has asserted: "A Cardinal seeing a priest carrying a cudgel under his gown, reprimanded him. His excuse was, that he only carried it to defend himself against the dogs of the town. Wherefore, I pray you, replied the Cardinal, serves St. John's Gospel? Alas, my Lord, said the priest, these curs understand no Latin." MALONE.

P. 212, 1. 5-7. You speedy helpers, that are substitutes

Under the lordly monarch of the north,

Appear,] The north was always supposed to be the particular habitation of bad spirits. Milton, therefore, assembles the rebel angels in the north. JOHNSON,

The boast of Lucifer in the xivth chapter of Isaiah is said to be, that he will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. STEEVENS.

P. 212, 1. 11. 12. Now, ye familiar spirits, that are cull'd

Out of the powerful regions under ́earth,] I believe Shakspeare wrote-legions. WARBURTON. The regions under earth are the infernal regions. Whence else should the sorceress have selected or summoned her fiends? STEEVENS.

In a former passage regions seems to have been printed instead of legions; at least all the editors from the time of Mr. Rowe have there substituted the latter word instead of the former. The word call'd, and the epithet powerful, which is applicable to the fiends themselves, but not to their place of residence, show that it has an equal title to a place in the text here. MALONE.

P. 212, l. 16. Where-] i. e. whereas. STEEVENS.
P. 213, 1. 19. To ban is to curse. STEEVENS.
P. 214.1.15-17. As plays the sun upon the glassy
streams,] This compari-

son, made between things which seem sufficienlty unlike, is intended to express the softness and delicacy of Lady Margaret's beauty, which delighted, but did not dazzle; which was bright, but gave no pain by its lustre, JOHNSON,

P. 214, 1.20. disable not thyself;] Do not re'present thyself so weak. To disable the judgement of another was, in that age, the same as to destroy its credit or authority. JOHNSON.

P. 215, 1.17. that's a wooden thing.] Is an awkward business, an undertaking not likely to

succeed. STEEVENS. P. 215, 1. 20.

.

my fancy

P. 217, 1. 17. "To face (says Dr. Johnson) is to carry a false appearance, to play the hypocrite. Hence the name of one of the characters in Ben Jonson's Alchymist. MALONE.

در

So, in The Taming of a Shrew:

"Yet I have fac'd it with a card of ten."

"

STEEVENS, P. 217, 1. 30. Since thou dost deign to woo her little worth,

to court

To be the princely bride of such a lord;] To woo her little worth may mean her small share of merit. But perhaps the pas sage, should be pointed thus:

Since thou dost deign to woo her, little worth

To be the princely bride of such a lord; i. e, little deserving to be the wife of such a Prince. MALone.

P. 217, last 1. the county Maine,] Maine is called a county both by Hall and Holinshed. The old copy erroneously reads-country. MALONE.

P. 219, 1.3. Peevish, for childish. WARBURTON. See a note on Cymbeline, Act I. sc. vii: "Hes' strange and peevish." STEEVENS.

P. 219, 1. 10. 11. Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount;

Mad, natural graces that extinguish art ;] So the old copy. The modern editors have been content to read her natural graces. By the word mad, however, I believe the poet only meant wild or uncultivated. In the former of these signi→ fications he appears to have used it in Othello:

he she lov'd prov'd mad," which Dr. Johnson has properly interpreted. We call a wild girl, to this day, a mad-cap.

Mad, in some of the ancient books of gardening, is used as an epithet to plants which grow rampant and wild. STEEVENS

It is possible that Steevens may be right in asserting that the word mad, may have been used to express wild; but I believe it was never used as descriptive of excellence, or as applicable to grace. The passage is in truth erroneous as is also the amendment of former editors. That which I should propose is, to read and, instead of mad, words that might easily have been mistaken for each other:

2

Bethink thee of her virtues that surmount, And natural graces that extinguish art.. That is, think of her virtues that surmount art, and of her natural graces that extinguish it. M. MASON. P. 219, last 1. Decrepit miser.] Miser has no relation to avarice in this passage, but simply means a miserable creature. STEEVENS.

P. 220, 1. 12.—that thou wilt be so obstacle A vulgar corruption of obstinate, which I think. has oddly lasted since our author's time till now. JOHNSON.

P. 220,

1. 19.

I gave a noble to the priest,] This passage seems to corroborate an explanation, somewhat farfetched, which I have given in King

Henry IV of the nobleman and royal man, JOHNSON. P. 221, I. 15. No, misconceived!] i. e. No, ye misconceivers, ye who mistake me and my qualities. STEEVENS.

P. 221, 1. 28.

That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.-] The useless words to be, which spoil the measure, are an evident interpolation. STEEVENS.

P. 222, 1. 9. that notorious Machiavel!} Machiavel being mentioned somewhat before his time, this line is by some of the editors given to the players, and ejected from the text. JOHNSON.

The character of Machiavel seems to have made so very deep an impression on the dramatick writers of this age, that he is many times as prema turely spoken of. - STEEVENS.

-

P. 222, h 26. But darkness and the gloomy shade of death] The expres sion is scriptural: Whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death." MALONE. P. 222, 1. 27. 28. till mischief, and despair, Drive you to break your necks, or hang yourselves! Perhaps Shakspeare intended to remark, in this execration, the frequency of suicide among the English, which has been commonly imputed to the gloominess of their air. JOHNSON.

P. 223, 1. 2: remorse i. e. compassion, pity. STEEVENS.

-P. 223, 1. 29–51. — for boiling choler chokes The hollow passage of my poison'd voice,

By sight of these our baleful enemies.] Poison'd voice agrees well enough with baneful enemies, or with baleful, if it can be used in the The modern editors read-prison'd

same sense.

voice. JOHNSON.

Prison'd was introduced by Mr, Pope. MALONE. Baleful is sorrowful; I therefore rather imagine that we should read baneful, hurtful, or

mischievous. JOHNSON.

Baleful had anciently the same, meaning as baneful. It is an epithet very frequently bestowed on poisonous plants and reptiles. STEEVENS, P. 224, 1. 8. Coronet is here used for a crown. JOHNSON.

So, in King Lear:

which to confirm,

"This coronet part between you.

These are the words of Lear when he gives up. his crown to Cornwall and Albany. STEEVENS. P. 224, 1. 25. Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison? Do you s:and to compare your present state, a state which you have neither right or power to maintain, with the terms which we offer? JOHNSON, P. 224, 1. 27. Of benefit proceeding from our

a term of law. Be ciary of our King. P. 225, 1. 27-31.

King,] Benefit is here content to live as the benefiJOHNSON.

And like as rigour of tempestuous gusts &c.] This simile is somewhat obscure; he seems to mean, that as a ship is driven against the tide by the wind, so he is driven by love against the current of his interest. JOHNSON.

- P. 226, 1. 21. at a triumph —] That is, at the sports by which a triumph is celebrated. JOHNSON. A triumph, in the age of Shakspeare, signified a public exhibition, such as a mask, a revel &c. STEEVENS. P226, 1. 30. Good, which is not in the old copy, was added for the sake of the metre, in the second folio. MALONE.