Note return to page 1 [1] (1) &lblank; Priam's six-gated City Dardan, and Timbria, Helias, Chetas, Trojen, And Antenoridan, with massy Staples And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts Stirre up the Sons of Troy.] This has been a most miserably mangled Passage, thro' all the Editions: corrupted at once into false Concord, and false Reasoning. Priam's six-gated City stirre up the Sons of Troy?— Here's a Verb plural govern'd of a Nominative singular. But that is easily remedied. The next Question to be asked, is, In what Sense a City having six strong Gates, and those well barr'd and bolted, can be said to stir up its Inhabitants? unless they may be suppos'd to derive some Spirit from the Strength of their Fortifications. But this could not be the Poet's Thought. He must mean, I take it, that the Greeks had pitch'd their Tents upon the Plains before Troy; and that the Trojans were securely barricaded within the Walls and Gates of their City. This Sense my Correction restores. &lblank; Priam's Six Gates i'th' City, &lblank; Sperre up the Sons of Troy. Why they might be call'd Priam's Six Gates, will be seen in the Sequel of this Note. To sperre, or spar, (from the old Teutonic Word, sperren) signifies, to shut up, defend by Barrs, &c. And in this very Sense has Chaucer used the Term in the 5th Book of his Troilus and Creseide. For when he saw her Doores sperred all, Well nigh for Sorrow' adown he 'gan to fall. But now for the Six Gates, the very Names of which our Editors have barbarously demolish'd; and which Mr. Pope, tho the Translator of Homer, had not the Skill to reedify, till I chalk'd out the Materials for him. We find them enumerated by La Cerda, (from Dares Phrygius, as he informs us;) in his Note upon this Passage of Virgil: &lblank; Hic Juno Scæas sævissima portas Prima tenet. Æneid. ii. v. 612. Trojanæ urbis portas sex enumerat Dares; Antenoridem, Dardanien, Iliam, Scæam, Catumbriam, Trojanam. This List is again given us by Tiraquellus in a Note upon Alexander ab Alexandro, (lib. iv. cap. 23.) and from these two copied by Sir Edward Sherburne in his Commentary upon the Troades of Seneca translated by him. But even in these three Passages we have to deal with Error: Catumbria is a very odd Word; and, I am well satisfied, a depraved one. I'll endeavour to account for the Blunder, and give the true Reading. We are to remember, there was near old Troy a Plain call'd Thymbra; a River, that run thro' it, call'd Thymbrius; and a Temple to Apollo Thymbræus. The Gate, that we are speaking of, was probably describ'd in the Greek Author (suppos'd to be Dares Phrygius, and now long since lost) to be &grk;&gra;&grt;&grag; &grq;&grua;&grm;&grb;&grr;&gri;&gro;&grn;: the Gate that fac'd, or was in the Neighbourhood of, the aforesaid Plain and River. And from thence, as I suspect, by the Negligence or Ignorance of the Translator, the two Greek Words were join'd, and corrupted into Catumbria. The correcter Editions of Dares Phrygius (I mean the Latin Version, which goes under that Name;) neither read as Cerda, Tiraquellus or Sir Edward Sherburne have given us this Passage; but thus:—Ilio portas fecit (scil. Priamus) quarum Nomina hæc sunt, Antenoridæ, Dardaniæ, Iliæ, Scææ, Thymbrææ, Trojanæ. This exactly squares with my Emendation, as well as assigns the Cause why our Poet might call the Six Gates Priam's, who was the Builder of them.

Note return to page 2 [2] (2) Beginning in the middle, starting thence away,] Thus all the Editions, before Mr. Pope's. He, in the Purity of his Ear, has cashier'd the last Word, because the Verse was longer than its fellows. I have chose to retain it; (because, I am persuaded, the Poet intended a Rhyme) and reduce the Line to Measure by an Apocope so frequent in his Writings.

Note return to page 3 [5] (5) &lblank; I'll unarm again. Why should I war without the Walls of Troy, That find such cruel Battle here within?] I won't venture to affirm, that this Passage is founded on Anacreon, but there is a mighty Consonance both of Thought and Expression in both Poets; particularly, in the Close of the Sentence. &grM;&graa;&grt;&grh;&grn; &grd;&grap; &gresa;&grx;&grw; &grb;&gro;&gre;&gria;&grh;&grn;&grcolon; &grT;&grig; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grb;&gra;&grl;&grwa;&grm;&gre;&grq;&grap; &gresa;&grc;&grw;, &grM;&graa;&grx;&grh;&grst; &gresa;&grs; &grm;&grap; &gres;&grx;&gro;&grua;&grs;&grh;&grst;&gr?; 'Tis in vain that I have a Shield: for wherefore should I wear that outward Defence, when the Battle rages all within me? I hope, my Readers will forgive me, if I take Notice on this Occasion that the Learned Tanaquil Faber quite mistook Anacreon's Sense in this Line, &grT;&grig; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grb;&gra;&grl;&grwa;&grm;&gre;&grq;&grap; &gresa;&grc;&grw;,—He has render'd it; Quid enìm extrà, aut foràs, tela mittamus, cùm intùs pugna sit? This is absolutely foreign from the Poet's Meaning. Madam Dacier seems to have understood it in her French Version, but is repugnant to herself, when she gives it us in Latin.—C'est donc en vain que j'ay un bouclier, car à quoi sert de se défendre au dehors, lorsque l' ennemi est au dedans?—I am surpriz'd, after so just a Translation as to the Meaning, that she could subjoin this Remark. Les Interpretes Latins n'ont pas bien entendu ce vers qu'ils traduisent, Nàm cur petamur extrà; & il falloit traduire tout au contraire, nam cur petamus extrà. Petere hostem, is, to attack an Enemy; which is not Anacreon's Meaning. But Mons. De la Fosse has genteely animadverted upon this Lady's Error. Anacreon ne songeoit qu'au se défendre, & non pas à offenser. Ainsi petamus, qui est une Action offensive, n'estoit pas si juste que petamur. In my Opinion, the Passage should be thus render'd; Frustrà gero Clypeum; Quid enim [illum] extrinsecùs objiciam,   Cum Pugna intùs omninò ardeat? The Translators do not seem to have remember'd, that &grb;&graa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grm;&gra;&gri; (as its Compounds, &gras;&grm;&grf;&gri;&grb;&graa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grm;&gra;&gri;, &gres;&grp;&gri;&grb;&graa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grm;&gra;&gri;, &grp;&gre;&grr;&gri;&grb;&graa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grm;&gra;&gri;) may sometimes signify actively, induo, injicio, impono. Authorities are so obvious, that it is unnecessary to alledge any.

Note return to page 4 [4] (4) When I do tell thee, there my Hopes lye drown'd, Reply not in how many Fathoms deep They lye intrench'd.] This is only the Reading of the modern Editors: I have restor'd that of the old Books. For besides that, intrench'd in Fathoms, is a Phrase which we have very great Reason to suspect; what Consonance, or Agreement, in Sense is there betwixt drown'd and intrench'd? The first carries the Idea of Destruction, the latter of Security. Indrench'd corresponds exactly with drown'd; and signifies, immers'd in the Deep, or, as our Poet in another Place calls it, ensteep'd. So in his Venus and Adonis; O, where am I, (quoth she) in Earth, or Heav'n? Or in the Ocean drench'd? And in the Two Gentlemen of Verona we again find the Terms coupled. And drench'd me in the Sea, where I am drown'd.

Note return to page 5 [5] (5) &lblank; whose Patience Is as a Virtue fix'd,] What's the Meaning of Hector's Patience being fix'd as a Virtue? Is not Patience a Virtue? What Room then for the Similitude? The Poet certainly wrote, as I have conjecturally reform'd the Text; and this is giving a fine Character of it, to say, His Patience is as stedfast as the Virtue of Patience itself; or the Goddess so call'd: for the Poets have always personaliz'd the Quality. So we find Troilus a little before saying; Patience herself, what Goddess ere she be, Doth lesser blench at Sufferance than I do. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 6 [6] (6) Before the Sun rose, he was harnest light,] Why, harnest light? Does the Poet mean, that Hector had put on light Armour? Or that he was sprightly in his Arms, even before Sun-rise? Or is a Conundrum aim'd at, in Sun rose, and harnest light? A very slight Alteration makes all these Constructions unnecessary, and gives us the Poet's Meaning in the properest Terms imaginable. Before the Sun rose, he was harness-dight, i. e. compleatly drest, accoutred, in Arms. It is frequent with our Poet, from his Masters Chaucer and Spenser, to say dight for deck'd; pight, for pitch'd; &c. and from them too he uses Harness for Armour. So, again, in Macbeth; &lblank; blow, Wind! come, Wrack!   At least we'll die with Harness on our Back.

Note return to page 7 [7] (7) Good morrow, cousin Cressid; What do you talk of? Good morrow, Alexander;—How do you, cousin?] Good morrow, Alexander— is added in all the Editions, says Mr. Pope, very absurdly, Paris not being on the Stage.—Wonderful Acuteness! But, with Submission, this Gentleman's Note is much more absurd: for it falls out very unluckily for his Remark, that tho Paris is, for the Generality, in Homer call'd Alexander; yet, in this Play, by any one of the Characters introduc'd, he is call'd nothing but Paris. The Truth of the Fact is this. Pandarus is of a busy, impertinent, insinuating Character; and 'tis natural for him, so soon as he has given his Cousin the good Morrow, to pay his Civilities too to her Attendant. This is purely &gres;&grn; &grhsa;&grq;&gre;&gri;, as the Grammarians call it; and gives us an admirable Touch of Pandarus's Character. And why might not Alexander be the Name of Cressid's Man? Paris had no Patent, I suppose, for engrossing it to himself. But the late Editor, perhaps, because we have had Alexander the Great, Pope Alexander, and Alexander Pope, would not have so eminent a Name prostituted to a common Valet.

Note return to page 8 [8] (8) Two and fifty hairs, quoth he, and one white; that white Hair is my Father, and all the rest are his Sons.] The Copyists must have err'd here in the Number; and I have ventur'd to substitute one and fifty, I think, with some Certainty. How else can the Number make out Priam, and his fifty Sons?

Note return to page 9 [9] (9) Hark, they are coming from the field; shall we stand up here and see them, as they pass towards Ilium?] This Conduct of the Poet, in making Pandarus decypher the Warriors as they pass, seems an Imitation of Homer's Helen on the Walls, where she shews the Greeks to Priam. This Incident was borrow'd by Euripides, in his Phænissæ; and again copied by Statius, in the 9th Book of his Thebais, where he makes Phorbas shew to Antigone the Chiefs of the Theban Army.

Note return to page 10 [10] (10) With due Observance of thy goodly Seat,] Goodly is an Epithet carries no very great Compliment with it; and Nestor seems here to be paying Deference to Agamemnon's State and Preheminence. The old Books have it,—to thy godly Seat; godlike, as I have reform'd the Text, seems to me the Epithet design'd; and is very conformable to what Æneas afterwards says of Agamemnon; Which is that God in Office, guiding Men?

Note return to page 11 [11] (11) &lblank; Right and Wrong, Between whose endless jar Justice resides, Would lose their Names;] This is not a bad Comment upon what Horace has said on this Subject; &lblank; sunt certi deniq; fines Quos ultrà citráq; nequit consistere rectum.

Note return to page 12 [12] (12) &lblank; as near as the extremest Ends Of Parallels;] i. e. vastly distant; for parallel Lines, tho they run all the way equi-distant, yet their Extremities are as far off from each other as the Points of East and West.

Note return to page 13 [13] (13) They call this bed-work, mapp'ry, closet War,] The Poet in my Opinion would say, This is planning out Action and War, as a Man might do on his Pillow and in his Closet. If so, bedwork must be the Epithet to Mappery, as closet is to War: and therefore I have expung'd the Comma, which separated the First from its Substantive. So Guiderius, in Cymbeline, speaking of an unactive Life, says it is A cell of Ignorance; travelling a-bed.

Note return to page 14 [14] (14) But when they would seem Soldiers, they have Galls, Good Arms, strong Joints, true Swords, and Jove's Accord, Nothing so full of heart.] Can the Poet be suppos'd to mean, that the Trojans had Jove's Accord whenever they would seem Soldiers? No; certainly, he would intimate that nothing was so full of Heart as they, when that God did but shew himself on their Side. This Circumstance, added, brings no Impeachment to their Courage: Valour would become Presumption and Impiety in them, if they had trusted to it when Jove manifestly declared himself on the other Side. My Regulation of the Pointing fixes the Poet's Sense; and 'tis every where his Manner to mention the Concurrence of the Deity suppos'd. Our Coronation done, we will accite (As I before remember'd,) all our State, And (Heav'n consigning to my good intents,) &c. 2 Henry IV. &lblank; for, God before, We'll chide this Dauphin at his Father's Door. Henry V. Yet, God before, tell him, we will come on. Ibid. That by the Help of These, (with Him above To ratify the Work) Macbeth. &c. &c. &c.

Note return to page 15 [15] (15) The Purpose is perspicuous ev'n as Substance, Whose Grossness little Characters sum up, And in the Publication make no Strain:] The modern Editors, 'tis plain, have lent each other very little Information upon this Passage: &grT;&gru;&grf;&grl;&greg;&grst; &grt;&gru;&grf;&grl;&grwic; &gror;&grd;&grh;&grg;&grog;&grst;, as the Proverb says; the Blind have led the Blind. As they have pointed the Passage, 'tis strange Stuff; and how they solv'd it to themselves, is past my Discovery. That little Characters, or Particles, sum up the Grossness of any Substance, I conceive: but how those Characters, or Particles, make no Strain in the Publication, seems a little harder than Algebra. My Regulation of the Pointing brings us to clear Sense; “The Aim and Purpose of this Duel is as visible as any gross Substance can be, compounded of many little Particles:” And having said thus, Ulysses goes on to another Observation; “And make no Difficulty, no Doubt, when this Duel comes to be proclaim'd, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the Drift of it.” This is the Meaning of the last Line. So afterwards, in this Play, Ulysses says, I do not strain at the Position, i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no Difficulty of it.

Note return to page 16 [16] (16) Speak then, you unsalted Leaven, speak;] This is a Reading obtruded upon us by Mr. Pope, that has no Authority or Countenance from any of the Copies; nor that approaches in any Degree to the Traces of the old Reading, you whinid'st Leaven. This, 'tis true, is corrupted and unintelligible; but the Emendation, which I have coin'd out of it, gives us a Sense apt and consonant to what Ajax would say.—“Thou Lump of sow'r Dough, kneaded up out of a Flower unpurg'd and unsifted, with all the Dross and Bran in it.”—Kent, in Lear, uses the same metaphorical Reproach to the cowardly Steward; I will tread this unboulted Villain into Mortar. i. e. This Villain of so gross a Composition, that he was not sifted thro' the boulting-Cloth, before he was work'd up into Leaven. So Pandarus says to Troilus in the first Scene of this Play. Ay, the boulting; but you must tarry the leavening. I cannot without Injustice pass over another Conjecture, propos'd by my ingenious Friend Mr. Warburton;—you windiest Leaven. An Epithet, as he says, not only admirably adapted to the Nature of Leaven, which is made only by Fermentation, but likewise most justly applied to the loquacious Thersites.—And, indeed, in several Counties of England, an idle Prater is call'd, a windy Fellow.

Note return to page 17 [17] (17) There's Ulysses, and old Nestor, whose Wit was mouldly ere their Grandsires had Nails on their toes,] This is one of these Editors wise Riddles. This is no Folly of Thersites's venting. What! Was Nestor's Wit mouldy, before his Grandsire's Toes had any Nails? that is, was the Grandson an old Man, before the Grandfather was out of his Swathing-cloaths? Preposterous Nonsense! and yet so easy a Change, as one poor Derivative Pronoun for another, sets all right and clear.

Note return to page 18 [18] (18) The Wound of Peace is surety;] i. e. the great Danger of Peace is too much Security; the Opinion of our being least in Danger. Therefore, as our Author says in his Hamlet; Be wary then; best Safety lies in Fear. Velleius Paterculus, speaking of Arminius's Treachery, has left us a Sentiment, that might very well have given Rise to our Author's. Haud imprudenter speculatus, neminem celeriùs opprimi, quàm qui nihil timeret; & frequentissimum Initium esse Calamitatis Securitatem.

Note return to page 19 [19] (19) &lblank; whose Youth and Freshness Wrinkles Apollo's, and make pale the morning.] This is only Mr. Pope's Reading; all the other Editions have, stale; which seems the Poet's Antithesis to Freshness. So in his Winter's Tale; &lblank; so shall I do To th' freshest Things now reigning, and make stale The glistring of this present. This old Aunt, who is only hinted at by our Poet, is Hesione, the Daughter of Laomedon and Sister of Priam. She was borne away Captive to Greece by Hercules, when he sack'd Troy; and was given to Telamon's Bed, by whom she bore Teucer.—Spenser mentions her subduing Telamon to her Charms, in his Version of Virgil's Gnat. For th' one was ravish'd of his own Bond-maid, The fair Ixionè, captiv'd from Troy. For here we must read, Hesione. The Particulars of her Story are to be sound in Hyginus's 89th Fable.

Note return to page 20 [20] (20) Paris and Troilus, you have both said well; And on the Cause and Question now in hand Have gloss'd, but superficially.] I can never think that the Poet express'd himself thus: 'Tis absurd to say, that People have talk'd well, and yet but superficially at the same Time. I have ventur'd to substitute a Disjunctive instead of the Copulative, by which we gain this commodious Sense: “You have argued very well in the general, but have gloz'd too superficially upon the particular Question in Debate.

