authority of books. The authors can give names, fays he, to things; inftancing those,

That give a name to every fixed ftar,

though they profit no more by them, and know nothing farther about them, than thofe who are ignorant of thofe names. And this being all they can do, he may well call their writings bafe authority, and fay that any body can do as much, for

Every god-father can give a name,

which is as much at least as aftronomers do by the ftars.

The author of the Revifal feems to think the word fame, in this place, hath fome reference to the king's speech at the commencement of the play; when he proposes reputation as the principal aim and motive of their ftudies.

Let Fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live register'd upon our brazen tombs ;
And then grace us in the difgrace of death:
When, fpight of cormorant devouring time,
Th' endeavour of this prefent breath may buy

That honour which fhall 'bate his fcythe's keen edge;
And make us heirs of all eternity.

But admitting this, I cannot fee any reason to think that fame, in the paffage difputed, hath precisely the fame meaning as in that juft quoted, unless both speeches had been spoken by the king. It is not unlikely that this paffage refers to the fame recommended by the king; but it is very unlikely that the speaker should affect to set a greater value on knowledge than on that fame, which was at first proposed as the ultimate end to be attained by it. It is, in my opinion, more than probable that Biron the speaker, who is evidently a wit, and rails at book-learning, takes the advantage here of the equivocal ufe of the word fame; to fneer at the king's propofing celebrity as the end of his studies: in which cafe the contested line might be paraphrased thus; To Spend all your time in getting to know only the names of things, and what others report about them,

them, is the way to get nothing else but fame fure enough! Indeed, Biron feems to be a man of fuch a kidney, as to reason about literary fame as Falftaff does about military bonour, and could eafily resolve it in like manner by a trim reckoning, into a very word, air, a mere empty report.

Vol. II. Page 121.

COST. The manner of it is, I was taken in the manner. BIRON. In what manner?

COST. In manner and form following.

Dr. Johnson tells us in his preface, that, when he inferts any of Dr. Warburton's propofed emendations in the text, he means to give them his higheft approbation. Now, this he hath done in the prefent inftance; giving that fcholiaft's note likewise at the bottom of the page, The note is as follows:

"Taken WITH the manner.] The following queftion "arifing from thefe words, fhews we fhould read-taken IN "the manner. And this was the phrase in use to fignify taken "in the fact. So Dr. Donne, in his letters, But if I melt "into melancholy while I write, I fhall be taken IN the manner; " and I fit by one too tender to thefe impressions."

The author of the Canons of Criticifm, however, hath invalidated what Dr. Warburton advances in this place, by another of his own notes on a paffage in the firft part of Henry the Fourth, where the fame expreffion occurs; and on which the fame reverend commentator fays: "The quarto and "folio read with the manner, which is right. Taken with the "manner is a law phrase, and then in use to fignify taken in "the fact."-Mr. Edwards obferved, on remarking this inconfiftency, that "Great wits have short memories." But I am at fome lofs to know to what I fhould impute Dr. Johnfon's giving the highest approbation to this blunder of Dr. Warburton's. That his memory is at least as bad, and his attention full as little, is evident from his quoting both these contradictory

3

tradictory notes in their respective places, and his giving the highest approbation to both the contradictory emendations, by inferting them in the text; one in the play before us, and the other in that of Henry IV. Notwithstanding the inconfiftency had been pointed out in a book, that hath run through at least fix editions. To what can we impute fuch fervile transcription? Shall we fet it down among Dr. Johnfon's other conceffions to the respect due to high place, and his veneration for genius and learning? Or shall we rather impute it to his indolence in not consulting the Canons of Criticifm? Or perhaps he would neither chufe to depend on the authority of that writer, nor even on Dr. Warburton's himself, against the united fuffrage of Dr. Warburton and Dr. Donne. He might have depended, however, on the farther authority of Shakespeare; which he might have had by turning over a few pages more of the volume before us; the Clown in the Winter's Tale using the same phrase, thus, Your worship had like to have given us one, if you had not taken yourself WITH the manner.

