,--I am sure, they father drunk wine.--But if thou be'st not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen. I have known thee already] This speech the three last editors have perplexed themselves by dividing between Lafeu and Parolles, without any authority of copies, or any improvement of sense. I have restored the old reading, and should have thought no explanation necessary, but that Mr. Theobald apparently misunderstood it.

Old Lafeu having, upon the supposition that the lady was refused, reproached the young lords as _boys of ice_, throwing his eyes on Bertram who remained, cries out, "_There is one yet into whom his father put good blood,----but I have known thee long enough to know thee for an ass_."

II.iii.135 (55,6) [good alone Is good, without a name, vileness is so] [W: good; and with a name,] The present reading is certainly wrong, and, to confess the truth, I do not think Dr. Warburton's emendation right; yet I have nothing that I can propose with much confidence. Of all the conjectures that I can make, that which least displeases me is this:

--_good alone.
Is good without a name_; Helen _is so_;

The rest follows easily by this change.

II.iii.138 (56,7)

[--She is young, wise, fair; In these, to nature she's immediate heir; And these breed honour]

Here is a long note [W's] which I wish had been shorter. _Good_ is better than _young_, as it refers to _honour_. But she is more the _immediate heir_ of _nature_ with respect to _youth_ than _goodness_. To be _immediate heir_ is to inherit without any intervening transmitter: thus she inherits beauty _immediately_ from _nature_, but honour is transmitted by ancestors; youth is received _immediately_ from _nature_. but _goodness_ may be conceived in part the gift of parents, or the effect of education. The alteration therefore loses on one side what it gains on the other.

II.iii.170 (58,9) [Into the staggers] One species of the _staggers_, or the _horses apoplexy_, is a raging impatience which makes the animal dash himself with destructive violence against posts or walls. To this the allusion, I suppose, is made.

II.iii.185 (59,1)

[whose ceremony Shall seem expedient on the now-born brief, And be perform'd to-night]

This, if it be at all intelligible, is at least obscure and inaccurate. Perhaps it was written thus,

--what _ceremony Shall seem expedient on the now-born brief_ Shall _be perform'd to-night; the solemn feast_ _Shall more attend_--

The _brief_ is the _contract of espousal_, or the _licence_ of the church. The King means, What _ceremony_ is necessary to make this _contract a marriage_, shall be immediately _performed_; the rest may be delayed.

II.iii.211 (60,2) [I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow] While I sat twice with thee at table.

II.iii.217 (60,3) [yet art then good for nothing but taking up] To take up, is to _contradict_, to _call to account_, as well as to _pick off the ground_.

II.iii.242 (60,4) [in the default] That is, _at a need_.

II.iii.246 (61,5) [for doing, I am past; as I will by thee, in what motion age will give me leave] [Warburton suspected a line lost after "past"] This suspicion of chasm is groundless. The conceit which is so thin that it might well escape a hasty reader, is in the word _past, I am past, as I will be_ past _by thee_.

II.iii.309 (63,9) [To the dark house] The _dark house_ is a house made gloomy by discontent. Milton says of _death_ and the _king_ of hell preparing to combat,

_So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew_ darker _at their frown_.

II.iv.45 (65,1) [Whose want, and whose delay, is strew'd with sweets] The _sweets_ with which this _want_ are _strewed_, I suppose, are compliments and professions of kindness.

II.iv.52 (65,2) [probable need] A specious appearance of necessity.

III.i.10 (70,5) [The reasons of our state I cannot yield] I cannot inform you of the reasons.

III.i.11 (70,6) [an outward man] [W: i.e. one not in the secret of affairs] So _inward_ is familiar, admitted to secrets. _I was an_ inward _of his_. Measure for Measure.

III.ii.59 (73,1) [_When thou canst get the ring upon my finger_] [W: When thou canst get the ring, which is on my finger, into thy possession] I think Dr. Warburton's explanation sufficient, but I once read it thus, _When thou canst get the ring upon_ thy _finger, which newer shall come off_ mine.

III.ii.100 (74,3) [Not so, but as we change our courtesies] The gentlemen declare that they are servants to the Countess, she replies, No otherwise than as she returns the same offices of civility.