Note return to page 21 [21] (21) &lblank; not much Unlike young Men, whom graver Sages thought Unfit to hear moral Philosophy.] This is a sophisticated Reading first of Mr. Rowe, and afterwards of Mr. Pope. I had objected, that this was an Exception to Mr. Pope's Rule laid down in his Preface, that the Various Readings are fairly put in the Margin, so that every one may compare them: and those he has preferr'd into the Text are constantly ex fide Codicum, upon Authority. For graver Sages, I said, was preferr'd into the Text without any Authority, and that all the printed Copies read the Passage, as I have restor'd it in the Text. To this Mr. Pope cavil'd, that Mr. Rowe had made the Alteration, so that I was mistaken in saying no Edition had it so.—But is an arbitrary, undefended Alteration an Authority? I would not have Mr. Pope take it as too high a Compliment, when I tell him, I look upon his and Mr. Rowe's Editions of Shakespeare of one and the same Authority. But to come to the Justification of the Text. 'Tis certain, indeed, that Aristotle was at least 800 years subsequent in Time to Hector: and therefore the Poet makes a remarkable Innovation upon Chronology. But Mr. Pope will have this to be one of those palpable Blunders, which the Illiteracy of the first Publishers of his Works has father'd on the Poet's Memory; and is of Opinion, it could not be of our Author's penning, it not being at all credible that these could be the Errors of any Man who had the least Tincture of a School, or the least Conversation with such as bad.—T'was for this Reason, and to shelter our Author from such an Absurdity, that Mr. Pope expung'd the Name of Aristotle, and substituted in its Place Mr. Rowe's—graver Sages. But, with Submission, even herein he made at best but half a Cure. If the Poet must be fetter'd down strictly to the Chronology of Things, it is every whit as absurd for Hector to talk of Philosophy, as for him to talk of Aristotle. We have sufficient Proofs, that Pythagoras was the first who invented the Word Philosophy, and call'd himself Philosopher. And he was near 600 Years after the Date of Hector, even from his beginning to flourish. 'Tis true, the thing, which we now understand by Philosophy, was then known: but it was only till then call'd Knowledge and Wisdom. But, to dismiss this Point; I believe, this Anachronism of our Poet (and, perhaps, the greatest Part of the others he is guilty of;) was the Effect of Poetic License in him, rather than Ignorance. It has been very familiar with the Poets, of the Stage especially, upon a Supposition that their Audience were not so exactly inform'd in Chronology, to anticipate the mention of Persons and Things, before either the first were born, or the latter thought of. Shakespeare, again in this Play, compares the Nerves of Ajax with those of bull-bearing Milo of Crotona, who was not in being till 600 Years after that Greek; and was a Disciple of Pythagoras. Again, Pandarus, at the Conclusion of the Play, talks of a Winchester-Goose: indeed, it is in an Address to the Audience, and then there may be an Allowance, and greater Latitude for going out of Character. In Coriolanus, as I have observ'd in the proper Place, Menenius talks of Alexander the Great, and Galen. And the very Hero of that Play complains of the Grievance, that he must stoop to, in begging Voices of Dick and Hob; Names, which, I dare say, Mr. Pope does not imagine that Shakespeare believ'd were ever heard of by that Roman. From his many Plays founded on our English Annals, and the many Points of History accurately transmitted down in them, I suppose it must be confess'd, that he was intimately vers'd in that Part of Reading. Yet in his King Lear, he has ventur'd to make Edgar talk of the Curfew, a thing not known in Britain till the Norman Invasion. In his King John he above fifty times mentions Cannons, tho Gunpowder was not used by the English, till above a Century and half after the Death of that Monarch: And what is yet more singular, (as he could not be a Stranger to the Date of a remarkable Man, who liv'd so near his own Time;) twice in the Story of Henry VI. he makes mention of Machiavel as a subtle Politician, who was alive in the 20th Year of Henry VIII. Nor have these Liberties been taken alone by Shakespeare, among our own Poets: In the Humourous Lieutenant of Beaumont and Fletcher, all the first Characters of which Play are the immediate Successors of Alexander the Great, Demetrius, Prince of Macedon, comes out of his Chamber with a Pistol in his Hand, above 1500 Years before Fire-Arms were ever thought of. So, in the Oedipus of Dryden and Lee, there is a mention of the Machines in the Theatre at Athens: tho neither Plays, nor Theatres were so much as known to the World till above 500 Years after that Prince's Death. And yet I dare say, neither Beaumont and Fletcher ever suppos'd, or thought to make their Audiences believe, that Pistols were used in Demetrius's Time; nor were Dryden and Lee so ignorant in Dramatic Chronology, as to suppose Tragedy of as early a Date as Oedipus. But that the Poets of our own Nation may be justified in these Liberties by Examples of the Antients, I'll throw in a few Instances of the like sort from their Predecessors in the Art at Greece and Rome. The Anachronisms of Æschylus I shall reserve to my Edition of that Poet. The Great Sophocles, in his Electra, supposes, that Orestes was thrown from his Chariot and kill'd at the Pythian Games; which Games, as the Scholiast tells us, were not instituted till 600 Years afterwards by Triptolemus. And Euripides in his Phœnissæ, (the Subject of which is the Invasion of Thebes by Polynices and the Argives) makes Tiresias talk of his giving the Victory to Athens against Eumolpus; tho Eumolpus's War against Erechtheus was no less than four Generations elder than the Theban War. Frequent Instances occur in Athenæus, that shew, beyond Exception, how free the Comic Poets made with Chronology. Alexis, in his Comedy call'd Hesione, introduces Hercules drinking out of a Thericlean Cup. Now, this was a Species of Cups, invented by Thericles a Corinthian Potter, who was Contemporary with Aristophanes above 800 Years after the Period of Hercules. Anaxandrides, in his Protesilaus, a Hero that was kill'd by Hector, brings in Hercules again, and talks of Iphicrates the Athenian General, and Cotys the Thracian King, both living in the Poet's own days. And Diphilus, in his Sappho, makes Archilochus and Hipponax both address that poetical Lady; tho the first was dead a Century before she was born, and tho she was dead and rotten before the latter was born. To add but two Instances from the Latin Poets: Seneca, in his Tragedy call'd Hercules Furens, makes the Chorus talk of People flocking to the Entertainments of a new Theatre: tho, 'tis evident, no Theatres were as then built or thought of: And Plautus in his Amphitryon, makes Blepharo talk of golden Philipps, a Money coin'd by Alexander's Father near 900 Years after the Days of Amphitryon. If these Instances of voluntary Transgression in Time may go any way towards acquitting our Poet for the like Inconsistencies, I'll at any time engage to strengthen them with ten times the Number, fetch'd from the Writings of the best Poets, antient and modern, foreign and domestick.

Note return to page 22 [22] (22) He sent our Messengers;] Who sent, in the Name of Accuracy? What! did Achilles send the Messengers, who were sent by Agamemnon? I make no doubt, but the Poet wrote; He shent our Messengers; i. e. rebuked, ill-treated, rated out of his Presence. As, in Anthony, Augustus complains of the like Treatment from that Prince; Did pocket up my Letters, and with Taunts Did gibe my Missives out of Audience. The word shent, disgraced, shamed, (from &gras;&gri;&grs;&grx;&gru;&grn;&grt;&grog;&grst;, as some Etymologists tell us;) is frequent both in Chaucer and Spenser; and occurrs more than once again in our Author. Clown. Alas, Sir, be patient. What say you, Sir? I am shent for speaking to you, Twelfth-night. How in my Words soever she be shent, To give them Seals never my Soul consent. Hamlet.

Note return to page 23 [23] (23) Ajax. I will knead him, I'll make him supple, he is not yet through warm. Nest. Force him with praises; &c.] The latter Part of Ajax's Speech is certainly got out of Place, and ought to be assign'd to Nestor, as I have ventur'd to transpose it. Ajax is feeding on his Vanity, and boasting what he'll do to Achilles; he'll pash him o'er the Face, he'll make him eat Swords; he'll knead him, he'll supple him, &c. Nestor and Ulysses slily labour to keep him up in this Vein; and to this End Nestor crastily hints, that Ajax is not warm yet, but must be cram'd with more Flattery.

Note return to page 24 [24] (24) If you draw backward, we'll put you i'th' files.] Pandarus here threatens her with military Discipline. It was a Custom, we find, as old as Homer's Time, for them, in drawing up a Battle, to place such, as they suspected would misbehave, (desert, or decline Fighting;) in the mid Ranks; so that they might be watch'd on every hand. &lblank; &grk;&gra;&grk;&gro;&grug;&grst; &grd;&grap; &gres;&grst; &grm;&grea;&grs;&grs;&gro;&grn; &gresa;&grl;&gra;&grs;&grs;&gre;&grn;, &GROsa;&grf;&grr;&gra; &grk;&gra;&grig; &gro;&grus;&grk; &gres;&grq;&grea;&grl;&grw;&grn; &grt;&gri;&grst; &gras;&grn;&gra;&grg;&grk;&gra;&gria;&grhi; &grp;&gro;&grl;&gre;&grm;&gria;&grz;&grhi;. Iliad. &grD;. 299. This Method the short Scholiast explains thus; &grm;&gre;&grt;&gra;&grc;&grug; &grd;&grua;&gro; &gras;&grn;&grd;&grr;&gre;&gri;&grw;&grn; &grera;&grn;&gra; &grk;&gra;&grk;&grog;&grn; &gresa;&grb;&gra;&grl;&grl;&gre;&grn;. i. e. he threw one bad Man in betwixt two approv'd one's, brave Soldiers. This is what we now call putting in the Files. Ælian has taken Notice, that Homer was the first who seems to have been acquainted with Tactics.

Note return to page 25 [25] (25) The Falcon has the Tercel, for all the Ducks i'th' River.] This Reading first got Place casually, as I presume, in Mr. Rowe's Edition; and was implicitly follow'd by Mr. Pope. But they Both deprave the Text. Pandarus, seeing Troilus kiss with Fervour, and Cressida meet his Kisses with equal Zeal, means, that he'll match his Neice against her Lover for any Bett. The Tercel is the male Hawk; by the Faulcon, we generally understand the Female.

Note return to page 26 [26] (26) &lblank; To be wise and love, Exceeds Man's Might, and dwells with Gods above.] This Sentiment has strongly the Air of Imitation. Our Author seems partly to have borrow'd it from this Verse falsely father'd on Seneca; Amare & sapere vix Deo conceditur. and partly from what Terence has left us upon the same Subject. Here, quæ Res in se neq; consilium neq; modum Habet ullum, eam Consilio regere non potes. &lblank; nihilo plus agas, Quàm si des Operam ut cum ratione insanias. Eunuch. Act i. Sc. I. Horace has borrow'd a good Part of his Argument concerning a Lover's mad Behaviour, from this Scene of Terence; and follow'd the Stage-Poet's very Words, as far as he could make them conform to the Difference of Numbers. (Serm. lib. ii. 3.) Pliny the Younger, among some other Verses from Sentius Augurinus, quotes one much to our Subject; I nunc, qui sapias, amare noli. And gives it the Praise of being acute, apt, and express. Book IV. Epist. 27. A Lover, in the Greek Epigram, declining to marry his Mistress because she was poor, yet professing to love her, is said by the Poet to be a Lyer, not a Lover, for that right Reasoning cannot belong to a Spirit in Love. &lblank; &GROs;&gru; &grf;&gri;&grl;&grea;&gre;&gri;&grst;&grcolon; &gres;&gry;&gre;&grua;&grs;&gra;&grw;. &grp;&grwc;&grst; &grd;&grua;&grn;&gra;&grt;&gra;&gri; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grY;&gru;&grx;&grhg; &gres;&grr;&grw;&grm;&gra;&grn;&grea;&gre;&gri;&grn; &gros;&grr;&grq;&grag; &grl;&gro;&grg;&gri;&grz;&gro;&grm;&grea;&grn;&grh;&gr?; But Menander has left us the smartest Piece of Satire upon Lovers being mad, that I can any where else remember. &GRAs;&grl;&grl;&grap; &grora;&grt;&gra;&grn; &gres;&grr;&grwc;&grn;&grt;&gra; &grn;&gro;&gruc;&grn; &gresa;&grx;&gre;&gri;&grn; &grt;&grig;&grst; &gras;&grc;&gri;&gro;&gric;, &grP;&gra;&grr;&graa; &grt;&gri;&grn;&gri; &grt;&grog; &gras;&grn;&groa;&grh;&grt;&gro;&grn; &gro;&grurc;&grt;&gro;&grst; &grosa;&gry;&gre;&grt;&gra;&gri;&gr?; But when any one will allow a Lover to be in his Wits, whom will such a Man allow to have the Symptoms of Madness?

Note return to page 27 [27] (27) &lblank; as Planets to the Moon.] Plantage is certainly very justly thrown out, as a Reading of no Sense or Truth: and yet the Text is a little corrupted, and must be help'd thus; &lblank; as Planets to their Moons. He fetches here his Comparisons of true Love from the Sympathy or Affection of the several Parts of Nature. As true as Steel,—I know, by this Phrase, Men generally mean as true as a well-temper'd Sword is to the Hand of the Warrior: but I am persuaded, the Phrase had another Original; and that was, from observing its strange Affection to the Loadstone.—But other Planets, besides the Earth, (before the Time of our Author,) were discover'd to have their Moons which revolv'd round them. Jupiter has four Moons, and Saturn five. The Astronomers sometimes call'd these, Moons; and sometimes, Satellites. Sometimes, when they spoke of the Moon, they call'd it the Earth's Satellite: and when they spoke of the Satellites of the other Planets, they call'd them Jupiter, or Saturn's Moons. Their constant unerring Attendance on their respective Planets made this Phænomenon very proper for Comparison: Tho, properly speaking, as it is here put, it is inverted; for it should be, as true as Moons to their Planets.—Because the Moons depend on their Planets, not the Planets on their Moons. But that this inverted Order is nothing with Shakespeare, is plain from many Places of his Works, and particularly from the immediate following Words, As Sun to Day;—which is likewise in the same manner inverted: for the Day depends on the Sun, and not the Sun on the Day. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 28 [28] (28) &lblank; appear it to you, That, through the Sight I bear in Things to come, I have abandon'd Troy,] Calchas is here pressing for some Reward from the Grecian Princes, for his having come over to them: But does it in any kind add to his Merit with them, to say, “Gentlemen, by my Power of Prescience I found my Country must be subdued and ruin'd; and therefore I have left House and Home in Time to [save myself, and] come and serve you.”—And yet this is the Drift and Hinge upon which his Argument turns, and his Hopes and Pretence for Recompense are form'd. I own, the Motives of his Oratory seem to me somewhat perverse and unartful: nor do I know how to reconcile it, unless our Poet purposely intended to make Calchas act the Part of a true Priest; and so from Motives of Self-Interest insinuate the Merit of Service.

Note return to page 29 [29] (29) And go to dust, that is a little gilt, More Laud than Gilt o'er-dusted.] In this mangled Condition do we find this truly fine Observation transmitted in the old Folio's. Mr. Pope saw it was corrupt, and therefore, as I presume, threw it out of the Text; because he would not indulge his private Sense in attempting to make Sense of it. I owe the Foundation of the Amendment, which I have given to the Text, to the Sagacity of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby.

Note return to page 30 [30] (30) Witness the Process of your Speech wherein You told, how Diomede a whole Week by days Did haunt You in the Field.] Allowing this Circumstance to be mere Invention in the Poet, it is a very artful Complement to Diomede, and a brave Confession of his Worth from the Mouth of an Enemy. Homer, in the 5th Book of his Ilias, makes Diomede rush upon Æneas, tho he knew him protected by Apollo; and assault him four times, in spight of that God's Interposition. &lblank; &grira;&gre;&grt;&gro; &grd;&grap; &gras;&gri;&gre;&grig; &GRAs;&gri;&grn;&gre;&gria;&gra;&grn; &grk;&grt;&gre;&gric;&grn;&gra;&gri;, &c. I own, I have a Suspicion, our Poet had Virgil in his Eye; and meant to copy that fine Praise which Diomede pays to Æneas's Valour, where Venulus comes from the Latines to sollicit Diomede's Aid against Æneas. &lblank; Stetimus tela aspera contrà, Contulimusq; manus: experto credite, quantus In clypeum adsurgat, quo turbine torqueat bastam. Æneid. xi.

Note return to page 31 [31] (31) And thou shalt hunt a Lion that will fly With his Face back in humane gentleness.] Thus Mr. Pope in his great Sagacity pointed this Passage in his first Edition. What Conception he had to himself of a Lion flying in human Gentleness, I won't pretend to affirm: I suppose, he had the Idea of as gently as a Lamb, or as what our Vulgar call an Essex Lion, a Calf. If any other Lion fly with his Face turn'd backward, it is, fighting all the way as he retreats: And in this Manner it is, Æneas professes that he shall fly when he's hunted. But where then are the Symptoms of human Gentleness? My Correction of the Pointing restores good Sense, and a proper Behaviour in Æneas. As soon as ever he has return'd Diomede's Brave, he stops short and corrects himself for expressing so much Fury in a Time of Truce; from the fierce Soldier becomes the Courtier at once; and remembring his Enemy to be a Guest and an Ambassador, welcomes him as such to the Trojan Camp.—I made this Regulation in the Appendix to my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope reform'd the Text from thence in his last Edition.

Note return to page 32 [32] (32) A poor Chipochia,] This Word, I am afraid, has suffer'd under the Ignorance of the Editors, for it is a Word in no living Language that I can find. Pandarus says it to his Neice, in a jeering Sort of Tenderness, upon her having made wanton the Night with Troilus, as our Author expresses it in his Othello. He would say, I think, in English,—Poor Innocent! Poor Fool! ha'st not slept to Night? These Appellations are very well answer'd by the Italian Word Capocchia: for Capocchio signifies the thick Head of a Club; and thence metaphorically, a Head of not much Brain, a Sot, Dullard, heavy Gull; un balordo, lourdaut, tête sans cervelle; or cabeça sin seso, as the Spaniards express it.

Note return to page 33 [33] (33) &lblank; The Secrets of Nature Have not more Gift in Taciturnity.] This is the Reading of both the Elder Folio's; but the first Verse manifestly halts, and betrays its being defective. Mr. Pope substitutes The Secrets of Neighbour Pandar. If This be a Reading ex fide Codicum (as he professes all his various Reading to be) it is founded on the Credit of such Copies, as it has not been my Fortune to meet with. I have ventur'd to make out the Verse thus; The Secret'st Things of Nature, &c. i. e. the Arcana Naturæ, the Mysteries of Nature, of occult Philosophy, or of religious Ceremonies. Our Poet has Allusions of this Sort in several other Passages. &lblank; Plutus himself, That knows the Tinct and multiplying Medicine, Hath not in Nature's Mystery more Science, &c. All's Well, &c. Cats, that can judge as fitly of his Worth, As I can of those Mysteries which Heav'n Will not have Earth to know. Coriolanus. There are more Things in Heav'n and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your Philosophy. Hamlet.

Note return to page 34 [34] (34) &lblank; Time and Death Do to this Body, &c.] The first Folio reads, Time, orce and Death When the Second Impression came to be publish'd, the Editors, I presume, were at a Loss, and so sunk the Word upon us which they could not make out. There is no Doubt, but the Poet wrote; Time, Force, and Death, i. e. The Compulsion of Fate; That, which the Latines call'd Sæva Necessitas.

Note return to page 35 [35] (35) To shame the Seal of my Petition tow'rds thee By praising her.] There is great Room for hesitating at this Expression. To shame the Seal of a Petition, carries no sensible Idea that I can find out. The Change of a single Letter makes Troilus's Complaint apt and reasonable; and the Sense is this: “Grecian, you use me discourteously; you see, I am a passionate Lover, by my Petition to you; and therefore you should not shame the Zeal of it, by promising to do, what I require of you, for the Sake of her Beauty: when, if you had good Manners, or a Sense of a Lover's Delicacy, you would have promised to do it in Compassion to his Pangs and Sufferings.” Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 36 [36] (36) Here art thou in Appointment fresh and fair, Anticipating Time. With starting Courage, Give with thy Trumpet, &c.] I have alter'd the Pointing of this Passage for this Reason: The Poet seems to mean, that Ajax shew'd his starting Courage in coming into the Field before the Challenger.

Note return to page 37 [37] (37) Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet Lady.] From this Line Mr. Pope has thought fit to degrade, or throw out of the Text, the Quantity of a whole Page. But is it not very absurd, that Diomede should bring Cressid on, where so many Princes are present, and preparing to give her a Welcome, and then lead her off abruptly, so soon as ever Agamemnon has said a single Line to her? An ideò tantùm venerat, ut exiret? as Martial says of Cato's coming into the Theatre. But is it not still more absurd for Cressid to be led off without uttering one single Syllable, and for Nestor and Ulysses to observe that she is a Woman of quick Sense, and glib of Tongue, as if she had said several witty Things? Methinks, Nestor's Character of her Wit, from her saying Nothing, is as extraordinary as the two Kings of Brentford hearing the Whisper, tho' they are not present, in the Rehearsal.