My readers will hardly doubt, on this representation of the cafe, that the common phrase was taken WITH the manner, As to the certainty of its being adopted here, however, it may poffibly be ftill difputed. Dr. Warburton fays, Biron's queftion, immediately fucceeding, fhews that Coftard should fay IN the manner. For my part I cannot fee the force of this reason, though I can very well see why Biron should not repeat WITH the manner, because of another law phrase, with which Coftard anfwers him, viz. In manner and form following. Now this could not be, with any propriety, WITH manner and form following. But I think there is no impropriety in fuppofing that Biron, not attending to the quaintness of Coftard's expreffion, afks him fimply and naturally IN what manner? notwithstanding Coftard had used the phrase WITH what manner. Be all this, however, as it may, we have here a very flagrant instance, IN what manner Dr. Johnson

hath

hath commented on Shakespeare, and WITH what manners he hath treated the public, who encouraged him in this undertaking.

Vol. II. Page 142.

MOTH. A wonder, mafter, here's a coftard broken in a fhin.

ARM. Some enigma, fome riddle; come,- thy l'envoybegin

COST. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no falve in the male, Sir.

Dr. Johnson boggles here at the word male, which he conjectures may ftand for mail, a packet or bag, and thence the mountebank's budget. The matter, indeed, he owns is not great; but one would wifh, he fays, for fome meaning or other. I wonder, when he was in the humour to descend to such trifles, he should pass over the word l'envoy, which is fo often repeated in this and the next page. I dare fay not one reader of Shakespeare in a hundred, and perhaps not all his commentators, know very well what to make of it. Armado, indeed, is very explicit on the subject. "It is, fays he, an epilogue or difcourfe, to make plain

"Some obfcure precedence that hath to fore been fain. "I will example it. Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with my l'envoy.

"The fox, the ape, and the humble bee,

"Were still at odds, being but three.

"There's the moral now the l'envoy."

All this is plain and intelligible enough; every English reader alfo might learn from Boyer, that envoy meant the conclufion of a ballad or fonnet; from which he might be led to mistake

He

• The author of the Revifal also fuppofes, that we should read mail; but he fays that means No falve within the BANDAGE. is equally filent, however, about the l'envoy; the explanation of which though it be no great matter, the English reader has been probably defirous of fome little illuftration or other.

it

it for the mere burthen of a fong. But why should the couplets of a fong, or the explanation of an enigma, be called the envoy? The cafe was this-during the inftitution of the Jeux Floraux, or poetical contefts, which formerly existed in France, the fonnets or verfes of the feveral candidates for the prize, always clofed with an address to the prince, or umpire, who determined their merit, and to whom each was accordingly fent [envoiè] whence the name; and hence this part of the compofition was ufually the most studied and highly finished, in order to induce the arbiter to bestow the prize on the author.

Vol. II. Page 149.

THE PRINCESS TO A FORESTER.

Nay, never paint me more;

Where fair is not, praise cannot mend the brow.
Here good MY GLASS-take this for telling true.

[Looking at her glafs, and giving the Forefter money. To understand, fays our editor, how the princess has her glafs fo ready at hand in a casual conversation, it must be remembered, that in those days it was the fashion among the < French ladies to wear a looking-glaís, as Mr. BAYLE coarsely reprefents it, ON THEIR BELLIES; that is, to have a small mirrour, fet in gold, hanging at the girdle, by which they < occafionally viewed their faces, or adjusted their hair.'-As Mr. Johnson is almost always above referring particularly to his authorities, I cannot readily turn to the paffage in Bayle where he makes this coarse representation. I am greatly apt to fufpect, however, from the opinion I have of Monf. Bayle's usual propriety and elegance, that our editor hath mistaken his meaning. It appears to me that, if thefe mirrors were hanging at the girdle, they would have been rather reprefented as worn at the fide, than on the belly, as the watch and etui are at present. Add to this, that if the ribbon or chain, by which they were hung, was fo long as to permit the wearer to adjust her hair, without taking it quite off (as is reasonable to suppose)