Revengingly enfeebles me; Or could this carle, If that thy gentry, Britain, go before This lout, as he exceeds our lords, the odds The battle continues; the Britons fly; Cymbeline is taken: then enter to his refcue, Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus. Bel. Stand, stand! We have the advantage of the ground; The lane is guarded: nothing routs us, but Guid. Arv. Stand, ftand, and fight! Enter Pofthumus, and feconds the Britons. They refcue Cymbeline, and Exeunt. Then, enter Lucius, Iachimo, and Imogen. Luc. Away, boy, from the troops, and fave thyfelf: For friends kill friends, and the disorder's fuch Iach. 'Tis their fresh fupplies. Luc. It is a day turn'd ftrangely: Or betimes Let's re-inforce, or fly. [Exeunt. 6 this carle,] Carl or churl (ceonl, Sax.) is a clown or hufbandman. REMARKS. Verftigan fays ceorle, now written churle, was anciently underftood for a sturdy fellow. EDITOR. Carlot is a word of the fame fignification, and occurs in our author's As you like it. Again, in an ancient interlude or morality, printed by Raftell, without title or date. "A carlys fonne, brought up of nought." The thought feems to have been imitated in Philafter: "The gods take part against me; could this boor Y 4 SCENE Another part of the field. Enter Pofthumus, and a British Lord. Lord. Cam'st thou from where they made the ftand? Though you, it seems, come from the fliers. Poft. No blame be to you, fir; for all was loft, Lord. Where was this lane? Poft. Clofe by the battle, ditch'd, and wall'd with turf'; Clofe by the battle, &c.] The ftopping of the Roman army by three perfons, is an allufion to the ftory of the Hays, as related by Holinfhed in his Hiftory of Scotland, p. 155: "There was neere to the place of the battell, a long lane fenfed on the fides with ditches and walles made of turfe, through the which the Scots which fled were beaten downe by the enemies on heapes." Here Haie with his fonnes fuppofing they might best staie the fight, placed themfelves overthwart the lane, beat them backe whom they met fleeing, and fpared neither friend nor fo; but downe they went all fuch as came within their reach, wherewith divers hardie perfonages cried unto their fllowes to returne backe unto the battell, &c." It appears from Peck's Nerv Memoirs, &c. article 88, that Milton intended to have written a play on this fubject. MUSGRAVE. Which gave advantage to an ancient foldier,- Than thofe for prefervation cas'd, or fhame) Part, shame, part, fpirit renew'd; that fome, turn'd coward The country bafe,-] i. e, A ruftic game called prison-bars, vulgarly prifon-bafe. So, in the Tragedy of Hoffman, 1632. 66 -I'll run a little courfe "At bafe or barley-bråke Again, in the Antipodes, 1638: my men can run at base." Again, in the 30th Song of Drayton's Polyolbion : "At hood-wink, barley-brake, at tick, or prifon-base." Again, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. 5. c. 8. "So ran they all as they had been at bace." STEEVENS. for prefervation cas'd, or fhame)] Shame for modesty. Sir T. Hanmer reads the paffage thus: Than fome for prefervation cas'd. For fhame, WARBURTON. Make good the paffage, cry'd to thofe that fled, Theobald's reading is right. JoHNSON. But by example (O, a fin in war, Damn'd in the first beginners!) 'gan to look A rout, confufion thick: Forthwith, they fly Chickens, the way which they stoop'd eagles; flaves, The strides they victors made: And now our cowards, (Like fragments in hard voyages, became The life o' the need) having found the back-door open Of the unguarded hearts, Heavens, how they wound! 2 Lord. This was ftrange chance: A narrow lane! an old man, and two boys! 3 Poft. Nay, do not wonder at it: You are made Rather A rout, confufion thick: -] This is read as if it was a thick confufion, and only another term for rout: whereas confufion-thick fhould be read thus, with an hyphen, and is a very beautiful compound epithet to rout. But Shakspeare's fine diétion is not a little obfcured throughout by thus disfiguring his compound adjectives. WARBURTON. I do not fee what great addition is made to fine diétion by this compound. Is it not as natural to enforce the principal event in a story by repetition, as to enlarge the principal figure in a picture? JOHNSON. bugs Terrors. JOHNSON. So in The Spanish Tragedy, 1605: "Where nought but furies, bugs, and tortures dwell." So in the Battle of Alcazar, 1594: "Is Amurath Baffa fuch a bug, "That he is mark'd to do this doughty deed ?” STEEVENS. 3 Nay, do not wonder at it :- -] Sure, this is mock reafoning with a vengeance. What! because he was made fitter to wonder at great actions, than to perform any, he is therefore forbid to wonder? Rather to wonder at the things you hear, Poft. 'Lack, to what end? Who dares not stand his foe, I'll be his friend: I know, he'll quickly fly my friendship too. Lord. Farewel; you are angry. 1 [Exit. Poft. Still going?-This is a lord! O noble To be i' the field, and afk, what news, of me! Could wonder? Not and but are perpetually mistaken for one another in the old editions. THEOBALD. There is no need of alteration. Pofthumus firft bids him not wonder, then tells him in another mode of reproach, that wonder is all that he was made for. JOHNSON. 4 —I, in mine own woe charm'd,] Alluding to the common fuperftition of charms being powerful enough to keep men unhurt in battle. It was derived from our Saxon ancestors, and fo is common to us with the Germans, who are above all other people given to this fuperftition; which made Erafmus, where, in his Moria Encomium, he gives to each nation its proper characteristic, fay, "Germani corporum proceritate & magiæ cognitione fibi placent." And Prior, in his Alma: "North Britons hence have fecond fight; WARBURTON. See a note on Macbeth, act V. fc. ult. So in Drayton's Nym phidia: Their feconds minifter an oath Which was indifferent to them both, And |