Note return to page 38 [38] (38) Agam. 'Tis done like Hector, but securely done;] It seems absurd to me, that Agamemnon should make a Remark to the Disparagement of Hector for Pride, and that Æneas should immediately say, If not Achilles, Sir, what is your Name? and then desire him to take Notice, that Hector was as void of Pride as he was full of Valour. Why was Achilles to take Notice of this, if it was Agamemnon that threw this Imputation of Pride in Hector's Teeth? I was fully satisfied, that this Reproach on Hector ought to be placed to Achilles, as I have ventur'd to place it; and consulting Mr. Dryden's Alteration of this Play, I was not a little pleas'd to find that I had but seconded the Opinion of that Great Man in this Point. I regulated the Passage in the Appendix of my Shakespeare restor'd; and Mr. Pope has follow'd my Regulation in his last Edition of our Poet.

Note return to page 39 [39] (39) Thou art, great lord, my Father's Sister's Son;] For Ajax, as well as Teucer, was the Son of Hesione, who was the Daughter of Laomedon, and Sister of Priam.

Note return to page 40 [40] (40) But by the Forge that stythied Mars his helm.] So, again, in Hamlet; And my Imaginations are as foul As Vulcan's Stithy. A Stithy, or Stith, signifies an Anvil. So Chaucer in his Knight's Tale. &lblank; and the Smith That forgith sharpé Swerdis on the Stith. And the Word is still current in our Northern Counties. But, I own, I suspect this not to have been our Author's Word either in Hamlet or here. For, in the first Place, an Anvil is far from being the dirtiest thing in a Smith's Shop: and then the Forge, or Furnace, cannot be said to anvil the Helmet. I have corrected; But by the Forge that smithied Mars's helm. A Smithy is the working Shop of a Smith; and to smithy, is, to perform the Work and Office of a Smith.

Note return to page 41 [41] (41) The general State, I fear, Can scarce intreat you to be odd with him.] This is obscurely express'd, but the Meaning must be this. Notwithstanding this Blustering which you have made, I fear, the whole Grecian Confederacy with their united Prayers could scarce prevail with you to make Hector your Adversary in good Earnest, to oppose your self to him. This will be farther explain'd by a Passage in King Henry V. Say, if my Father render fair Reply, It is against my Will; for I desire Nothing but Odds with England.

Note return to page 42 [42] (42) How now, thou core of Envy? Thou crusty batch of Nature,] Thus all the printed Copies: but what is a crusty batch of Nature? We must certainly read, Botch; i. e. Scab, Sore, &c. So, before, in the Beginning of the 2d Act. And those Boils did run—say so;—Did not the General run, were not that a botchy Core?

Note return to page 43 [43] (43) Thou art thought to be Achilles's male Varlet.] Dr. Thirlby very reasonably conjectures, harlot; and this seems confirm'd by what Thersites immediately subjoins;—Why, his masculine Whore.

Note return to page 44 [44] (44) And one that loves Quails,] This I take to be an obscure Passage, not very commonly understood, and therefore may deserve a Note of Explanation. Thersites is every where scurrilous, and scandalous in his Observations upon the Greeks. He abuses Menelaus for a stupid Cuckold; and with the same Freedom, I apprehend, here he is charging Agamemnon with being a Wencher; in saying, he is a Lover of Quails. But what Consonance, may it not be ask'd, is there, betwixt Quails, and a Mistress? Rabelais, in the Prologue to his 4th Book, speaks of Cailles coiphées mignonnement chantans; which Motteux, I find, has translated, Coated Quails, and laced Mutton, waggishly singing.—(Of laced Mutton I have already spoken in my 3d Note on the Two Gent. of Verona:) And Cotgrave, in his French Dictionary, seems to have had his Eye on this Passage, when he explaines Cailles coiffées, Women. Here's a little Authority for my Suspicion of Shakespeare's Meaning: and I'll throw in a Testimony or Two from a Contemporary Poet with him, by whom Quail is metaphorically used for a Girl of the Game. Ford, in his Love's Sacrifice, brings in a Debauchée thus muttering against a superannuated Mistress. “By this Light, I have toil'd more with this carrion Hen, than with ten Quails scarce grown into their first Feathers.” So we find Mrs. Ursula, in B. Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, complaining that She had no young Women for the Entertainment of her Customers. “Here will be Zekiel Edgworth, and three or four Gallants with him at Night, and I ha' neither Plover nor Quails for them: perswade This, between you Two, to become a Bird o' the Game, while I work the Velvet Woman within, as You call her.

Note return to page 45 [45] (45) And the goodly Transformation of Jupiter there his brother, the Bull, the primitive Statue and oblique Memorial of Cuckolds.] I understand this Passage thus. First, he alludes to Jupiter having transform'd himself into a Bull to gain the Love of Europa; and then he calls Menelaus a Bull, as being a Cuckold; and then characterizes the Bull, as the primitive Statue and oblique Memorial of Cuckolds: i. e. A Cuckold is said to have Horns; a Bull has Horns; so, stands for a Cuckold obliquely; that is, typically, emblematically: as our Poet in Hamlet says, the Play is call'd the Mousetrap: Marry, how? tropically.—Mr. Warburton differs from me in the Construction of this Place; he thinks, Menelaus is call'd the Bull, and that he is likewise call'd the primitive Statue, &c. Then he objects, that primitive and oblique are contradictory Epithets, and cannot be applied to the same Thing: He therefore conjectures, the Poet wrote, &lblank; the primitive Statue, and Obelisque memorial of Cuckolds; i. e. “He is represented, says my Friend, as One that would remaine an eternal Monument of Cuckoldom never to be effaced: And how could this be better represented than by calling him an Obelisque memorial? For of all human monumental Edifices the Obelisque is the most durable. The Ægyptians, 'tis well known, used it to record their Arts and Histories upon.”—I could not in Justice stifle so ingenious a Conjecture, tho I have not disturb'd the Text; and submit the Passage, in present, to the Determination of the publick Judgment.

Note return to page 46 [46] (46) As I kiss thee. Dio. Nay, do not snatch it from me. Cres. He that takes That, must take my Heart withal.] Dr. Thirlby thinks this should all be plac'd to Cressida. She had the Sleeve, and was kissing it rapturously: And, Diomede, in kissing her, Snatches it back from her.

Note return to page 47 [47] (47) That doth invert that Test of Eyes and Ears.] What Test? Troilus had been particularizing none in his foregoing Words, to govern or require the Relative here: I rather think, the Words are to be thus split; That doth invert th' Attest of Eyes and Ears. i. e. That turns the very Testimony of Seeing and Hearing against themselves.

Note return to page 48 [48] (48) Hence, brothel, lacquey! &lblank;] In this, and the Repetition of it, towards the Close of the Play, Troilus is made absurdly to call Pandarus— bawdy-house; for Brothel signifies nothing else that I know of: but he meant to call him an Attendant on a Bawdy-house, a Messenger of obscene Errands: a Sense which I have retriev'd, only by clapping an Hyphen betwixt the two Words.

Note return to page 49 [49] (49) O'th' other Side, the Policy of those crafty swearing Rascals, &c.] But in what Sense are Nestor and Ulysses accus'd of being swearing Rascals? What, or to Whom, did they swear? I am positive, I have restor'd the true Reading. They had collogued with Ajax, and trim'd him up with insincere Praises, only in Order to have stir'd Achilles's Emulation. In this, they were true Sneerers; betraying the first, to gain their Ends on the latter by that Artifice.

Note return to page 50 [50] (50) The dreadful Sagittary Appals our Numbers.] Mr. Pope will have it that by Sagittary is meant Teucer, because of his Skill in Archery. Were we to take this Interpretation for granted, we might expect that upon this Line in Othello, Lead to the Sagittary the raised Search, Mr. Pope should tell us, this meant to the Sign of Teucer's Head: tho, indeed, it means only that Sign, which the Poet, in his Comedy of Errors, calls by an equivalent Name the Centaur. Besides, when Teucer is not once mention'd by Name throughout the whole Play, would Shakespeare decypher him by so dark and precarious a Description? I dare be positive, he had no Thought of that Archer here. To confess the Truth, this Passage contains a Piece of private History, which, perhaps, Mr. Pope never met with, unless he consulted the old Chronicle containing the three Destructions of Troy, printed by Caxton in 1471, and Wynken de Werde in 1503: from which Book our Poet has borrow'd more Circumstances of this Play, than from Lollius or Chaucer. I shall transcribe a Short Quotation from thence, which will fully explain Shakespeare's Meaning in this Passage. “Beyonde the Royalme of Amasonne came an auncyent Kynge, wyse and dyscreete, named Epystrophus, and brought a M. knyghtes, and a mervayllouse Beste that was call'd Sagittarye, that behynde the myddes was an horse, and to fore a Man: This Beste was heery lyke an horse, and had his Eyen rede as a Cole, and shotte well with a bowe: This Beste made the Grekes sore aferde, and slewe many of them with his Bowe.” This directly answers to what our Poet says;— &lblank; The dreadful Sagittary Appals our Numbers. That our Author traded with the above quoted Book is demonstrable from certain Circumstances, which he could pick up no where else, and which he has thought fit to transplant into his Play: viz. The making Neoptolemus a distinct Hero from Pyrrhus, who was afterwards so call'd; the Corruption in the Names of the six Gates of Troy; Galathe, the Name of Hector's horse; the Bastard Margarelon: Diomede getting one of Cressid's Gloves; Achilles absenting from Battle on Account of his Love for Polyxena, and the Messages of Queen Hecuba to him; his taking Hector at a Disadvantage, when he kill'd him; &c.

Note return to page 51 [51] (51) One Bear will not bite another;] So, Juvenal says more seriously: &lblank; sævis inter se convenit Ursis.

Note return to page 52 [52] (52) And, Stickler-like, the Armies separate;] So Mr. Pope in both his Editions; by which Means, the Comparison stands thus;— “The Armies separate of themselves, as Sticklers separate others.” But with that Editor's Permission, we must call back the Reading of the better Copies; and then the Sense will be this: “Night, Stickler-like, puts an End to the Engagement, and separates the Armies.” I am apt to think, Mr. Pope did not know the Word, or the Office of the Person intended by it. The French call these Gentry, Moyenneurs, Arbitres, Personnes interposées. In this very Play, Diomede and Æneas are Sticklers to Ajax and Hector in their Combat: Seconds, to see fair Play, and arbitrate the Duel. The Word was familiar both to Ben. Jonson and Beaumont and Fletcher. &lblank; Who is drawn hither by report of your Cartels, advanced in Court, to prove his Fortune with your Prizer, so he may have fair Play shewn him, and the Liberty to chuse his Stickler. Cynthia's Revels. Lop. He keeps his Fury still, and may do Mischief. Mil. He shall be hang'd first; we'll be Sticklers there, Boys. Spanish Curate.

Note return to page 53 [1] (1) Two Households, &c.] The Fable of this Play is built on a real Tragedy, that happen'd about the Beginning of the 14th Century. The Story, with all its Circumstances is given us by Bandello, in one of his Novels; as also by Girolame da Corte in his History of Verona. The young Lover, as this Historian tells us, was call'd Romeo Montecchi; and the Lady, Julietta Capello. Captain Breval in his Travels tells us, that, when he was at Verona, he was shewn an Old Building, (converted into an House for Orphans,) in which the Tomb of these unhappy Lovers had formerly been broken up; and that he was inform'd by his Guide in all the Particulars of their Story: which put him in Mind of our Author's Play on the Subject. The Captain has clos'd his Account of this Affair with a Reproof to our excellent Othway, for having turn'd this Story to that of Caius Marius; considering, (says he,) “how inconsistent it was (to pass by other Absurdities) to make the Romans bury their Bodies in the latter End of the Consular times, when every Schoolboy knows, that it was the Custom to burn them first, and then bury their bury their Ashes.”—I cannot help observing in Respect to Otway's Memory, that both Interring and Burning were at one and the same time used by the Romans. For Instance, Marius was buried; and Sylla, his Enemy, was by his own express Orders burnt; the first of the Cornelian Family, that had been so dispos'd of. Pliny gives us the reason for such his Orders: Idq; voluisse, veritum talionem, eruto Caii Marii cadavere. (Nat. Hist. l. vii. cap. 55.) He fear'd Reprisals upon his own Body, his Soldiers having dug up and committed Indignities on the Body of Marius. To this Fear of his, Cicero has likewise alluded in his Second Book De Legibus. I had almost forgot to observe, that Pliny expressly says, Burning of dead Bodies was not an old Institution among the Romans; but their Dead were interr'd.—Ipsum cremare apud Romanos non fuit veteris Instituti: terrâ condebantur.

Note return to page 54 [2] (2) &lblank;an hour before the worship'd Sun Peer'd thro' the golden Window of the East, A troubled Mind drew me from Company:] This is a Reading only of Mr. Pope's, as far as I can trace, who had a mind to make Benvolio a greater Rake than we have Reason to think him from any subsequent Instance. What, in Company an Hour before Daylight? What odd kind of Companions must this Benvolio have consorted with? This Reading very reasonably seduced Mr. Warburton into an ingenious Conjecture; A troubled mind drew me from Canopy: i. e. from Bed. But I have restor'd the Text of all the old Copies. Benvolio, being troubled and not able to sleep, rose an Hour before Day and went into the open Air to amuse himself.

Note return to page 55 [3] (3) Pursued my humour, not pursuing his.] But Benvolio did pursue his; for Romeo had a Mind to be alone, so had Benvolio: and therefore as Dr. Thirlby accurately observes, we ought to correct, He did not pursue Romeo.

Note return to page 56 [4] (4) As is the Bud, bit with an envious Worm, Ere he can spread his sweet Leaves to the Air, Or dedicate his Beauty to the Same.] To the same?—Sure, all the Lovers of Shakespeare and Poetry will agree, that this is a very idle, draging Parapleromatic, as the Grammarians style it. But our Author generally in his Similies is accurate in the cloathing of them, and therefore, I believe, would not have overcharg'd this so insipidly. When we come to consider, that there is some power else besides balmy Air, that brings forth, and makes the tender Buds spread themselves, I do not think it improbable that the Poet wrote; Or dedicate his Beauty to the Sun. Or, according to the more obsolete Spelling, Sunne; which brings it nearer to the Traces of the corrupted Text. I propos'd this conjectural Emendation in the Appendix to my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has embraced it in his last Edition.

Note return to page 57 [5] (5) That, when she dies, with Beauty dies her Store.] This conveys no satisfactory Idea to me. I have ventur'd at a slight Transposition, which gives a Meaning, warranted, I think, by what Romeo says in his very next Speech. She is rich in Beauty, and if she dies a Maid, she cuts off that Beauty from its Succession. For Beauty, starv'd with her Severity, Cuts Beauty off from all Posterity.

Note return to page 58 [6] (6) A fair Assembly: Whither should they come? Serv. Up. Rom. Whither? to Supper? Serv. To our House.] Romeo had read over the List of invited Guests; but he must be a Prophet, to know they were invited to Supper. This comes much more aptly from the Servant's Answer, than Romeo's Question; and must undoubtedly be placed to him. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 59 [7] (7) &lblank; let there be weigh'd Your Lady's Love against some other Maid.] But the Comparison was not to be betwixt the Love that Romeo's Mistress paid him, and the Person of any other young Woman: but betwixt Romeo's Mistress herself, and some other that should be match'd against her. The Poet therefore must certainly have wrote; Your Lady-love against some other Maid. So the Comparison stands right, and sensibly.

Note return to page 60 [8] (8) What say you? Can you like the Gentleman?] This Speech of Lady Capulet, tho I cannot readily commend it, yet I could not conceive I had any Authority to leave it out. I have restor'd many other Passages in this Play, not of the best Stamp, but for the same Reason.

Note return to page 61 [9] (9) Scaring the Ladies like a Cowkeeper.] I led Mr. Pope into this mistaken Reading, which I once thought the true one, before I fully understood the Passage. But I have prov'd, that Crowkeeper, which possesses all the old Copies, is the genuine Reading of the Poet, in my 49th Note on King Lear.

Note return to page 62 [10] (10) O, then I see, Queen Mab hath been with you: She is the Fairies' Midwife.] Thus begins that admirable Speech upon the Effects of the Imagination in Dreams. But, Queen Mab the Fairies Midwife? What is she then Queen of? Why, the Fairies. What! and their Midwife too? Sure, this is a wonderful Condescension in her Royal Highness. But this is not the greatest of the Absurdities. The Fairies' Midwife? But let us see upon what Occasion she is introduced, and under what Quality. Why, as a Being that has great Power over human Imaginations. But then according to the Laws of common Sense, if she has any Title given her, must not that Title have reference to the Employment she is put upon? First, then, she is called Queen: which is very pertinent; for that designs her Power: Then she is called the Fairies Midwife; but what has that to do with the Point in hand? If we would think that Shakespeare wrote Sense, we must say, he wrote—the Fancy's Midwife: and this is a Title the most a propos in the World, as it introduces all that is said afterwards of her Vagaries. Besides, it exactly quadrates with these Lines; &lblank; I talk of Dreams; Which are the Children of an idle Brain, Begot of nothing but vain Fantasie. These Dreams are begot upon Fantasie, and Mab is the Midwife to bring them forth. And Fancy's Midwife is a Phrase altogether in the Manner of our Author. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 63 [11] (11) Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathoms deep;] As the Generality of the Terms, coupled here, have a Reference to the Wars, some ingenious Persons have conjectured that our Poet wrote; Of Delves five Fathoms deep; &lblank; i. e. Trenches; Places delv'd, or dug down. But, with Submission, I conceive the Text to be sincere as it is; and alludes to drinking deep to a Mistress's health. I find the like Expression in Westward-hoe, a Comedy wrote in our Author's Time. Troth, Sir, my Master and Sir Goslin are guzzling; they are dabbling together fathom deep. The Knight has drunk so much health to the Gentleman yonder on his Knees, that he hath almost lost the use of his Legs.

Note return to page 64 [12] (12) If I profane with my unworthy hand This holy Shrine, the gentle Sin is this, My Lips, two blushing Pilgrims, &c.] All Profanations are suppos'd to be expiated either by some meritorious Action, or by some Penance undergone and Punishment submitted to. So, Romeo would here say, if I have been profane in the rude Touch of my Hand, my Lips stand ready, as two blushing Pilgrims, to take off that Offence, to atone for it, by a sweet Penance. Our Poet therefore must have wrote &lblank; the gentle Fine is this. So, in Two Gent. of Verona. My Penance is to call Lucetta back, And ask Remission for my Folly past. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 65 [13] (13) Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so true, When King Cophetua lov'd the Beggar-maid.] Tho I have not disturbed the Text, I conceive, there may be an Error in the Word Abraham. I have no Idea, why Cupid should have this Prænomen. I have suspected that the Poet wrote, Young auborn Cupid, &lblank; i. e. brown-hair'd: because in several other Passages where auborn should be wrote, it is printed Abraham in the old Books. This old Ballad of the King enamour'd of the Beggar is twice again alluded to by our Author in his Love's Labour's lost. Arm. Is there not a Ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar? Moth. The world was guilty of such a Ballad, some three Ages since, but, I think, now 'tis not to be found. And Armado afterwards, in his fustian Letter, names both the King and the Beggar. The magnanimous and most illustrate King Cophetua set Eye upon the pernicious and most indubitate Beggar Zenelophon.