III.iv.4 (77,4) [St. Jaques' pilgrim] I do not remember any place famous for pilgrimages consecrated in Italy to St. James, but it is common to visit St. James of Compostella, in Spain. Another saint might easily have been found, Florence being somewhat out of the road from Bonsillon to Compostella.

III.iv.13 (77,6) [Juno] Alluding to tho story of Hercules.

III.iv.19 (77,6) [Rinaldo, you did never lack advice so much] _Advice_, is _discretion_ or _thought_.

III.v.21 (79,7) [are not the things they go under] [W: Mr. Theobald explains these words by, _They are not really so true and sincere as in appearance they seem to be_.] I think Theobald's interpretation right; _to go under_ the name of any thing is a known expression. The meaning is, they are not the things for which their names would make them pass.

III.v.66 (81,8) [examin'd] That is, _question'd, doubted_.

III.v.74 (81,9) [brokes] Deals as a _broker_.

III.vi.107 (86,6) [we have almost imboss'd him] To imboss a deer is to inclose him in a wood. Milton uses the same word:

_Like that self-begotten bird
In th' Arabian woods embost.
Which no second knows or third_.

III.vi.III (87,7) [ere we case him] This is, before we strip him naked. (1773)

III.vii.9 (88,2) [to your sworn council] To your private knowledge, after having required from you an oath of secrecy.

III.vii.21 (88,9) [Now his important blood will nought deny] _Important_ here, and elsewhere, is _importunate_.

IV.i.16 (90,2) [some band of strangers i' the adversary's entertainment] That is, _foreign troops in the enemy's pay_.

Iv.i.44 (91,3) [the instance] The _proof_.

IV.ii.13 (94,5)

[No more of that!
I pr'ythee, do not strive against my vows:
I was compell'd to her]

I know not well what Bertram can mean by entreating Diana _not to strive against his vows_. Diana has just mentioned his _wife_, so that the _vows_ seem to relate to his marriage. In this sense not Diana, but himself, _strives against his vows_. His _vows_ indeed may mean _vows_ made to Diana; but, in that case, to _strive against_ is not properly used for to reject, nor does this sense cohere well with his first exclamation of impatience at the mention of his wife. _No more of that_! Perhaps we might read,

_I Pr'ythee do not_ drive _against my vows.

Do not_ run _upon that topick; talk of any thing else that I can bear to hear_.

I have another conceit upon this passage, which I would be thought to offer without much confidence:

_No more of that_!
_I pr'ythee do not_ strive--_against my_ voice
_I was compell'd to her._

Diana tells him unexpectedly of his wife. He answers with perturbation, _No more of that! I pr'ythee do not_ play the confessor --_against my own_ consent _I was compelled to her_.

When a young profligate finds his courtship so gravely repressed by an admonition of his duty, he very naturally desires the girl not to take upon her the office of a confessor.

IV.ii.23 (95,6) [What is not holy, that we swear not 'bides] [W: not 'bides] This is an acute and excellent conjecture, and I have done it the due honour of exalting it to the text; yet, methinks, there is something yet wanting. The following words, _but take the High'st to witness_, even though it be understood as an anticipation or assumption in this sense,--_but_ now suppose that you _take the_ Highest _to witness_,--has not sufficient relation to the antecedent sentence. I will propose a reading nearer to the surface, and let it take its chance.

Ber. _How have I sworn_!

Diana. _'Tis not the many oaths, that make the truth,
But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true_.

Ber. _What is not holy, that we swear not by.
But take the High'st to witness_.

Diana. _Then, pray tell me.
If I should swear_, &c.

Bertram means to enforce his suit, by telling her, that he has bound himself to her, not by the pretty protestations usual among lovers, but by vows of greater solemnity. She then makes a proper and rational reply.

IV.ii.25 (96,7) [If I should swear by Jove's great attributes] In the print of the old folio, it is doubtful whether it be _Jove's_ or _Love's_, the characters being not distinguishable. If it is read _Love's_, perhaps it may be something less difficult. I am still at a loss.

It may be read thus,

--"this has no holding,
"To swear by him whom I _attest_ to love,
"That I will work against him."

