your eyes. Leonatus Pofthumus. O, for a horfe with wings!--Hear'ft thou, Pi fanio? He is at Milford-Haven: Read, and tell me Glide thither in a day?-Then, true Pifanio, hence: gap Why should excufe be born or e'er begot? Pif. One fcore, 'twixt fun and fun, Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too, -loyal to his vow, and your increafing in love,] I read : Loyal to his vow and you, increafing in love. We should rather, I think, read thus:-and your, increafing in JOHNSON, love, Leonatus Pofthumus.. be joined in conftruction with Leonatus, and not with increafing ; To make it plain, that your is to and that the latter is a participle prefent, and not a noun. - TYRWHITT. Imo. Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, man, Could never go fo flow: I have heard of riding. wagers, Where horfes have been nimbler than the fands That run i' the clock's behalf:-But this is foolery: Go, bid my woman feign a fickness; fay She'll home to her father: and provide me, prefently, A riding fuit; no costlier than would fit 'A franklin's housewife. Pif. Madam, you're beft confider. Imo. I fee before me, man, nor here, nor here, Nor 2 That run i' the clock's behalf :— -] This fantaftical expreffion means no more than fand in an hour-glass, used to measure time. WARBURTON. A franklin's housewife.] A franklin is literally a freeholder, with a small eftate, neither villain nor vassal. 4 I fee before me, man, nor here, nor here, JOHNSON. Where is the fubftantive to which this relative plural, them, can, poffibly have any reference? There is none; and the fenfe, as well as grammar, is defective. I have ventured to restore, against the authority of the printed copies : -but have a fog in ken, That I cannot look thro'. Imogen would say: "Don't talk of confidering, man; I neither fee prefent events, nor confequences; but am in a mift of fortune, and refolved to proceed on the project determined." In ken, means in profpect, within fight, before my eyes. I fee before me, man; nor here nor there, THEOBALD. Shakspeare fays fhe can fee before her, yet on which fide foever the looks there is a fog which the cannot fee through. This nonfenfe is occafioned by the corrupt reading of but have a fog, for, that have a fog; and then all is plain. "I fee before me (fays fhe) for there is no fog on any fide of me which I cannot fee through." Mr. Theobald objects to a fog in them, and afks for the fubftantive to which the relative plural (them) relates. The substantive is places, implied in the words here, there, and $ 4 what Nor what enfues; but have a fog in them, [Exeunt, Changes to a forest, in Wales, with a cave. Enter Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus. Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with fuch Whofe roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate Inftructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows you To morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs Are arch'd to high, that giants may jet through what enfues: for not to know that Shakspeare perpetually takes thefe liberties of grammar, is knowing nothing of his author. So that there is no need for his strange Ituff of a fog in ken. WARBURTON. This paffage may, in my opinion, be very eafily understood, without any emendation. The lady fays: "I can fee neither one way nor other, before me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable fog." There are objections infuperable to all that I can propofe, and fince reafon can give me no counsel, I will refolve at once to follow my inclination. JOHNSON. 5 Stoop boys:] The old copy reads:leep, boys :from whence Hanmer conjectured that the poet wrote-floop, boys-as that word affords a good introduction to what follows. Mr. Rowe reads "See boys-,"which (as ufual) had been filently copied. STEEVENS. Irather believe that the author wrote-" fueet boys," and that the tranfcriber's ear deceived him. Stoop and fleep were not likely to be confounded either by the eye or the ear; nor is there any occafion here for the princes to fop; for probably both they and Belarius on the opening of this fcene appeared at the outfide of the cave, while he fpoke thefe lines. MALONE. And keep their impious turbands on, without Guid. Hail, heaven! Bel. Now for our mountain sport: Up to yon hill, Your legs are young; I'll tread thefe flats. Confider, When you above perceive me like a crow, That it is place, which leffens, and sets off. And you may then revolve what tales I have told you, Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war: 6 their impious turbands on,—— -] The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of thofe times, always confounded with that of a Saracen. JOHNSON. 7 This fervice is not fervice, &c.] In war it is not fufficient to do duty well; the advantage rifes not from the act, but the acceptance of the act. JOHNSON. 's The fharded beetle-] i. e. the beetle whose wings are enclofed within two dry husks or hards. So in Gower, De Confeffione Amantis, lib. V. fol. 103. b. That with his fwerd, and with his fpere, "He might not the ferpent dere ; "He was fo fherded all aboute, "It held all edge toole withoute." Gower is here speaking of the dragon fubdued by Jafon. STEEVENS. attending for a check ;] Check may mean in this place a reproof; but I rather think it fignifies command, controul. Thus in Troilus and Creffida, the restrictions of Aristotle are called Ariftotle's checks. STEEVENS. Richer, Richer, than doing nothing for a babe : Such gain the cap of him, that makes them fine, Have never wing'd from view o' the nest; nor know not -than doing nothing for a bauble ;] i. e. Vain titles of honour gained by an idle attendance at court. editor reads, for a bribe. WARBURTON. But the Oxford The Oxford editor knew the reason of this alteration, though his cenfurer knew it not. The old edition reads: Richer, than doing nothing for a babe. Of babe fome corrector made bauble; and Hanmer thought himfelf equally authorised to make bribe. I think babe can hardly be right. It should be remembered, however, that bauble was anciently fpelt bable; fo that Dr. Warburton in reality has added but one letter. A bauble was part of the infignia of a fool. So in All's well that ends well, act IV. fc. v. the clown fays: "I would give his wife my bauble, fir." It was a kind of truncheon, (fays fir John Hawkins) with a head carved on it. To this Belarius may allude, and mean that honourable poverty is more precious than a finecure at court, of which the badge is a truncheon or a wand. So, in Middleton's Game at Chess, 1623: "Art thou fo cruel for an honour's bable? As, however, it was once the custom in England for favourites at court to beg the wardship of infants who were born to great riches, our author may allude to it on this occafion. Frequent complaints were made that nothing was done towards the education of these unhappy orphans. STEEVENS. I have always fufpected that the right reading of this paffage is what I had not in a former edition the confidence to propofe : Richer, than doing nothing for a brabe. Brabium is a bade of honour, or the enfign of an honour, or any thing worn as a mark of dignity. The word was ftrange to the editors, as it will be to the reader; they therefore changed it to babe; and I am forced to propofe it without the fupport of any authority. Brabium is a word found in Holyoak's Dictionary, who terms it a reward, Cooper, in his Thefaurus, defines it ta be a prize, or reward for any game. JOHNSON. What |