Note return to page 66 [14] (14) O, speak again, bright Angel! for thou art As glorious to this night,] Tho' all the printed Copies concur in this Reading, yet the latter Part of the Simily seems to require, As glorious to this Sight; and therefore I have ventur'd to alter the Text so. i. e. Thou appear'st, over my Head, as glorious to my Eyes, as an Angel in the Clouds to Mortals that stare up at him with Admiration.

Note return to page 67 [15] (15) &lblank; At Lover's Perjuries, They say, Jove laughs.] This Remark our Poet, probably, borrow'd from Ovid; Jupiter ex alto Perjuria ridet Amantum. De Art. Amandi, lib. i. 635. Or else from Tibullus, who has the same Sentiment; &lblank; Perjuria ridet Amantum Jupiter, & ventos irrita ferre jubet. Lib. iii. El. 7. To this likewise the Greeks alluded in their Proverb, &GRAs;&grf;&grr;&gro;&grd;&gria;&grs;&gri;&gro;&grst; &grosa;&grr;&grk;&gro;&grst; &gro;&grus;&grk; &gres;&grm;&grp;&gro;&gria;&grn;&gri;&grm;&gro;&grst;. Hesychius, I remember, in quoting this Proverb, takes Notice of a Circumstance that I can neither recollect, nor trace, in Hesiod; viz. that He first feign'd that Jupiter and Io swore to each other. &grp;&grr;&grwc;&grt;&gro;&grst; &grd;&greg; &GRHr;&grs;&gria;&gro;&grd;&gro;&grst; &gresa;&grp;&grl;&gra;&grs;&gre;, &grt;&gro;&grug;&grst; &grp;&gre;&grr;&grig; &grt;&grog;&grn; &grD;&gria;&gra; &grk;&gra;&grig; &grt;&grhg;&grn; &GRIs;&grwg; &gros;&grm;&groa;&grs;&gra;&gri;. Jupiter, we know, from Fables, often broke his Love-Oaths: so could not reasonably condemn the Practice in others.

Note return to page 68 [16] (16) O, their bones! their bones!] Mercutio is here ridiculing those frenchified fantastical Coxcombs whom he calls pardonnez-moy's: and therefore, I suspect, here he meant to write French too. O, their bon's! their bon's! i. e. How ridiculous they make themselves in crying out Good, and being in Ecstasies with every Trifle: as he has just describ'd them before, —Jesu! a very good blade! &c.

Note return to page 69 [17] (17) I desire some Confidence with You. Ben. She will invite him to some Supper.] Mr. Rowe first spoil'd the Joak of the Second Line in his Editions, and Mr. Pope is generally faithful to his Foot-steps. All the genuine Copies read, as I have restor'd to the Text; She will indite him to some Supper. Benvolio, hearing the Nurse knock one Word out of joint, humourously is resolv'd he will corrupt another in Imitation of her. Both the Corruptions are used by our Author in other parts of his Works. Quick. &lblank; and I will tell your Worship more of the Wart, the next Time we have confidence, and of other Wooers. Merry Wives, &c. Dogb. Marry, Sir, I would have some confidence with You, that decerns you nearly. Much Ado, &c. Quick. &lblank; and he is indited to Dinner to the Lubbar's head, &c. 2 Henry IV.

Note return to page 70 [18] (18) Rom. Ay, Nurse, what of That? Both with an R. Nurse. Ah mocker! that's the Dog's Name. R. is for the no, I know it begins with no other Letter,] I believe, I have rectified this odd Stuff; but it is little mortifying, that the Sense, when 'tis found out, should hardly be worth the pains of retrieving it. The Nurse is represented as a prating silly Creature; She says, She will tell Romeo a good Joak about his Mistress, and asks him, whether Rosemary and Romeo do not begin Both with a Letter: He says, Yes, an R. She, who, we must suppose, could not read, thought he had mock'd her, and says, No, sure, I know better: our Dog's name is R. Yours begins with another Letter. This is natural enough, and very much in Character for this insipid, prating Creature. R put her in Mind of that Sound which is made by Dogs when they snarl: and therefore, I presume, she says, that is the Dog's Name. A quotation from Ben Jonson's Alchemist will clear up this Allusion. &lblank; He shall have a Bell, that's Abel; And, by it, standing One whose Name is D In a rug Gown; there's D and rug, that's Drug; And right anenst him a dog snarling,—err; There's Drugger, Abel Drugger. &lblank; Mr. Warburton. B. Jonson again, in describing the Sound of the Letters, in his English Grammar, says, R is the Dog's Letter, and hirreth in the Sound. For this Reason Persius, the Satirist, call'd it Litera canna:—because the trembling Vibration of the Tongue in pronouncing it imitates the Snarling of a Dog. Quòd tremulâ linguæ vibratione, Canum, quum ringuntur, sonum imitari videatur, says Rob. Stephens. Irritata Canis quòd RR quam plurima dicat. Lucillius.

Note return to page 71 [19] (19) Romeo, the Hate I bear thee can afford No better Term than this,] This is only Mr. Pope's Sophistication of the Text. All the Copies in general, that I have seen, read, Romeo, the Love I bear thee, &c. Why then this Change? Is Mr. Pope really so great a Poet, and does not know, that the Love here stands for the little or no Love, the Hate in effect? Is it not frequent in Poetry to express Things by their Contraries; to use promise instead of threaten, and threaten instead of promise? I'll quote an Instance from Virgil, because Servius's Comment on it explains the Practice of this Figure. &lblank; & Me, fors si qua tulisset, Si patrios unquàm remeassem victor ad Argos, Promisi ultorom, & verbis odia aspera movi. Promisi.] Pro minatus sum, per Contrarium dixit: quià minamur mala, promittimus bona. Sic autem Horatius contrà; Atqui vultus erat multa & præclara minantis, i. e. promittentis.

Note return to page 72 [20] (20) Alla Stucatho.] This smells a little too rank of Barbarism for Mercutio, who is no ignorant Fellow, but understood at least his own Country Language. Stoccata is the Italian Word for a certain Pass in Fencing.

Note return to page 73 [21] (21) Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.] It is wonderful that Mr. Pope should retort the Want of Ear upon any body, and pass such an inharmonious unscanning Verse in his own Ear: a Verse, that cannot run off from the Tongue with any Cadence of Musick, the short and long Syllables stand so perversely. We must read, Else, when he's found, that Hour is his last. Every diligent and knowing Reader of our Poet must have observ'd, that Hour and Fire are almost perpetually dissyllables in the pronounciation and Scansion of his Verses.

Note return to page 74 [22] (22) Spread thy close Curtain, love-performing Night, That runaways Eyes may wink;] What Runaways are these, whose Eyes Juliet is wishing to have stopt? Macbeth, we may remember, makes an Invocation to Night, much in the same Strain: &lblank; Come, seeling Night, Scarf up the tender Eye of pitifull day, &c. So Juliet here would have Night's Darkness obscure the great Eye of the Day, the Sun; whom considering in a poetical Light as Phœbus, drawn in his Carr with fiery-footed Steeds, and posting thro' the Heav'ns, She very properly calls him, with regard to the Swiftness of his Course, the Runaway. In the like Manner our Poet speaks of the Night, in the Merchant of Venice. For the close Night doth play the Runaway. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 75 [23] (23) And that bare Vowel, ay, shall poyson more Than the death-darting Eye of Cockatrice.] I question much, whether the Grammarians will take this new Vowel on Trust from Mr. Pope, without suspecting it rather for a Dyphthong. In short, we must restore the Spelling of the Old Books, or We lose the Poet's Conceit. At his Time of day, the affirmative Adverb Ay was generally written, I: and by this means it both becomes a Vowel, and answers in Sound to Eye, upon which the Conceit turns in the Second Line.

Note return to page 76 [24] (24) Ravenous Dove, feather'd Raven, Wolvish ravening Lamb.] This passage Mr. Pope has thrown out of the Text, partly, I presume, because these two noble Hemistichs are, indeed, inharmonious: [but chiefly, because they are obscure and unintelligible at the first View.] But is there no such Thing as a Crutch for a labouring, halting, Verse? I'll venture to restore to the Poet a Line that was certainly his, that is in his own Mode of Thinking, and truly worthy of him. The first word, ravenous, I have no Doubt, was blunderingly coin'd out of Raven and ravening, which follow; and if we only throw it out, we gain at once an harmonious Verse, and a proper Contrast of Epithets and Images. Dove-feather'd Raven! Wolvish-rav'ning Lamb!

Note return to page 77 [25] (25) &lblank; And all these Woes shall serve For sweet Discourses in our Time to come.] This very thought is express'd by Virgil on a like Occasion; &lblank; Forsan & hæc olim meminisse juvabit. Æneid. I. v. 203 The learned Taubman in his Note on this passage has amass'd several similar Quotations.

Note return to page 78 [26] (26) Peace ho for shame, confusions: Care lives not in these Confusions,] This Speech, tho' it contains good Christian Doctrine, tho it is perfectly in Character for the Friar, and not the most despicable for its Poetry, Mr. Pope has curtail'd to little or nothing, because it has not the Sanction of the first old Copy. By the same Rule, had he pursued it throughout, we might have lost some of the finest additional Strokes in the two Parts of K. Henry IV: But there was another Reason, I suspect, for curtailing: Certain Corruptions started, which requir'd the indulging his private Sense to make them intelligible, and this was an unreasonable Labour. As I have reform'd the Passage above quoted, I dare warrant, I have restor'd our Poet's Text; and a fine sensible Reproof it contains, against immoderate Grief: for the Friar begins with telling them, that the Cure of those Confusions, into which the melancholy Accident had thrown 'em, did not live in the confus'd and inordinate Exclamations which they express'd on that Account.

Note return to page 79 [27] (27) For tho some Nature bids us all lament.] Some Nature? Sure, it is the general Rule of Nature, or she could not bid us all lament. I have ventur'd to substitute an Epithet, which I suspect, was lost in the idle, corrupted Word, Some; and which admirably quadrates with the Verse succeeding this; that tho' the Fondness of Nature lay such an Injunction upon us, yet that Reason does but mock our unavailing Sorrow.

Note return to page 80 [28] (28) If I may trust the flatt'ring Truth of Sleep.] i. e. If I may believe those Dreams; if I may confide in their flattering Tenour, as in a Promise of Truth.

Note return to page 81 [29] (29) Enter Romeo, and Peter with a Light.] But Peter was a Servant of the Capulets: besides, he brings the Mattock and Crow to wrench open Juliet's Grave, an Office hardly to be intrusted with a Servant of that Family. We find a little above, at the very Beginning of this Act, Balthazar is the Person who brings Romeo the News of his Bride's Death: and yet, at the Close of the Play, Peter takes upon him to depose that He brought those Tidings. Utri creditis, Quirites?—In short, We heard Balthazar deliver the Message; and therefore Peter is a lying Evidence, suborn'd by the blundering Editors. We must therefore cashier him, and put Balthazar on his proper Duty. The Sourse of this Error seems easy to be accounted for; Peter's Character ending in the 4th Act, 'tis very probable the same Person might play Balthazar, and so be quoted on in the Prompter's Book as Peter.

Note return to page 82 [30] (30) And never from this Palace of dim Night Depart again. (Come, lye Thou in my Arms; Here's to thy Health. O true Apothecary! Thy Drugs are quick.)] Mr. Pope's, and some other of the worser, Editions acknowledge absurdly the Lines which I have put into Parenthesis here; and which I have expung'd from the Text, for this Reason: Romeo is made to confess the Effect of the Poison, before ever he has tasted it. I suppose, it hardly was so savoury that the Patient should chuse to make two Draughts of it. And, eight Lines after these, we find him taking the Poison in his hand, and making an Apostrophe to it; inviting it to perform its Office at once; and then, and not till then, does he clap it to his Lips, or can with any Probability speak of its instant Force and Effects. Besides, Shakespeare would hardly have made Romeo drink to the Health of his dead Mistress.

Note return to page 83 [1] (1) Honest Langbaine (in his account of Dramatic Poets) having told us, that he knew not whether this Story were true or false, not finding in the List given by Doctor Heylin such a King of Denmark as Claudius; Mr. Pope comes and tells us, that this Story was not invented by our Author, tho, from whence he took it, he knows not. Langbaine gives us a sensible Reason for his Ignorance in this Point; what to make of Mr. Pope's Assertion upon the Grounds he gives us for it, I confess, I know not. But we'll allow this Gentleman, for once, a Prophet in his Declaration: for the Story is taken from Saxo Grammaticus in his Danish History. I'll subjoin a short Extract of the material Circumstances, on which the Groundwork of the Plot is built: and how happily the Poet has adapted his Incidents, I shall leave to the Observation of every Reader. The Historian calls our Poet's Hero, Amlethus; his Father, Horwendillus; his Uncle, Fengo; and his Mother, Gerutha. The Old King in single Combat slew Collerus, King of Norway; Fengo makes away with his Brother Horwendillus, and marries his Widow Gerutha. Amlethus, to avoid being suspected by his Uncle of Designs, assumes a Form of utter Madness. A fine Woman is planted upon him, to try if he would yield to the Impressions of Love. Fengo contrives, that Amlethus, in order to sound him, should be closeted by his Mother. A Man is conceal'd in the Rushes to overhear their Discourse; whom Amlethus discovers and kills. When the Queen is frighted at this Behaviour of his, he tasks her about her criminal Course of Life, and incestuous Conversation with her former Husband's Murtherer: confesses, his Madness is but counterfeited, to preserve himself and secure his Revenge for his Father; to which he injoyns the Queen's Silence. Fengo sends Amlethus to Britaine: Two of the King's Servants attend him, with Letters to the British King, strictly pressing the Death of Amlethus, who, in the Night-time, coming at their Commission, o'er-reads it, forms a new one, and turns the Destruction, design'd towards himself, on the Bearers of the Letters. Amlethus, returning home, by a Wile surprizes and kills his Uncle.

Note return to page 84 [2] (2) And Prologue to the Omen coming on.] But Prologue and Omen are merely synonomous here, and must signify one and the same Thing. But the Poet means, that these strange Phœnomena are Prologues, and Forerunners, of the Events presag'd by them: And such Sense the slight Alteration, which I have ventur'd to make by a single Letter added, very aptly gives.

Note return to page 85 [3] (3) Take thy fair hour, Laertes, time be thine, And thy fair Graces; spend it at thy Will.] This is the Pointing in both Mr. Pope's Editions; but the Poet's Meaning is lost by it, and the Close of the Sentence miserably flatten'd. The Pointing, I have restor'd, is that of the best Copies; and the Sense, this; “You have my Leave to go, Laertes; make the fairest Use you please of your Time, and spend it at your Will with the fairest Graces you are Master of.”

Note return to page 86 [4] (4) But you must know, your Father lost a Father; That Father his, &lblank;] This suppos'd Refinement is from Mr. Pope; but all the Editions else, that I have met with, old and modern, read, That Father lost, lost, his; The Reduplication of which Word here gives an Energy and an Elegance, which is much easier to be conceiv'd, than explain'd in Terms. And every judicious Reader of this Poet must have observ'd, how frequent it is with him to make this Reduplication; where he intends either to assert or deny, augment or diminish, or add a Degree of Vehemence to his Expression.

Note return to page 87 [5] (5) And with no less Nobility of Love, Than that which dearest Father bears his Son, Do I impart towards you.] But what does the King impart? We want the Substantive govern'd of the Verb. The King had declar'd Hamlet his immediate Successor; and with That Declaration, he must mean, he imparts to him as noble a Love, as ever fond Father tender'd to his own Son. I have ventur'd to make the Text conform with this Sense.

Note return to page 88 [6] (6) &lblank; For your Intent In going back to School to Wittenberg;] The Poet uses a Prolepsis here: for the University at Wittemberg was open'd by Frederick the 3d Elector of Saxony in the Year 1502, several Ages later in Time than the Date of Hamlet. But I design'd this Remark for another purpose. I would take Notice, that a considerable Space of Years is spent in this Tragedy; or Hamlet, as a Prince, should be too old to go to an University. We here find him a Scholar resident at that University; but, in Act 5th, we find him plainly 30 Years old: for the Gravedigger had taken up that Occupation the very day on which young Hamlet was born, and had follow'd it, as he says, Thirty Years.

Note return to page 89 [7] (7) Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His Cannon 'gainst Self-Slaughter!] The Generality of the Editions read thus, as if the Poet's Thought were, Or that the Almighty had not planted his Artillery, his Resentment, or Arms of Vengeance against Self-Murther. But the Word, which I have restor'd to the Text, (and which was espous'd by the accurate Mr. Hughes, who gave an Edition of this Play;) is the Poet's true Reading. i. e. That he had not restrain'd Suicide by his express Law, and peremptory Prohibition. Mistakes are perpetually made in the Old Editions of our Poet, betwixt those two Words, Cannon and Canon. I shall now subjoin my Reasons, why, I think, the Poet intended to say, Heaven had fix'd its Injunction rather than its Artillery. In the first place, I much doubt the Propriety of the Phrase, fixing Cannon, in the Meaning here suppos'd. The military Expression, which imports what would be necessary to the Sense of the Poet's Thought, is mounting or planting Cannon: And whenever Cannon is said to be fix'd, it is when the Enemy become Masters of it and nail it down. In the next place to fix a Canon, or Law, is the Term of the Civilians peculiar to this Business. This Virgil had in his Mind, when he wrote, &lblank; Leges fixit pretio, atq; refixit. Æneid. VI. So Cicero in his Philippic Orations: Num figentur rursus hæ Tabulæ, quas vos Decretis vestris refixistis? And it was the constant Custom of the Romans to say, upon this Occasion, figere legem; as the Greeks, before them, used the Synonymous Term &grn;&groa;&grm;&gro;&grn; &grp;&gra;&grr;&gra;&grp;&grhc;&grc;&gra;&gri;, and call'd their Statutes thence &grp;&gra;&grr;&gra;&grp;&grha;&grg;&grm;&gra;&grt;&gra;. But my last Reason, and which sways most with me, is from the Poet's own Turn and Cast of Thought. For, as he has done in a great many more Instances, it is the very Sentiment which he falls into in another of his Plays, tho' he has cloth'd it in different Expressions. &lblank; 'Gainst Self-Slaughter There is a Prohibition so divine, That cravens my weak hand. Cymbeline.

Note return to page 90 [8] (8) &lblank; So loving to my Mother, That he permitted not the Winds of Heav'n Visit her Face too roughly.] This is a sophisticated Reading, copied from the Players in some of the modern Editions, for Want of understanding the Poet, whose Text is corrupt in the Old Impressions: All of which that I have had the Fortune to see, concur in reading; &lblank; So loving to my Mother, That he might not beteene the Winds of Heav'n Visit her Face too roughly. Beteene is a Corruption, without Doubt, but not so inveterate a one, but that, by the Change of a single Letter, and the Separation of two Words mistakenly jumbled together, I am verily perswaded, I have retriev'd the Poet's Reading.—That he might not let e'en the Winds of Heav'n, &c.