There is no consistence in expressing reverence for Jupiter by calling him to _attest_ my love, and shewing at the same time, by _working against him_ by a wicked passion, that I have no respect to the name which I invoke. (1773)

IV.ii.28 (96,8) [To swear by him whom I protest to love, That I will work against him] This passage likewise appears to me corrupt. She swears not _by_ him whom she _loves_, but by Jupiter. I believe we may read, _to swear_ to _him_. There is, says she, no _holding_, no consistency, in swearing to one that _I love him_, when I swear it only to _injure_ him.

IV.ii.73 (98,9) [Since Frenchmen are so braid, Marry that will, I'll live and die a maid] [W: Marry 'em] The passage is very unimportant, and the old reading reasonable enough. Nothing is more common than for girls, on such occasions, to say in a pet what they do not think, or to think for a time what they do not finally resolve.

IV.iii.7 (98,1) [I _Lord_] The later editors have with great liberality bestowed lordship upon these interlocutors, who, in the original edition, are called, with more propriety, _capt_. E. and _capt_. G. It is true that _captain_ E. is in a former scene called _lord_ E. but the subordination in which they seem to act, and the timorous manner in which they converse, determines them to be only captains. Yet as the later readers of Shakespeare have been used to find them lords, I have not thought it worth while to degrade them in the margin.

IV.iii.29 (99,2) [he, that in this action contrives against his own nobility, in his proper stream o'erflows himself] That is, _betrays his own secrets in his own talk_. The reply shows that this is the meaning.

IV.iii.38 (100,3) [he might take a measure of his own judgment] This is a very just and moral reason. Bertram, by finding how erroneously he has judged, will be less confident, and more easily moved by admonition.

IV.iii.113 (102,4) [bring forth this counterfeit module] [W: medal] _Module_ being the _pattern_ of any thing, may be here used in that sense. Bring forth this fellow, who, by _counterfeit_ virtue pretended to make himself a _pattern_.

IV.iii.237 (106,8) [Dian. _the Count's a fool, and full of gold_] After this line there is apparently a line lost, there being no rhime that corresponds to gold.

IV.iii.254 (106,9) [Half won, is match well made; match, and well make it] This line has no meaning that I can find. I read, with a very slight alteration, _Half won is match well made_; watch, _and well make it_. That is, _a match well made is half won; watch, and make it well_.

This is, in my opinion, not all the error. The lines are misplaced, and should be read thus:

_Half won is match well made; watch, and well make it;
when he swears oaths, bid him drop gold, and take it.
After he scores, he never pays the score:
He never pays after-debts, take it before.
And say----_

That is, take his money and leave him to himself. When the players had lost the second line, they tried to make a connection out of the rest. Part is apparently in couplets, and the note was probably uniform.

IV.iii.280 (107,1) [He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister] I know not that _cloister_, though it may etymologically signify _any_ _thing shut_ is used by our author, otherwise than for a _monastery_, and therefore I cannot guess whence this hyperbole could take its original: perhaps it means only this: _He will steal any thing, however trifling, from any place, however holy_.

IV.iii.307 (108,2) [he's a cat still] That is, throw him how you will, he lights upon his legs. [Steevens offered another explanation] I an still of my former opinion. The same speech was applied by king James to Coke, with respect to his subtilties of law, that throw him which way we would, he could still like a cat light upon his legs. (see 1765, III,372,1)

IV.iii.317 (109,3) [Why does he ask him of me?] This is nature. Every man is on such occasions more willing to hear his neighbour's character than his own.

IV.iii.332 (109,4) [Only to seem to deserve well, and to beguile the supposition of that lascivious young boy the Count, have I run into this danger] That is, _to deceive the opinion_, to make the count think me a man that _deserves well_.

IV.iv.23 (III,6) [When saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts Defiles the pitchy night!] [W: When Fancy,] This conjecture is truly ingenious, but, I believe, the author of it will himself think it unnecessary, when he recollects that _saucy_ may very properly signify _luxurious_, and by consequence _lascivious_.

IV.iv.31 (112,7)

[But with the word, the time will bring on summer,
When briars shall have leaves as well as thorns,
And be as sweet as sharp]

The meaning of this observation is, that _as briars_ have _sweetness_ with their _prickles_, so shall these _troubles_ be recompensed with _joy_.