Note return to page 91 [9] (9) &lblank; Frailty, thy Name is Woman!] But that it would displease Mr. Pope to have it suppos'd, that Satire can have any place in Tragedy, (of which I shall have Occasion to speak farther anon,) I should make no Scruple to pronounce this Reflection a fine Laconic Sarcasm. It is as concise in the Terms, and, perhaps, more sprightly in the Thought and Image, than that Fling of Virgil upon the Sex, in his fourth Æneid. &lblank; varium & mutabile sempèr Fæmina. Mr. Dryden has remark'd, that this is the sharpest Satire in the fewest Words, that ever was made on Womankind; for both the Adjectives are Neuter, and Animal must be understood to make them Grammar. 'Tis certain, the design'd Contempt is heighten'd by this Change of the Gender: but, I presume, Mr. Dryden had forgot this Passage of Shakespeare, when he declar'd on the Side of Virgil's Hemistich, as the sharpest Satire he had met with.

Note return to page 92 [10] (10) And now no Soil, nor Cautel.] Cautel, from Cautela, in its first deriv'd Signification means a prudent Foresight, or Caution: But when we naturalize a Latin Word into our Tongue, we do not think ourselves oblig'd to use it in its precise, native Signification. So here, traductively, 'tis employ'd to mean, Deceit, Craft, Insincerity. And in these Acceptations we find our Author using the Adjective from it, in his Julius Cæsar. Swear Priests, and Cowards, and Men cautelous. In the like Manner the French use their cauteleux; by which they understand, rusé, trompeur: and Minshew has explain'd the Word Cautel thus, a crafty Way to deceive. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 93 [11] (11) The Wind sits in the Shoulder of your Sail, And you are stay'd for there. My Blessing, &c.] There—where? in the Shoulder of his Sail? For to That must this local Adverb relate, as tis situated. Besides, it is a dragging idle Expletive, and seems of no Use but to support the Measure of the Verse. But when we come to point this Passage right, and to the Poet's Intention in it, we shall find it neither unnecessary, nor improper, in its Place. In the Speech immediately preceding this, Laertes taxes himself for staying too long; but seeing his Father approach, he is willing to stay for a second Blessing, and kneels down to that end: Polonius accordingly lays his hand on his Head, and gives him the second Blessing. The Manner, in which a Comic Actor behav'd upon this Occasion, was sure to raise a Laugh of Pleasure in the Audience: And the oldest Quarto's, in the Pointing, are a Confirmation that thus the Poet intended it, and thus the Stage express'd it.

Note return to page 94 [12] (12) The Time invites You, &lblank;] This Reading is as old as the first Folio; however I suspect it to have been substituted by the Players, who did not understand the Term which possesses the elder Quarto's: The Time invests you, i. e. besieges, presses upon you on every Side. To invest a Town, is the military Phrase from which our Author borrow'd his Metaphor.

Note return to page 95 [13] (13) Tender your self more dearly; Or (not to crack the Wind of the poor Phrase) Wronging it thus, you'll tender me a Fool.] The Parenthesis is clos'd at the wrong place; and we must make likewise a slight Correction in the last Verse. Polonius is racking and playing on the Word Tender, till he thinks proper to correct himself for the Licence; and then he would say —not farther to crack the Wind of the Phrase by twisting and contorting it, as I have done; &c. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 96 [14] (14) Do not believe his Vows; for they are Brokers; &lblank; Breathing like sanctified and pious Bonds, The better to beguile.] To the same purpose our Author, speaking of Vows, expresses himself in his Poem, call'd, The Lover's Complaint. Saw, how Deceits were guilded in his Smiling; Knew, Vows were ever Brokers to defiling: But to the Passage in Question: Tho all the Editors have swallow'd it implicitly, it is certainly corrupt; and I have been surpriz'd, how Men of Genius and Learning could let it pass without some Suspicion. What Ideas can we form to ourselves of a breathing Bond, or of its being sanctified and pious? The only tolerable Way of reconciling it to a Meaning without a Change, is to suppose that the Poet intends, by the Word Bonds, verbal Obligations, Protestations: and then, indeed, these Bonds may, in some Sense, be said to have Breath. But this is to make him guilty of over-straining the Word and Allusion; and it will hardly bear that Interpretation, at least not without much Obscurity. As he, just before, is calling amorous Vows Brokers, and Implorers of unholy Suits; I think, a Continuation of the plain and natural Sense directs to an easy Emendation, which makes the whole Thought of a piece, and gives it a Turn not unworthy of our Poet. Breathing, like sanctified and pious Bawds, The better to beguile. Broker, 'tis to be observ'd, our Author perpetually uses as the more modest Synonymous Term for Bawd. Besides, what strengthens my Correction, and makes this Emendation the more necessary and probable, is, the Words with which the Poet winds up his Thought, the better to beguile. It is the sly Artifice and Custom of Bawds to put on an Air and Form of Sanctity, to betray the Virtues of young Ladies; by drawing them first into a kind Opinion of them, from their exteriour and dissembled Goodness. And Bawds in their Office of Treachery are likewise properly Brokers; and the Implorers and Prompters of unholy (that is, unchast) Suits: And so a Chain of the same Metaphors is continued to the End. I made this Emendation when I publish'd my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has thought fit to embrace it in his last Edition.

Note return to page 97 [15] (15) This heavy-headed Revel, east and west.] This whole Speech of Hamlet, to the Entrance of the Ghost, I set right in my Shakespeare restor'd, so shall not trouble the Readers again with a Repetition of those Corrections, or Justification of them. Mr. Pope admits, I have given the Whole a Glimmering of Sense, but it is purely conjectural, and founded on no Authority of Copies. But is this any Objection against Conjecture in Shakespeare's Case, where no Original Manuscript is subsisting, and the Printed Copies have successively blunder'd after one another? And is not even a Glimmering of Sense, so it be not arbitrarily impos'd, preferable to flat and glaring Nonsense? If not, there is a total End at least to this Branch of Criticism: and Nonsense may plead Title and Prescription from Time, because there is no direct Authority for dispossessing it.

Note return to page 98 [16] (16) &lblank; The Dram of Ease Doth all the noble Substance of a Doubt To his own Scandal.] Mr. Pope, who has degraded this whole Speech, has entirely left out this concluding Sentence of it. It looks, indeed, to be desperate, and for that Reason, I conceive, he chose to drop it. I do not remember a Passage, throughout all our Poet's Works, more intricate and deprav'd in the Text, of less Meaning to outward Appearance, or more likely to baffle the Attempts of Criticism in its Aid. It is certain, there is neither Sense, nor Grammar, as it now stands: yet, with a slight Alteration, I'll endeavour to cure those Defects, and give a Sentiment too, that shall make the Poet's Thought close nobly. What can a Dram of Ease mean? Or, What can it have to do with the Context, supposing it were the allow'd Expression here? Or, in a Word, what Agreement in Sense is there betwixt a Dram of Ease and the Substance of a Doubt? It is a desperate Corruption, and the nearest way to hope for a Cure of it, is, to consider narrowly what the Poet must be suppos'd to have intended here. The whole Tenour of this Speech is, that let Men have never so many, or so eminent, Virtues, if they have one Defect which accompanies them, that single Blemish shall throw a Stain upon their whole Character: and not only so, (if I understand him right) but shall deface the very Essence of all their Goodness, to its own Scandal: so that their Virtues themselves will become their Reproach. This is not only a Continuation of his Sentiment, but carries it up with a fine and proper Climax. I have ventur'd to conjecture, that the Author might write; &lblank; The Dram of Base Doth all the noble Substance of Worth out To his own Scandal. The Dram of Base, i. e. the least Alloy of Baseness or Vice. It is very frequent with our Poet to use the Adjective of Quality instead of the Substantive signifying the Thing. Besides, I have observed, that elsewhere, speaking of Worth, he delights to consider it as a Quality that adds Weight to a Person, and connects the Word with that Idea. Let ev'ry Word weigh heavy of her Worth, That he does weigh too light. All's Well that ends Well. From whose so many Weights of Baseness cannot A Dram of Worth be drawn. Cymbeline.

Note return to page 99 [17] (17) Thou com'st in such a questionable Shape.] By questionable we now constantly understand disputable, doubtful; but our Author uses it in a Sense quite opposite, not disputable, but to be convers'd with, inviting Question: as in Macbeth. Live You, or are You aught that Man may question?

Note return to page 100 [18] (18) And, for the Day, confin'd to fast in Fires;] I once suspected this Expression—to fast in Fires: because tho' Fasting is often a Part of Penance injoin'd us by the Church-Discipline here on Earth, yet, I conceiv'd, it could be no great Punishment for a Spirit, a Being which requires no Sustenance, to fast. But Mr. Warburton has since perfectly convinced me that the Text is not to be disturb'd, but that the Expression is purely metaphorical. For it is the Opinion of the Religion here represented, (i. e. the Roman Catholic) that Fasting purifies the Soul here, as the Fire does in the Purgatory here alluded to: and that the Soul must be purged either by fasting here, or by burning hereafter. This Opinion Shakespeare again hints at, where he makes Hamlet say; He took my Father grossly, full of Bread. And we are to observe, that it is a common saying of the Romish Priests to their People, If you won't fast here, you must fast in Fire.

Note return to page 101 [19] (19) Unhouzzled, unanointed, unaneal'd;] The Ghost, having recounted the Process of his Murther, proceeds to exaggerate the Inhumanity and Unnaturalness of the Fact, from the Circumstances in which he was surpriz'd. But these, I find, have been stumbling Blocks to our Editors; and therefore I must amend and explain these 3 compound Adjectives in their Order. Instead of unhouzzel'd, we must restore unhousel'd, i. e. without the Sacrament taken; from the old Saxon Word for the Sacrament, housel. So our Etymologists, and Chaucer write it; and Spencer, accordingly, calls the Sacramental Fire, housling Fire. In the next place, unanointed is a Sophistication of the Text: the old Copies concur in reading, disappointed. I correct, Unhousel'd, unappointed, &lblank; i. e. no Confession of Sins made, no Reconciliation to Heaven, no Appointment of Penance by the Church. To this Purpose Othello speaks to his Wife, when he is upon the Point of killing her; If you bethink your self of any Crime, Unreconcil'd as yet to Heav'n and Grace, Sollicit for it strait. So in Measure for Measure, when Isabella brings word to Claudio that he is to be instantly executed, she urges him to this necessary Duty; Therefore your best Appointment make with Speed, To Morrow you set out. Unaneal'd, I agree to be the Poet's genuine Word; but I must take the Liberty to dispute Mr. Pope's Explication of it, viz. No Knell rung. I don't pretend to know what Glossaries Mr. Pope may have consulted and trusts to; but whosesoever they are, I am sure, their Comment is very singular in the Word alledg'd. The Adjective form'd from Knell, must have been unknell'd or unknoll'd. So, in Macbeth; Had I as many Sons, as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer Death; And so his Knell is knoll'd. There is no Rule in Orthography for sinking the k in the Deflexion of any Verb or Compound form'd from Knell, and melting it into a Vowel. What Sense does unaneal'd then bear? Skinner, in his Lexicon of old and obsolete English Terms, tells us, that Aneal'd is unctus; from the Teutonick Preposition an, and Ole, i. e. Oil: so that unaneal'd must consequently signify, unanointed, not having the extream Unction. So that the Poet's Reading and Explication being ascertain'd, he very finely makes his Ghost complain of these four dreadful Hardships; That he had been dispatch'd out of Life without receiving the Hoste, or Sacrament; without being reconcil'd to Heaven and absolv'd; without the Benefit of extream Unction; or without so much as a Confession made of his Sins. The having no Knell rung, I think is not a Point of equal Consequence to any of these; especially, if we consider, that the Romish Church admits the Efficacy of praying for the Dead.

Note return to page 102 [20] (20) Yea, from the Table of my Memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond Records.] Æschylus, I remember, twice uses this very Metaphor; considering the Mind or Memory, as a Tablet, or Writing-book, on which we are to engrave Things worthy of Remembrance. &GRHrg;&grn; &gres;&grg;&grg;&grr;&graa;&grf;&gro;&gru; &grS;&grug; &grm;&grn;&grha;&grm;&gro;&grs;&gri;&grn; &grD;&grea;&grl;&grt;&gro;&gri;&grst; &grf;&grr;&grea;&grn;&grwc;&grn;. Prometh. &grD;&gre;&grl;&grt;&gro;&grg;&grr;&graa;&grf;&grwi; &grd;&grhc; &grp;&graa;&grn;&grt;&grap; &gres;&grp;&grw;&grp;&graci; &grf;&grr;&gre;&grn;&gria;. Eumenid.

Note return to page 103 [21] (21) Never to speak of this that you have heard, Swear by my Sword.] This Adjuration and the Solemnity of kissing Hamlet's Sword, seems to be sheer'd at by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Knight of the Burning Pestle; where Ralph, the Grocer's Prentice, dismisses the Barber in Quiet, on certain Terms agreed betwixt them. Ralph. I give Thee mercy, but yet Thou shalt swear Upon my burning Pestle to perform Thy Promise uttered. Barb. I swear and kiss.

Note return to page 104 [22] (22) There are more Things in Heav'n and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your Pihlosophy.] This Reflexion of Hamlet seems to be directly copied from this Passage of Lucretius, lib. I. v. 152. Quod multa in Terris fieri, Cœloq; tuentur, Quorum Operum Causas nullâ ratione videre Possunt. I had amended and rectified the Pointing of this whole Speech in my Shakespeare restor'd, to which I desire for Brevity's Sake to refer my Readers. Mr. Pope has thought fit to reform the Whole, in his last Edition, agreeably to my Directions there.

Note return to page 105 [23] (23) You must not put another Scandal on him.] I once suspected, and attempted to correct, this Passage. The old Gentleman, 'tis plain, is of Opinion, that to charge his Son with Wenching would not dishonour him; consequently, would be no Scandal to him. Why then should he caution Reynoldo from putting another Scandal on him? There can be no Second Scandal suppos'd, without a first implied. On this kind of Reasoning, I propos'd to correct; You must not put an utter Scandal on him. Mr. Pope, I observe, seems to admit the Emendation, but I retract it as an idle, unweigh'd Conjecture. The Reasoning, on which it is built, is fallacious; and our Author's licentious Manner of expressing himself elsewhere, convinces me that any Change is altogether unnecessary. So in King Richard II. Tend'ring the precious Safety of my Prince, And free from other misbegotten Hate, Come I Appellant to this princely Presence. Now, strictly speaking, here, tendring his Prince's Safety is his first misbegotten Hate; which Nobody will ever believe was the Poet's Intention. And so, in Macbeth; &lblank; All these are portable, With other Graces weigh'd. Malcolm had been enumerating the secret Enormities he was guilty of; no Graces are mention'd or suppos'd; so that in grammatical strictness, these Enormities stand in the Place of first Graces; tho' the Poet means no more than this, that Malcolm's Vices would be supportable, if his Graces on the other hand were to be weigh'd against them.

Note return to page 106 [24] (24) You laying these slight Sallies on my Son, As 'twere a Thing a little soil'd i'th' working.] 'Tis true, Sallies and Flights of Youth are very frequent Phrases; but what Agreement in the Metaphors is there betwixt Sallies and Soil'd? All the old Copies, which I have seen, read as I have reform'd the Text. So Beaumont and Fletcher in their Two Noble Kinsmen; &lblank; Let us leave the City Thebes, and the Temptings in't, before we further Sully our Gloss of Youth.

Note return to page 107 [25] (25) &lblank; his Stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his Ancle.] I have restor'd the Reading of the Elder Quarto's,—his Stockings loose.—The Change, I suspect, was first from the Players, who saw a Contradiction in his Stockings being loose, and yet shackled down at Ancle. But they, in their Ignorance, blunder'd away our Author's Word, because they did not understand it; Ungarter'd, and down-gyred, i. e. turn'd down. So, the oldest Copies; and, so his Stockings were properly loose, as they were ungarter'd and rowl'd down to the Ancle. &grG;&gruc;&grr;&grog;&grst; among the Greeks signified a Circle; and &grg;&gru;&grr;&groa;&grw;, to roul round; and the Word &grg;&gru;&grr;&grog;&grst; also meant crooked. Therefore the Gyræan Rocks, amidst which Ajax of Locri was lost, were call'd so, because, as Eustathius says, they were crooked: or, perhaps, because they lay, as it were, in a Ring. Hesychius, by the Bye, wants a slight Correction upon this Word. †&grG;&gru;&grr;&grhc;&grs;&gri; &grp;&grea;&grt;&grr;&grh;&grs;&gri;&grn;, &gro;&grura;&grt;&grw; &grk;&gra;&grl;&gro;&gruc;&grn;&grt;&gra;&gri;. †&grG;&gru;&grr;&gra;&grig; &grp;&grea;&grt;&grr;&gra;&gri; &gres;&grn; &grt;&grwci; &gri;&grk;&gra;&grr;&gria;&grwi; &grp;&gre;&grl;&graa;&grg;&gre;&gri;, &grp;&grr;&grog;&grst; &grm;&gru;&grk;&grwa;&grn;&grhi; &grt;&grhc; &grn;&grha;&grs;&grw;&grcolon;. In the first Place we must take away the Note of Distinction, and reduce the two Articles into one, thus. †&grG;&gru;&grr;&grhci;&grs;&gri; &grp;&grea;&grt;&grr;&grhi;&grs;&gri;&grn;&grcolon; &gro;&grura;&grp;&grw; &grk;&gra;&grl;&gro;&gruc;&grn;&grt;&gra;&gri; &grG;&gru;&grr;&gra;&grig; &grp;&grea;&grt;&grr;&gra;&gri;, &c. Then, instead of &grm;&gru;&grk;&grwa;&grn;&grhi;, we must read &grm;&gru;&grk;&grwa;&grn;&grwi;, or &grm;&gru;&grk;&groa;&grn;&grwi;; for it is written both Ways. But, to return to my Theme. The Latins borrow'd Gyrus from the Greeks, to signify, a Circle; as we may find in their best Poets and Prose Writers: and the Spaniards and Italians have from thence adopted both the Verb and Substantive into their Tongues: so that Shakespeare could not be at a Loss for the Use of the Term.

Note return to page 108 [26] (26) I'm sorry, that with better heed and judgment I had not quoted him.] I have restor'd with the Generality of the older Copies, Speed: and every knowing Reader of our Author must have observed, that he oftner uses Speed in the Signification of Success than of Celerity. To be content with a few Instances; Launce. There,—and St. Nicholas be thy Speed! 2 Gent. of Verona. Ros. Now Hercules be thy Speed, young Man! As you like it. (Let me see; What then?—St. Dennis be my speed! K. Henry V. Bapt. Well may'st thou wooe, and happy be thy Speed! Taming the Shrew, The Prince your Son, with meer Conceit and Fear Of the Queen's Speed, is gone. Winter's Tale. Or if we were to take Speed, in its native Sense of Quickness, Celerity, Polonius might very properly use it; meaning, that he is sorry, he had not sooner, and with better Judgment, sifted into Hamlet's Indisposition. So Nestor says, in Troilus. And in the Publication, make no Strain, But that Achilles &lblank; &lblank; will with great Speed of Judgment, Ay, with Celerity, find Hector's Purpose Pointing on him.

Note return to page 109 [27] (27) Gives him three thousand Crowns in annual Fee.] This Reading first obtain'd in the Edition put out by the Players. But all the old Quarto's (from 1605, downwards,) read, as I have reform'd the Text. I had hinted, that threescore thousand Crowns seem'd a much more suitable Donative from a King to his own Nephew, and the General of an Army, than so poor a Pittance as three thousand Crowns, a Pension scarce large enough for a dependent Courtier. I therefore restor'd. Gives him threescore thousand Crowns &lblank; To this Mr. Pope, (very archly critical, as he imagines;) has only replyed,—which in his Ear is a Verse. I own, it is; and I'll venture to prove to this great Master in Numbers, that 2 Syllables may, by Pronunciation, be resolv'd and melted into one, as easily as two Notes are slur'd in Musick: and a Redundance of a Syllable, that may be so sunk, has never been a Breach of Harmony in any Language. We must pronounce, as if 'twere written; Gis'm three &break; score thou &break; sand crowns &break; But has Mr. Pope, indeed, so long been conversant with Verse, and never observ'd the Licence of the Pes Proceleusmaticus: or that an Anapæst is equal in Time and Quantity to a Spondée? A few Instances from the Classics will convince him, and Persons (if there are any such) of superior Learning. &grG;&gra;&grl;&gra;&grk;&grt;&gro;&grf;&graa;&grg;&grw;&grn;, &gras;&grb;&gria;&grw;&grn;, &grd;&gri;&grk;&gra;&gri;&gro;&grt;&graa;&grt;&grw;&grn; &gras;&grn;&grq;&grr;&grwa;&grp;&grw;&grn;. Hom. II. &grn;. v. 6. &grB;&gro;&grr;&grea;&grh;&grst; &grk;&gra;&grig; &grZ;&grea;&grf;&gru;&grr;&gro;&grst;, &grt;&grwa; &grt;&gre; &grQ;&grr;&grhai;&grk;&grh;&grq;&gre;&grn; &grasa;&grh;&grt;&gro;&grn;. Il. &gri;. v. 5. &grN;&grea;&gra; &grm;&grea;&grn; &grm;&gro;&gri; &grk;&gra;&grt;&grea;&gra;&grc;&gre; &grP;&gro;&grs;&gre;&gri;&grd;&graa;&grw;&grn; &gres;&grn;&gro;&grs;&gria;&grx;&grq;&grw;&grn;. Odyss. &gri;. v. 283. &gris;&grea;&grr;&gre;&gru;&gro;&grn; &grd;&greg; &grs;&grua;&gra;&grst; &grs;&gri;&graa;&grl;&gro;&gru;&grst; &grk;&gra;&grig; &grb;&gro;&gruc;&grn; &gras;&grg;&gre;&grl;&gra;&gria;&grh;&grn;. Odyss. &grr;. &grq;. 181. &grK;&grua;&grk;&grl;&grw;&gry;, &grt;&grhci;, &grp;&gria;&gre; &gro;&grisc;&grn;&gro;&grn;, &gres;&grp;&gre;&grig; &grf;&graa;&grg;&gre;&grst; &gras;&grn;&grd;&grr;&groa;&grm;&gre;&graa; &grk;&grr;&grea;&gra;. Odyss. &gri;. 347. &GREsa;&gri;&gra;&grr;&gri; &grp;&gre;&grl;&gre;&gric;&grn;, &grq;&grea;&grr;&gre;&gro;&grst; &grn;&gre;&grw;&grm;&grea;&grn;&grh; &gro;&grusa; &grs;&grap;&gra;&grp;&gra;&grt;&grha;&grs;&gre;&gri;. Hesiod. &GREs;&grr;&grg;. 461. Capitibus nutantes platanos, rectasque cupressus Ennius. Tenuia sputa, minuta, croci contincta colore. Lucret. Tenue, cavati oculi, cava tempora, frigida pellis. Idem. Per terras amnes, atque oppida cooperuisse. Idem. Vehemens & liquidus, puroque simillimus amni. Horat. Parietibusque premunt artis, & quatuor addunt. Virgil. Hærent parietibus Scalæ &lblank; Idem. Fluviorum rex Eridanus &lblank; Idem. Arietat in partas & duros objice postes. Idem. Ego laticis haustu satior? aut ullo furor, &c. Senec. Tumet animus irâ, fervet immensum dolor. Idem. Vide ut animus ingens lætus audierit necem. Idem. But Instances from the Classics would be endless. Let us now take a short View, whether there are not other Verses in our Author which neither can be scan'd nor pronounc'd, without melting down some Syllables and extending others; and yet the Verses will stand the Test of all judicious Ears, that are acquainted with the Licences of Versification. On holy &break; rood day, the gallant Hotspur there. 1 Henr. IV. And That the Lord of West &break; morland shall &break; maintain. 3 Henr. VI. Thy Grand &break; father Ro &break; ger Mor &break; timer Earl &break; of March. Ibid. I am the Son of Hen &break; -ry &break; the Fifth. Ibid. For Henry here is made a Trisyllable. As fi &break; re drives &break; out fire, &break; so pi &break; ty pity: Jul. Cæs. And I might amass a thousand more Instances in proof. To conclude, without this Liberty of liquidating Syllables, as we may call it, how would Mr. Pope; or any Body else, scan this Verse in Jonson's Volpone? But P&ashort;r&ashort; &break; sites or &break; Sub-p&abar; &break; r&abar;sites. &break; And yet, &c.

Note return to page 110 [28] (28) My Liege, and Madam, to expostulate.] There seem to me in this Speech most remarkable Strokes of Humour. I never read it without Astonishment at the Author's admirable Art of preserving the Unity of Character. It is so just a Satire on impertinent Oratory, (especially, of that then in Vogue) which was of the formal Cut, and proceeded by Definition, Division, and Subdivision, that I think, every Body must be charm'd with it. Then as to the Jingles, and Play on Words, let us but look into the Sermons of Dr. Donna, (the wittiest Man of that Age,) and we shall find them full of this Vein: only, there they are to be admired, here to be laugh'd at. Then, with what Art is Polonius made to pride himself in his Wit: A foolish Figure.—But, farewel it. Again, how finely is he sneering the formal Oratory in Fashion, when he makes this Reflection on Hamlet's Raving. Tho this be Madness, yet there's Method in it. As if Method in a Discourse (which the Wits of that Age thought the most essential part of good Writing;) would make Amends for the Madness of it. This in the Mouth of Polonius is exceeding satirical. Tho' it was Madness, yet he could comfort himself with the Reflection that at least it was Method. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 111 [29] (29) To the Celestial, and my Soul's Idol, the most beautified Ophelia.] I have ventur'd at an Emendation here, against the Authority of all the Copies; but, I hope, upon Examination it will appear probable and reasonable. The Word beautified may carry two distinct Ideas, either as applyed to a Woman made up of artificial Beauties, (which our Poet afterwards calls, The Harlot's Cheek beautied with plastring Art,) or as applied to a Person rich in native Charms: As in the 2 Gent. of Verona; And partly seeing you are beautified With goodly Shape. As Shakespeare has therefore chose to use it in the latter Acceptation, to express natural Comeliness; I cannot imagine, that, here, he would have excepted to the Phrase, and call'd it a vile one. But a stronger Objection still, in my Mind, lies against it. As Celestial and Soul's Idol are the introductory Characteristics of Ophelia, what a dreadfull Anticlimax is it to descend to such an Epithet as beautified? On the other hand, beautified, as I have conjectur'd, raises the Image: but Polonius might very well, as a Roman Catholick, call it a vile Phrase, i. e. savouring of Prophanation; since the Epithet is peculiarly made an Adjunct to the Virgin Mary's Honour, and therefore ought not to be employ'd in the Praise of a meer Mortal. Again, tho beatified, perhaps, is no where else apply'd to an earthly Beauty, yet the same rapturous Ideas are employ'd in Terms purely synonymous. No Valentine indeed for sacred Sylvia. 2 Gent. of Verona. Ev'n she; and is she not a heav'nly Saint? Call her divine. Ibid. My Vow was earthly, thou a heav'n'y Love. Love's Lab. lost. Celestial as thou art, O, pardon, Love, this wrong; That sings Heav'n's Praise with such an earthly Tongue. Ibid. And Beaumont and Fletcher, I remember, in A Wife for a Month, make a Lover superscribe his Letter to his Mistress, thus;—To the blest Evanthe.

Note return to page 112 [30] (30) But there is, Sir, an Aiery of Children, little Yases, that cry out on the Top of Question.] The Poet here steps out of his Subject to give a Lash at home, and sneer at the prevailing Fashion of following Plays perform'd by the Children of the Chapel, and abandoning the establish'd Theatres. But why are they call'd little Yases? I wish, some of the Editors would have expounded this fine new Word to us; or, at least, told us where we might meet with it. Till then, I shall make bold to suspect it; and, without overstraining Sagacity, attempt to retrieve the true Word. As he first calls 'em an Aiery of Children, (now, an Aiery or Eyery is a Hawk's or Eagle's Nest;) there is not the least Question but we ought to restore—little Eyases; i. e. Young Nestlings, Creatures just out of the Egg. (An Eyas or Nyas hawk, un Niais, Accipiter Nidarius, qui recens ex Ovo emersit. Skinner.) So Mrs. Ford says to Falstaffe's Dwarf-Page. How now, my Eyas-Musket? What News with You? Merry Wives.

Note return to page 113 [31] (31) I remember, one said, there was no Salt in the Lines to make the Matter savoury.] i. e. That there was no Poignancy of Wit, or Virulence of Satire in them, as I had formerly explain'd this Passage. Mr. Pope has fallen upon me with a Sneer, and triumphs that I should be so ridiculous to think that Satire can have any Place in Tragedy. I did not mean, that Satire was to make its Subject, or that the Passions were to be purg'd by it: May not a sharp and sarcastical Sentiment, for all That, occasionally arise from the Matter? What does this Gentleman think of Irony? Is it not one Species of Satire? And yet Monsieur Hedelin (almost as good a Judge as Mr. Pope in these Matters) tells us, It is a Figure entirely theatrical. Or what does Mr. Pope think of such Sentences as these? &lblank; Frailty, thy Name is Woman! Hamlet. In second Husband let me be accurst! None wed the Second, but who kill'd the first. Ibid. At a few drops of Women's Rheum, which are As cheap as Lies, he sold the Blood and Labour Of our great Action. Coriolanus. O Woman! Woman! Woman! All the Gods Have not such Pow'r of doing Good to Men, As you of doing Harm. Dryden's All for Love. And to borrow one Instance from an Antient, who has outgone all the others quoted, in the Strength of his Sarcasm, &lblank; &grx;&grr;&grhc;&grn; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grasa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grq;&grea;&grn; &grp;&gro;&grq;&gre;&grn; &grb;&grr;&gro;&grt;&gro;&grug;&grst; &grP;&gra;&gric;&grd;&gra;&grst; &grp;&gro;&gri;&gre;&gric;&grs;&grq;&gra;&gri;, &grq;&grhc;&grl;&gru; &grd;&grap; &gro;&grus;&grk; &gre;&grisc;&grn;&gra;&gri; &grg;&grea;&grn;&gro;&grst; &GROrg;&gru;&grt;&grw; &grd;&grap; &grasg;&grn; &gro;&grus;&grk; &grhsc;&grn; &gro;&grus;&grd;&greg;&grn; &gras;&grn;&grq;&grr;&grwa;&grp;&gro;&gri;&grst; &grk;&gra;&grk;&groa;&grn;. Eurip. in Medea. I chose this Passage, because, I think, our Milton has left a fine Paraphrase upon it; and, I doubt not, had the Greek Poet in his Eye. &lblank; Oh, why did God, Creator wise, that peopled highest Heav'n With Spirits masculine, create at last This Novelty on Earth, this fair Defect Of Nature, and not fill the World at once With Men, as Angels, and not feminine; Or find some other way to generate Mankind. If Mr. Pope does not think these Passages to be Satire, and yet they are all in Tragedies, I must beg Leave to dissent from him in Opinion. Or, to conclude, has Mr. Pope never heard, that Euripides obtain'd the Name of &grM;&gri;&grs;&gro;&grg;&grua;&grn;&grh;&grst;, Woman-hater, because he so virulently satyriz'd the Sex in his Tragedies?

Note return to page 114 [32] (32) And fall a cursing like a very Drab &lblank; A Stallion.—] But why a Stallion? The two old Folio's have it, a Scullion: but that too is wrong. I am persuaded, Shakespeare wrote as I have reform'd the Text, a Cullion, i. e. a stupid, heartless, saint-hearted, white-liver'd Fellow; one good for nothing, but cursing and talking big. So, in King Lear; I'll make a Sop o'th' Moonshine of you; you whorson, cullionly, Barbermonger, draw. 2 Henry VI. Away, base Cullions!—Suffolk, let 'em go. The Word is of Italian Extraction, from Coglione; which, in its metaphorical Signification, (as La Crusca defines it) dicesi ancor Coglione per ingiuria in Senso di balordo,—is said by way of Reproach to a stupid, good for nothing, Blockhead.

Note return to page 115 [33] (33) Or to take Arms against a Sea of Troubles, And by opposing end them?] I once imagin'd, that, to preserve the Uniformity of Metaphor, and as it is a Word our Author is fond of using elsewhere, he might have wrote;—a Siege of Troubles. So, in Midsummer Night's Dream. Or, if there were a Sympathy in Choice, War, Death, or Sickness did lay Siege to it; King John. Death, having prey'd upon the outward Parts, Leaves them; invisible his Siege is now; &c. Romeo and Juliet. You, to remove that Siege of Grief from her, Betroth'd, and would have married her, &c. Timon of Athens. &lblank; Not ev'n Nature, To whom all Sores lay Siege, can bear great Fortune But by Contempt of Nature. Or one might conjecturally amend the Passage, nearer to the Traces of the Text, thus; Or to take Arms against th' Assay of Troubles, Or, &lblank; against a 'Say of Troubles, i. e. against the Attempts, Attacks, &c. So, before, in this Play; Makes Vow before his Uncle, never more To give th' Assay of Arms against your Majesty. Henry V. Galling the gleaned Land with hot Assays. Macbeth. &lblank; their Malady convinces The great Assay of Art. Lear. And that thy Tongue some 'Say of Breeding breathes, &c. &c. But, perhaps, any Correction whatever may be unnecessary; considering the great Licentiousness of our Poet in joining heterogeneous Metaphors; and considering too, that a Sea is used not only to signify the Ocean, but likewise a vast Quantity, Multitude, or Confluence of any thing else. Instances are thick both in sacred and prophane Writers. The Prophet Jeremiah, particularly, in one Passage, calls a prodigious Army coming up against a City, a Sea: Chap. 51. 42. The Sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the Multitude of the Waves thereof. Æschylus is frequent in the Use of this Metaphor; &grB;&gro;&graci; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grk;&gruc;&grm;&gra; &grx;&gred;&grs;&gra;&gric;&gro;&grn; &grs;&grt;&grr;&gra;&grt;&gro;&gruc;. Sept. cont. Thebas, v. 64. And again, a little lower. &grK;&gruc;&grm;&gra; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grp;&gre;&grr;&grig; &grp;&grt;&groa;&grl;&gri;&grn; &grD;&gro;&grx;&grm;&gro;&grl;&groa;&grf;&grw;&grn; &gras;&grn;&grd;&grr;&grwc;&grn; &grK;&gra;&grx;&grl;&graa;&grz;&gre;&gri; &grp;&grn;&gro;&gra;&gric;&grst; &GRAsa;&grr;&gre;&gro;&grst; &gros;&grr;&groa;&grm;&gre;&grn;&gro;&grn;. Ibid. v. 116. And again, in his Persians. &grD;&groa;&grk;&gri;&grm;&gro;&grst;&grcolon; &grd;&grap; &gro;&grusa;&grt;&gri;&grst; &grud;&grp;&gro;&grs;&grt;&grag;&grst; &grM;&gre;&grg;&graa;&grl;&grw;&grn; &grrr;&gre;&grua;&grm;&gra;&grt;&gri; &grf;&grw;&grt;&grwc;&grn;, &GREs;&grx;&gru;&grr;&gro;&gric;&grst; &grera;&grr;&grk;&gre;&grs;&gri;&grn; &gre;&grisa;&grr;&grg;&gre;&gri;&grn; &GRAsa;&grm;&gra;&grx;&gro;&grn;&grcolon; &grk;&gruc;&grm;&gra; &grq;&gra;&grl;&graa;&grs;&grs;&grh;&grst;. v. 87 So Cicero, in one of his Letters to Atticus, lib. vii. Ep. 4. Fluctum enìm totius Barbariæ ferre urbs una non poterat. And, besides, a Sea of Troubles among the Greeks grew into proverbial Usage; &grk;&gra;&grk;&grwc;&grn; &grq;&graa;&grl;&gra;&grs;&grs;&gra;, &grk;&gra;&grk;&grwc;&grn; &grt;&grr;&gri;&grk;&gru;&grm;&gria;&gra;. So that the Expression, figuratively, means, the Troubles of human Life, which flow in upon us, and encompass us round, like a Sea. Our Poet too has employ'd this Metaphor in his Antony, speaking of a Confluence of Courtiers; I was of late as petty to his Ends, As is the Morn-dew on the myrtle Leaf To his grand Sea. The same Image and Expression, I observe, is used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Two Noble Kinsmen. &lblank; Tho' I know, His Ocean needs not my poor Drops, yet they Must yield their Tribute there.

Note return to page 116 [34] (34) &lblank; To die, to sleep; To sleep? perchance, to dream:] This admirable fine Reflexion seems, in a paltry Manner, to be sneer'd at by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Scornful Lady. Rog. Have patience, Sir, until our Fellows Nicholas be deceas'd, that is, asleep; to sleep, to dye; to dye, to sleep; a very Figure, Sir.

Note return to page 117 [35] (35) That undiscover'd Country, from whose Bourne No Traveller returns.] As some superficial Criticks have, without the least Scruple, accused the Poet of Forgetfulness and Self-Contradiction from this Passage; seeing that in this very Play he introduces a Character from the other World, the Ghost of Hamlet's Father: I have thought this Circumstance worthy of a Justification. 'Tis certain, to introduce a Ghost, a Being from the other World, and to say, that no Traveller returns from those Confines, is, literally taken, as absolute a Contradiction as can be suppos'd & facto & terminis. But we are to take Notice, that Shakespeare brings his Ghost only from a middle State, or local Purgatory: a Prison-house, as he makes his Spirit call it, where he was doom'd, for a Term only, to expiate his Sins of Nature. By the undiscover'd Country here mention'd, he may, perhaps, mean that last and eternal Residence of Souls in a State of full Bliss or Misery; which Spirits in a middle State could not be acquainted with, or explain. So that if any Latitude of Sense may be allow'd to the Poet's Words, tho' he admits the Possibility of a Spirit returning from the Dead, he yet holds, that the State of the Dead cannot be communicated; and, with that Allowance, it remains still an undiscovered Country. We are to observe too, that even his Ghost, who comes from Purgatory, (or, whatever has been signified under that Denomination) comes under Restrictions: And tho' he confesses himself subject to a Vicissitude of Torments, yet he says, at the same time, that he is forbid to tell the Secrets of his Prison-house. The Antients had the same Notion of our obscure and twilight Knowledge of an After-being. Valerius Flaccus, I remember, if I may be indulg'd in a short Digression) speaking of the lower Regions, and State of the Spirits there, has an Expression, which, in one Sense, comes close to our Author's undiscover'd Country; &lblank; Superis incognita Tellus. And it is observable that Virgil, before he enters upon a Description of Hell, and of the Elysian Fields, implores the Permission of the infernal Deities; and professes, even then, to discover no more than Hearsay concerning their mysterious Dominions. Dii, quibus imperium est Animarum, Umbræq; filentes, Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca-nocte tacentia late, Sit mihi fas audita loqui, sit numine vestro Pandere res altâ terrâ et caligina mersas. Æneid. VI.

Note return to page 118 [36] (36) Ay, truely; for the Power of Beauty will sooner transform Honesty from what it is to a Bawd; &c.] Our Author has twice before, in his As you like it, play'd with a Sentiment bordering upon this. Celia. Tis true, for those, that she makes fair, she scarce makes honest; and those, that she makes honest, she makes very ill-favour'd. And again, Audr. Would you not have me honest? Clown. No, truly, unless thou wert hard-favour'd; for Honesty, coupled to Beauty, is to have Honey a Sauce to Sugar. The Foundation of both Passages may possibly have been of Classical Extraction. Lis est cum Formâ magna Pudicitæ. Ovid. &lblank; Rara est adeò Concordia Formæ Atq; Pudicitiæ. Juvenal.

Note return to page 119 [37] (37) And my Imaginations are as foul, As Vulcan's Stithy.] I have ventur'd, against the Authority of all the Copies, to substitute Smithy here. I have given my Reasons in the 40th Note on Troilus, to which, for Brevity's sake, I beg Leave to refer the Readers.

Note return to page 120 [38] (38) Enter a King and Queen very lovingly:] Thus have the blundering and inadvertent Editors all along given us this Stage-Direction, tho' we are expressly told by Hamlet anon, that the Story of this introduced Interlude is the Murther of Gonzago Duke of Vienna. The Source of this Mistake is easily to be accounted for, from the Stage's dressing the Characters. Regal Coronets being at first order'd by the Poet for the Duke and Dutchess, the succeeding Players, who did not strictly observe the Quality of the Persons or Circumstances of the Story, mistook 'em for a King and Queen; and so the Error was deduced down from thence to the present Times. Methinks, Mr. Pope might have indulg'd his private Sense in so obvious a Mistake, without any Fear of Rashness being imputed to him for the arbitrary Correction.

Note return to page 121 [39] (39) And as my Love is fix'd, my Fear is so.] Mr. Pope says, I read siz'd; and, indeed, I do so: because, I observe, the Quarto of 1605 reads, ciz'd; that of 1611 cizst; the Folio in 1632, fiz; and that in 1623, fiz'd: and because, besides, the whole Tenout of the Context demands this Reading. For the Lady evidently is talking here of the Quantity and Proportion of her Love and Fear, not of their Continuance, Duration, or Stability. Cleopatra expresses herself much in the same Manner, with regard to her Grief for the Loss of Antony. &lblank; our Size of Sorrow, Proportion'd to our Cause, must be as great As that which makes it.

Note return to page 122 [40] (40) Still worse and worse. Ham. So you must take your Husbands.] Surely, this is the most uncomfortable Lesson, that ever was preach'd to the poor Ladies: and I can't help wishing, for our own sakes too, it mayn't be true. 'Tis too foul a Blot upon our Reputations, that every Husband that a Woman takes must be worse than her former. The Poet, I am pretty certain, intended no such Scandal upon the Sex. But what a precious Collator of Copies is Mr. Pope! All the old Quarto's and Folio's read. Ophel. Still better and worse. Ham. So you mistake Husbands. Hamlet is talking to her in such gross double Entendres, that she is forc'd to parry them by indirect Answers: and remarks, that tho' his Wit be smarter, yet his Meaning is more blunt. This, I think, is the Sense of her—Still better and worse. This puts Hamlet in mind of the Words in the Church Service of Matrimony, and he replies; so you mistake Husbands, i. e. So you take Husbands, and find yourselves mistaken in them.

Note return to page 123 [41] (41) With Hecate's Bane thrice blasted,] Here, again, Mr. Pope approves himself a worthy Collator: for the old Quarto's and Folio's concur in reading, as I have reform'd the Text, With Hecate's Bane thrice blasted &lblank; i. e. With her Curse, Execration. So, in Timon; Take thou that too, with multiplying Banns. 2 Henry VI. Ay, ev'ry joint should seem to curse and bann. And again; You bad me bann, and will you bid me leave? Ibid. &c. &c. &c. Besides, Words of Execration have been always practis'd in magical Operations. So Horace, to give a single Instance, Canidia, parce vocibus tandem sacris. Upon which Words Porphyrion has given us this short Comment. Dialogus nunc de Sacris, quià Sacrum religiosum et execrabile significat:—Hermannus Figulus thus explains it; Vocibus sacris.] Malis cantibus, & verbis magiels. And Badius Ascentius, still nearer to our purpose; Sacris] id est, Diris et imprecationibus in me abstine.

Note return to page 124 [42] (42) With two provincial Roses on my rayed shoes, Get me a Fellowship in a City of Players, Sir?] I once suspected, that We ought to read, raised Shoes. By a Forest of Feathers, he certainly alludes to the Plumes worn by the Stage-Heroes; as, by raised Shoes, he would to their Buskins; the Cothurni, as they were call'd by the Romans, which were as much higher in the Heel than other common Shoes, as the Chioppines worn by the Venetians are. It was the known Custom of the Tragedians of old, that they might the nearer resemble the Heroes they personated, to make themselves as tall in Stature, and by an artificial Help to Sound, to speak as big, as they possibly could. To both these Horace has alluded; &lblank; magnumq; loqui, nitiq: Cothuruo. And Lucian, describing a Tragedian, calls him &graa;&grn;&grq;&grr;&grw;&grp;&gro;&grst; &gres;&grm;&grb;&graa;&grt;&gra;&gri;&grst; &grur;&gry;&grh;&grl;&gro;&gric;&grst; &gres;&grp;&gro;&grx;&gro;&grua;&grm;&gre;&grn;&gro;&grst;, a Fellow carried upon high Shoes; and these were rais'd to such a degree, that the same Author calls one, who had pull'd them off, &grk;&gra;&grt;&gra;&grb;&grag;&grst; &gras;&grp;&grog; &grt;&grwc;&grn; &gres;&grm;&grb;&gra;&grd;&grw;&grn;, descending from his Buskins. But, perhaps, rayed Shoes may have been our Author's Expression; i. e. striped, spangled, enrich'd with some shining Ornaments: Bracteati Calcai, Shoes variegated with Rayes of Gold. Bractea, a Ray of Gold, or any other Metal. Littleton. A Ray of Gold, Fueille d'Or. Cotgrave.— In a City of Players.] Thus Mr. Pope, with some of the worser Editions: but we must read, Cry, with the better Copies; i. e. in the Vote and Suffrage of a Company of Players. Troilus and Cressida. The Cry went once for thee. &lblank; Coriolanus. You common Cry of Curs, &c. And, again; Menen. You have made you good Work. You and your Cry. Ibid. 2 Henry IV. For all the Country in a general Voice Cry'd Hate upon him.

Note return to page 125 [43] (43) A very very Peacock,] The old Copies have it Paicock, Paiocke, and Pajocke. I substitute Paddock, as nearest to the Traces of the corrupted Reading. I have, as Mr. Pope says, been willing to substitute any Thing in the place of his Peacock. He thinks a Fable alluded to, of the Birds chusing a King; instead of the Eagle, a Peacock. I suppose, he must mean the Fable of Barlandus, in which it is said, The Birds, being weary of their State of Anarchy, mov'd for the setting up of a King: and the Peacock was elected on account of his gay Feathers. But, with Submission, in this Passage of our Shakespeare, there is not the least Mention made of the Eagle in Antithesis to the Peacock; and it must be by a very uncommon Figure, that Jove himself stands in the place of his Bird. I think, Hamlet is setting his Father's and Uncle's Characters in Contrast to each other: and means to say, that by his Father's Death the State was stripp'd of a godlike Monarch, and that now in his Stead reign'd the most despicable poisonous Animal that could be: a meer Paddock, or Toad. Pad, bufo, rubeta major; a toad. Belgis, Padde. Vid. Somnerum, Minshew, &c. Our Author was very well acquainted with the Word, and has used it more than once. Macbeth. 1st Witch. &lblank; I come, Grimalkin. 2d Witch. Paddock calls. The Witches are suppos'd to hear their Spirits call to them in the screaming of a Cat, and the Croaking of a Toad. But what makes it the more probable that this Term should be used here, Hamlet, again, afterwards speaking of his Uncle to the Queen, among other contemptuous Additions, gives him this very Appellation. &lblank; Twere good, you let him know: For who that's but a Queen, fair, sober, wise, Would from a Paddock, from a Bat, a Gibbe, Such dear Concernings hide? I had formerly propos'd other Conjectures; but, I think, I may venture to stand by This. Sub Judice lis est. If it has Reason and Probability on its Side, Mr. Pope's legendary Peacock must e'en be content to wait for another Election.

Note return to page 126 [44] (44) Methinks, it is like an Ouzle. Pol. It is black like an Ouzle.] The old Quarto and Folio give us this Passage thus; Methinks, it is like a Weezel. Pol. It is black like a Weezel. But a Weezel, as Mr. Pope has observ'd, is not black. Some other Editions read the last Line thus; Pol. It is back'd like a Weezel. This only avoids the Absurdity of giving a false Colour to the Weezel: But Ouzle is certainly the true Reading, and a Word which our Author has used in other Places; The Ousel-Cock, so black of hue, With Orange-tawny Bill, &c. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Shal. And how doth my Cousin, your Bedfellow? and your fairest Daughter and mine, my God-daughter Ellen? Sil. Alas, a black Ouzel, Cousin Shallow. 2 Henry IV. But there is a Propriety in the Word being used in the Passage before us, which determines it to be the true Reading; the Reason of which, I presume, did not occur to Mr. Pope. 'Tis obvious, that Hamlet, under the Umbrage of suppos'd Madness, is playing on Polonius; and a particular Compliance is shewn in the old Man, (who thinks Hamlet really mad, and, perhaps, is afraid of him) to confess, that the same Cloud is like a Beast, a Bird, and a Fish: viz. a Camel, an Ouzel, and a Whale. Nor is there a little Humour in the Disproportion of the three Things, which the Cloud is suppos'd to resemble.

Note return to page 127 [45] (45) The Terms of our Estate may not endure Hazard so near us, as doth hourly grow Out of his Lunacies. Guil. We will provide our selves. The old Quarto's read,—Out of his Brows. This was from the Ignorance of the first Editors; as is this unnecessary Alexandrine, which we owe to the Players. The Poet, I am persuaded, wrote, &lblank; as doth hourly grow Out of his Lunes. i. e. his Madness, Frenzy. So our Poet, before, in his Winter's Tale. Those dang'rous, unsafe Lunes i'th' King!—beshrew 'em, He must be told of it, &c. The Reader, if he pleases, may turn to my 10th Remark on that Play. Perhaps, too, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, where all the Editions read; Why, Woman, your Husband is in his old Lines again. We ought to correct; &lblank; in his old Lunes again. i. e. in his old Fits of Madness, Frenzy.

Note return to page 128 [46] (46) It hath the primal, eldest, Curse upon't; A Brother's Murther.—Pray I cannot,] The last Verse, 'tis evident, halts in the Measure; and, if I don't mistake, is a little lame in the Sense too. Was a Brother's Murther the eldest Curse? Surely, it was rather the Crime, that was the Cause of this eldest Curse. We have no Assistance, however, either to the Sense or Numbers from any of the Copies. All the Editions concur in the Deficiency of a Foot: but if we can both cure the Measure, and help the Meaning, without a Prejudice to the Author, I think, the Concurrence of the printed Copies should not be sufficient to forbid a Conjecture. I have ventur'd at two Supplemental Syllables, as innocent in themselves as necessary to the Purposes for which they are introduc'd: That of a Brother's Murther. &lblank;

Note return to page 129 [47] (47) Tho' Inclination be.] This Line has lain under the suspicion of many nice Observers; and an ingenious Gentleman started, at a heat, this very probable Emendation: Tho' Inclination be as sharp as 'twill. The Variation from the Traces of the Letter is very minute, a t, with an Apostrophe before it, only being added; which might very easily have slipt out, under the Printer's Hands: so that the Change will not be disputed, supposing there be a Necessity for it: which, however, is submitted to Judgment. 'Tis certain, the Line, as it stands in all the Editions, has so strongly the Air of a flat Tautology, that it may deserve a short Comment; and to have the Difference betwixt Inclination and Will ascertain'd. The Word Inclination, in its Use with us (as my Friend Mr. Warburton defines it to me) is taken in these three Acceptations. First, In its exact philosophical Sense, it signifies, the drawing or inclining the Will to determine itself one certain Way: According to this Signification, the Line is Nonsense; and is the same as to affirm, that the Part is as big as the Whole. In the next place, Inclination signifies the Will; and then it is the most absurd Tautology. But, lastly, it signifies a Disposition to do a Thing, already determin'd of, with Complacency and Pleasure. And if this is, as it seems to be, the Sense of the Word here; then the Sentiment will be very clear and proper. For Will, signifying barely the Determination of Mind to do a Thing, the Sense will be this: “Tho' the Pleasure I take in this Act, be as strong as the Determination of my Mind to perform it; yet my stronger Guilt defeats my strong Intent, &c.”

Note return to page 130 [48] (48) Up, Sword, and know thou a more horrid Time.] This is a sophisticated Reading, warranted by none of the Copies of any Authority. Mr. Pope says, I read conjecturally; &lblank; a more horrid Bent. I do so; and why? the two oldest Quarto's, as well as the two elder Folio's, read;—a more horrid Hent. But as there is no such English Substantive, it seems very natural to conclude, that, with the Change of a single Letter, our Author's genuine Word was, Bent; i. e. Drift, Scope, Inclination, Purpose, &c. I have prov'd his frequent Use of this Word, in my Shakespeare restor'd; so shall spare the Trouble of making the Quotations over again here. I took Notice there, that throwing my Eye casually over the fourth Folio Edition, printed in 1685, I found my Correction there anticipated. I think myself obliged to repeat this Confession, that I may not be accused of Plagiarism, for an Emendation which I had made before ever I saw a single Page of that Book.

Note return to page 131 [49] (49) A Station, like the herald Mercury.] The Poet employs this Word in a Sense different from what it is generally us'd to signify: for it means here an Attitude, a silent Posture, fixt Demeanour of Person, in Opposition to an active Behaviour. So, our Poet, before, describing Octavia; Cleo. What Majesty is in her Gate? Remember, If e'er thou look'd'st on Majesty? Mess. She creeps: Her Motion and her Station are as one. Anto. and Cleop. And I ought to observe (which seems no bad Proof of our Author's Learning and Knowledge;) that amongst the Latines, the Word Statio, in its first and natural Signification, imply'd Stantis Actio: i. e. a Posture, or Attitude. This Mons. Fresnoy in his Art of Painting has chose to express by Positura: Quærendasq; inter Posituras, luminis, umbræ, Atq; futurorum jàm præsentire Colorum Par erit Harmoniam &lblank; Which our Dryden has thus translated; “'Tis the Business of a Painter, in his Choice of Attitudes, to foresee the Effect and Harmony of the Lights and Shadows, with the Colours which are to enter into the Whole.” And again, afterwards; Mutorumq; silens Positura imitabitur Actus. Which I think may be thus render'd; Still let the silent Attitude betray What the mute Figure should in Gesture say.

Note return to page 132 [50] (50) &lblank; Sense, sure, you have, &c.] Mr. Pope has left out the Quantity of about eight Verses here, which I have taken care to replace. They are not, indeed, to be found in the two elder Folio's, but they carry the Style, Expression, and Cast of Thought, peculiar to our Author; and that they were not an Interpolation from another Hand needs no better Proof, than that they are in all the oldest Quarto's. The first Motive of their being left out, I am perswaded, was to shorten Hamlet's Speech, and consult the Ease of the Actor: and the Reason, why they find no Place in the Folio Impressions, is, that they were printed from the Playhouse castrated Copies. But, surely, this can be no Authority for a modern Editor to conspire in mutilating his Author: Such Omissions, rather, must betray a Want of Diligence, in Collating; or a Want of Justice, in the voluntary Stifling.

Note return to page 133 [51] (51) &lblank; Proclaim no shame, When the compulsive Ardour gives the Charge; Since Frost itself as actively does burn, And Reason pardons Will.] This is, indeed, the Reading of some of the elder Copies; and Mr. Pope has a strange Fatality, whenever there is a various Reading, of espousing the wrong one. The whole Tenour of the Context demands the Word degraded by that judicious Editor; And Reason panders Will. This is the Reflexion which Hamlet is making, “Let us not call it Shame, when Heat of Blood compells young People to indulge their Appetites; since Frost too can burn, and Age, at that Season when Judgment should predominate, yet feels the Stings of Inclination, and suffers Reason to be the Bawd to Appetite.”

Note return to page 134 [52] (52) &lblank; A Vice of Kings.] This does not mean, a very vicious King; as, on the other hand, in King Henry V. this Grace of Kings, means, this gracious King, this Honour to Royalty. But here, I take it, a Person, and not a Quality, is to be understood. By a Vice, (as I have explain'd the Word in several preceding Note) is meant that Buffoon Character, which us'd to play the Fool in old Plays; so that Hamlet is here design'd to call his Uncle, a ridiculous Ape of Majesty; but the Mimickry of a King.

Note return to page 135 [53] (53) Your bedded Hairs, like Life in Excrements, Start up and stand on End.] I took Notice, in my Shakespeare restor'd, that this Expression as much wanted an Explanation, as any the most antiquated Word in our Poet wants a Gloss. Mr. Hughs, in his Impression of this Play, has left it out: either because he could make Nothing of it, or thought it alluded to an Image too nauseous. The Poet's Meaning is founded on a physical Determination, that the Hair and Nails are excrementitious Parts of the Body (as indeed, they are) without Life or Sensation. Macrobius in his Saturnalia, (lib. vii. cap. 9.) not only speaks of those Parts of the human Body which have no Sensation; but likewise assigns the Reasons, why they can have none. Ossa, Dentes, cum Unguibus & Capillis, nimiâ Siccitate ità densata sunt, ut penetrabilia non sint effectui Animæ qui Sensum ministrat. Therefore the Poet means to say, Fear and Surprize had such an Effect upon Hamlet, that his Hairs, as if there were Life in those excrementitious Parts, started up and stood an End. He has express'd the same Thought more plainly in Macbeth. &lblank; and my Fell of Hair Would at a dismal Treatise rowze, and stir, As Life were in't. That our Poet was acquainted with this Notion in Physics, of the Hair being without Life, we need no stronger Warrant, than that he frequently mentions it as an Excrement. Why is Time such a niggard of Hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an Excrement? Comedy of Errors. How many Cowards, whose Hearts are all as false As Stairs of Sand, wear yet upon their Chins The Beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars; Who, inward search'd, have Livers white as Milk? And these assume but Valour's Excrement To render them redoubted. Merchant of Venice. For I must tell thee, it will please his Grace (by the World!) sometime to lean upon my poor Shoulder, and with his royal Finger thus dally with my Execrement, with my Mustachio. Love's Labour lost. &c. &c.

Note return to page 136 [54] (54) It will but skin and film the ulcerous Place, Whilst rank Corruption, running all within, Infects unseen.] So, our Poet elsewhere speaking of the Force of Pow'r; Because Authority, tho' it err like others, Hath yet a kind of Medicine in it self, That skins the Vice o'th' top. Meas. for Meas. But why, in the Passage before us, has Mr. Pope given us a Reading that is warranted by none of the Copies, and degraded One, that has the Countenance of all of them? Whilst rank Corruption, mining all within, Infects unseen. The Poet describes Corruption as having a corrosive Quality, eating its secret way, and undermining the Parts that are skin'd over, and seem sound to exteriour View. He, in another Place, uses the simple Verb for the Compound. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a Brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my Gentility with my Education. As you like it.

Note return to page 137 [55] (55) That Monster Custome, who all Sense doth eat, Of Habit's Devil, is Angel yet in this, That to the Use of Actions fair and good He likewise gives a Frock or Livery, That aptly is put on.] This Passage is left out in the two elder Folio's: It is certainly corrupt, and the Players did the discreet part to stifle what they did not understand. Habit's Devil certainly arose from some conceited Tamperer with the Text, who thought it was necessary, in Contrast to Angel. The Emendation of the Text I owe to the Sagacity of Dr. Thirlby. That Monster Custom, who all Sense doth eat Of Habits evil, is Angel, &c. i. e. Custom, which by inuring us to ill Habits, makes us lose the Apprehension of their being really ill, as easily will reconcile us to the Practice of good Actions.

Note return to page 138 [56] (56) Gertrude, We'll call up our wisest Friends, And let them know both what we mean to do, And what's untimely done. Whose Whisper o'er the World's Diameter, As level as the Cannon to his blank, Transports its poyson'd Shot, may miss our Name, And hit the woundless Air.—O, come away;] Mr. Pope takes Notice, that I replace some Verses that were imperfect, (and, tho' of a modern Date, seem to be genuine;) by inserting two Words. But to see, what an accurate and faithful Collator he is! I produc'd these Verses in my Shakespeare restor'd, from a Quarto Edition of Hamlet printed in 1637, and happen'd to say, that they had not the Authority of any earlier Date in Print, that I knew of, than that Quarto. Upon the Strength of this Mr. Pope comes and calls the Lines modern, tho' they are in the Quarto's of 1605 and 1611, which I had not then seen, but both of which Mr. Pope pretends to have collated. The Verses carry the very Stamp of Shakespeare upon them. The Coin, indeed, has been clipt from our first receiving it; but it is not so diminish'd, but that with a small Assistance we may hope to make it pass current. 'Tis plain, the Sense, as well as one of the Verses, is defective: and a Sentence beginning with the Relative Whose, without any preceeding Substantive to which it can refer, it is as plain that the latter part of the Hemistich fell out in the Printing, or was so blind in the Manuscript as not to be guess'd at, and therefore necessarily came to be omitted. We have not, indeed, so much as the Footsteps, or Traces, of a corrupted Reading to lead to an Emendation; nor any Means of restoring what is lost, but Conjecture. I am far from affirming, therefore, that I have given the Poet's very Words; but the Supplement is such as the Sentiment naturally seems to demand. The Poet has the same Thought, concerning the diffusive Pow'rs of Slander in another of his Plays. No, 'tis Slander; Whose Edge is sharper than the Sword, whose Tongue Out-venomes all the Worms of Nile, whose Breath Rides on the posting Winds, and doth belie All Corners of the World. Cymbeline.

Note return to page 139 [57] (57) And, England, if my Love thou hold'st at Aught, As my great Pow'r thereof may give thee Sense, Since yet thy Cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish Sword, and thy free Awe Pays homage to us;] This is the only Passage in the Play, from which one might expect to trace the Date of the Action of it: but, I'm afraid, our Author, according to his usual Licence, plays fast and loose with Time. England is here suppos'd to have been conquer'd by the Danes, and to be a Homager to that State. The Chronology of the Danish Affairs is wholly uncertain, till we come to the Reign of Ivarus about the Year 870. And tis plain from Saxo Grammaticus, that the Time, in which Amlethus liv'd, was some Generations earlier than the Period of Christianity. And the Letters, which the Danish King's Messengers carried over to England, were wooden Tablets. Literas ligno insculptas (nàm id celebre quondàm genus Chartarum erat) secum gestantes, quibus. Britannorum regi transmissi sibi juvenis Occisio mandabatur. Such a Sort of Mandate implies, that the English King was either link'd in the dearest Amity to the Dane, or in Subjection to him. But what then shall we do with our own home Chronicles? They are express, that the Danes never set Footing on our Coast till the 8th Century. They infested us for some Time in a piratical Way, then made a Descent and conquer'd part of the Country: and about the Year 800, King Egbert is said to have submitted to a Tribute, call'd Dane-gelt: a Tax of 12d on every Hide of Land through the whole Nation. But our Authors differ about this Dane-gelt: whether it was a Tax paid, to obtain good Terms of the Danes; or levied by our Kings towards the Charge of Defences, to repel the Invasions of the Danes.

Note return to page 140 [58] (58) Sure, he that made us with such large Discourse, Looking before and after.] This is an Expression purely Homeric; &grO;&grirc;&grst; &grd;&grap; &gror; &grg;&grea;&grr;&grw;&grn; &grm;&gre;&grt;&grea;&grh;&grs;&gri;&grn;, &grara;&grm;&gra; &grP;&grR;&GROd;&grS;&grS;&grW; &grk;&gra;&grig; &GROs;&grP;&GRIa;&grS;&grS;&grW; &grL;&gre;&grua;&grs;&grs;&gre;&gri;, Iliad. &grg;. ver. 109. And again; &lblank; &gror; &grg;&grag;&grr; &grosc;&gri;&gro;&grst; &grora;&grr;&gra; &grP;&grR;&GROd;&grS;&grS;&grW; &grk;&gra;&grig; &GROs;&grP;&GRId;&grS;&grS;&grW;. Iliad. &grst;. ver. 250. The short Scholiast on the last Passage gives us a Comment, that very aptly explains our Author's Phrase. &grS;&gru;&grn;&gre;&grt;&gro;&gruc; &grg;&grag;&grr; &gras;&grn;&grd;&grr;&groa;&grst; &gres;&grs;&grt;&gri;, &grt;&grag; &grm;&grea;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grn;&grt;&gra; &grt;&gro;&gric;&grst; &grg;&gre;&grg;&gre;&grn;&grh;&grm;&grea;&grn;&gro;&gri;&grst; &grar;&grr;&grm;&groa;&grz;&gre;&grs;&grq;&gra;&gri;, &grk;&gra;&grig; &gro;&gruc;&grt;&grw;&grst; &gror;&grr;&grac;&grn; &grt;&grag; &grer;&grp;&groa;&grm;&gre;&grn;&gra;. “For it is the part of an understanding Man to connect the Reflection of Events to come with such as have pass'd, and so to foresee what shall follow.” This is, as our Author phrases it, looking Before and After.

Note return to page 141 [59] (59) Well, God dild you!] i. e. Heaven reward you. We meet with this Expression a little otherwise writ in Macbeth: &lblank; Herein I teach you How you should bid God-eyld us for our Pains, And thank us for your Trouble. But, in Antony, we have the phrase in plain and genuine English. Tend me to night two hours, I ask no more, And the Gods yield you for't! So, Sir John Grey in a Letter, in Ashmole's Appendix to his Account of the Garter, Numb. 46. The King of, his gracious Lordshipe, God yeld him, hafe chosen me to be owne of his Brethrene of the Knyghts of the Gartier.

Note return to page 142 [60] (60) The Ratifiers and Props of ev'ry Word;] The whole Tenour of the Context is sufficient to shew, that this is a mistaken Reading. What can Antiquity and Custom, being the Props of Words, have to do with the Business in hand? Or what Idea is convey'd by it? Certainly, the Poet wrote; The Ratifiers and Props of ev'ry Ward; The Messenger is complaining, that the riotous Head had over-born the King's Officers, and then subjoins, that Antiquity and Custom were forgot, which were the Ratifiers and Props of every Ward, i. e. of every one of those Securities that Nature and Law place about the Person of a King. All this is rational and consequential. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 143 [61] (61) To Hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest Devil!] Laertes is a good Character; But he is here in actual Rebellion. Least, therefore, this Character should seem to sanctify Rebellion, instead of putting into his Mouth a reasonable Defence of his Proceedings, such as the Right the Subject has of shaking off Oppression, the Usurpation, and the Tyranny of the King, &c. Shakespeare gives him Nothing but absurd and blasphemous Sentiments: such as tend only to inspire the Audience with Horror at the Action. This Conduct is exceeding nice. Where, in his Plays, a Circumstance of Rebellion is sounded on History, or the Agents of it infamous in their Characters, there was no Danger in the Representation: But as here, where the Circumstance is fictitious, and the Agent honourable, he could not be too cautious. For the Jealousie of the Two Reigns, he wrote in, would not dispense with less Exactness. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 144 [62] (62) Nature is fine in Love,] Mr. Pope seems puzzled at this Passage, and therefore in both his Editions subjoins this Conjecture. Perhaps, says He, Nature is fire in love, and where tis fire, It sends some precious Incense of itself After the Thing it loves. I own, this Conjecture to me imparts no Satisfactory Idea. Nature is suppos'd to be the Fire, and to furnish the Incense too: Had Love been suppos'd the Fire, and Nature sent out the Incense, I should more readily have been reconcil'd to the Sentiment. But no Change, in my Opinion, is necessary to the Text; I conceive, that This might be the Poet's Meaning. “In the Passion of Love, Nature becomes more exquisite of Sensation, is more delicate and refin'd; that is, Natural Affection, rais'd and sublim'd into a Love-Passion, becomes more inflamed and intense than usual; and where it is so, as People in Love generally send what they have of most valuable after their Lovers; so poor Ophelia has sent her most precious Senses after the Object of her inflamed Affection.” If I mistake not, our Poet has play'd with this Thought, of the Powers being refin'd by the Passions, in several other of his Plays. His Clown, in As you like it, seems sensible of this Refinement; but, talking in his own Way, interprets it a sort of Frantickness. We, that are true Lovers, run into strange Capers; but as All is mortal in Nature, so is all Nature in Love mortal in Folly. Again, in Troilus and Cressida, the latter expresses herself concerning Grief, exactly as Laertes does here of Nature. The Grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste; And in its Sense is no less strong, than That Which causeth it. But Jago, in Othello, delivers himself much more directly to the Purpose of the Sentiment here before us. Come hither, if thou bee'st valiant; as they say, base Men, being in Love, have then a Nobility in their Natures more than is native to them.

Note return to page 145 [63] (63) The rather if you could devise it so, That I might be the Instrument. King. It falls right.] The latter Verse is slightly maim'd in the Measure, and, I apprehend, without Reason. This Passage is in neither of the Impressions set out by the Players; and the two elder Quarto's read as I have reform'd the Text; That I might be the Organ. And it is a Word, which our Author chuses to use in other Places. So, before, in this Play. For Murther; tho' it have no Tongue, will speak With most miraculous Organ. So, in Measure for Measure: And giv'n his Deputation all the Organs Of our own Pow'r.

Note return to page 146 [64] (64) &lblank; The Scrimers of their Nation, He swore, had neither Motion, Guard, nor Eye, If you oppos'd them.] This likewise is a Passage omitted in the Folio's: The reducing the Play to a reasonable Length was the Motive of so many Castrations. Some of the modern Quarto's have in the room of Scrimers substituted Fencers: which is but a Gloss of the more obsolete Word. Scrimer is properly a Gladiator, Fence: from which we have deriv'd our Word, Skirmish. The Science of Defense was by the Dutch call'd Scherm; by the Italians, Seberina and Scrima; and by the French, Escrime: As the Anglo-Saxons of old used to call a Fencer or Swordsman, Scrimbre: which (the b being left out, and a Metathesis made in the Letters of the last Syllable) is the very Term us'd by our Author.

Note return to page 147 [65] (65) For Goodness, growing to a Pleurisie, Dies in his own too much.] Mr. Warburton sagaciously observ'd to me, that this is Nonsense, and untrue in Fact; and therefore thinks, that Shakespeare must have wrote; For Goodness, growing to a Plethory, &c. For the Pleurisy is an Inflammation of the Membrane which covers the whole Thorax; and is generally occasion'd by a Stagnation of the Blood; but a Plethora, is, when the Vessels are fuller of Humours than is agreeable to a natural State, or Health: and too great a Fullness and Floridness of the Blood are frequently the Causes of sudden Death. But I have not disturb'd the Text, because, 'tis possible, our Author himself might be out in his Physics: and I have the more Reason to suspect it, because Beaumont and Fletcher have twice committed the self-same Blunder. &lblank; You are too insolent; And those too many Excellencies, that feed Your Pride, turn to a Pleurisie, and kill That which should nourish Virtue. Custom of the Country. So, again; &lblank; Thou grand Decider Of dusty and old Titles, that heal'st with Blood The Earth when it is sick, and cur'st the World O'th' Pleurisie of People. Two noble Kinsmen. If I may guess at the Accident which caus'd their Mistake, it seems this. They did not consider, that Pleurisie was deriv'd from Pleura; but the Declination of plus, pluris, cross'd their Thoughts, and so they naturally suppos'd the Distemper to arise from some Superfluity.

Note return to page 148 [66] (66) &lblank; more than other Christians.] All the old Books read, as Doctor Thirlby accurately observes to me, their even Christen, i. e. their fellow-Christians. This was the Language of those Days, when we retain'd a good Portion of the Idiom receiv'd from our Saxon Ancestors. Emne Christen.] Frater in Christo. Saxonicum; quod malè intelligentes, even Christian proferunt: atq; ita editur in Oratione Henrici VIII. ad Parlamentum An. regn. 37. Sed rectè in L. L. Edouardi confess. ca. 36. fratrem suum, quod Angli dicunt Emne Cristen. Spelman in his Glossary. The Doctor thinks this learned Antiquary mistaken, in making even, a Corruption of Emne; for that even or Efen, and Emne are Saxon Words of the same Import and Signification. I'll subjoin, in Confirmation of the Doctor's Opinion, what Somner says upon this Head. Efen, Æquus, æqualis, par, justus, even, equal, alike, &c Emne, Æquus, justus, æqualis, even, just, equal. Emne scolon, Condiscipulus, a school fellow.

Note return to page 149 [67] (67) In Youth, when I did love, &c.] The Three Stanza's, sung here by the Grave-digger, are extracted, with a slight Variation, from a little Poem, call'd, The Aged Lover renounceth Love: written by Henry Howard Earl of Surrey, who flourish'd in the Reign of King Henry VIII. and who was beheaded in 1547, on a strain'd Accusation of Treason.

Note return to page 150 [68] (68) Did these Bones-cost no more the breeding, but to play at loggers with them?] I have restor'd, from the old Copies, the true Word, Loggats. We meet with it again in Ben Jonson: Now are they tossing of his Legs and Arms Like Loggats at a Pear-tree. A Tale of a Tub. What sort of Sport this was, I confess, I do not know, but I find it in the List of unlawful Games, prohibited by a Statute 33 Henry VIII. Chap. 9. § 16.

Note return to page 151 [69] (69) Would drink up Esill, eat a Crocodile?] This Word has thro' all the Editions been distinguish'd by Italick Characters, as if it were the proper Name of some River: and so, I dare say, all the Editors have from time to time understood it to be. But then this must be some River in Denmark; and there is none there so call'd; nor is there any near it in Name, that I know of, but Yssel, from which the Province of Over-yssel derives its Title in the German Flanders. Besides, Hamlet is not proposing any Impossibilities to Laertes, as the drinking up a River would be; but he rather seems to mean, Wilt thou resolve to do things the most shocking and distastful to Human Nature? and, behold, I am as resolute. I am perswaded, the Poet wrote; Wilt drink up Eisel, eat a Crocodile? i. e. Wilt thou swallow down large Draughts of Vinegar? The Proposition, indeed, is not very grand; but the doing it might be as distastful and unsavoury, as eating the Flesh of a Crocodile. And now there is neither an Impossibility, nor an Amidimax: and the Lowness of the Idea is in some measure remov'd by the uncommon Term. Chaucer has it in his Romaunt of the Rose. So evil-hew'd was her Coloure, Her semed t' have livid in Langoure; She was like Thing for Hunger ded, That lad her Life onely by Bred Knedin with Eisel strong and egre; And thereto she was lene and megre. But least this Authority should be thought of too long a Date, and the Word to have become obsolete in our Author's Time, I'll produce a Passage where it is used by himself. In a Poem of his, call'd, A Complaint, he thus expresses himself: Whilst, like a willing Patient, I will drink Potions of Eisel 'gainst my strong Infection; No Pitterness, that I will bitter think, Nor double Penance to correct Correction. So, likewise, in Sir Thomas More's Poems. &lblank; Remember therewithal, How Christ for thee fasted with Eisel and Gall. Eifle, acetum, Uinegar; saith Somner: and the Word is acknowledg'd by Minshew, Skinner, Blount, &c.

Note return to page 152 [70] (70) Being thus benetted round with Villains, E'er I could make a Prologue to my Brains, They had begun the Play. I sate me down, &c.] This Passage is certainly corrupt both in the Text and Pointing. Making a Prologue to his Brains is such a Phrase as Shakespeare would never have us'd, to mean, e're I could form my Thoughts to making a Prologue. I communicated my Doubts to my two ingenious Friends Mr. Warburton and Mr. Bishop; and by their Assistance; I hope, I have reform'd the whole to the Author's Intention: Being thus benetted round with Villany, (E're I could make a Prologue, to my Bane They had begun the Play:) I sate me down, i. e. Being thus in their Snares, e're I could make a Prologue (take the least previous Step) to ward off Danger, they had begun the Play (put their Schemes in Action) which was to terminate in my Destruction.

Note return to page 153 [71] (71) As Peace should still her wheaten Garland wear, And stand a Comma 'tween their Amities, &c.] Peace is finely and properly personaliz'd here, as the Goddess of good League and Friendship: but what Ideas can we form of her standing as a Comma, or Stop, betwixt their Amities? I am sure, she stands rather like a Cypher, in this Reading. I have no Doubt, but the Poet wrote; And stand a Commere 'tween their Amities; i. e. a Guarantee, a Common Mother. Nothing can be more picturesque than this Image of Peace's standing drest in her wheaten Garland between the two Princes, and extending a Hand to each. In this Equipage and Office we frequently see her on Roman Coins: particularly, on two exhibited by Baron Spanheim; one of Augustus, and the other of Vespatian. The Poets likewise image to us Peace holding an Ear of Corn, as the Emblem of Plenty. Tibull. lib. I. Eleg. x. At nobis, Pax alma, veni, spicamq; teneto. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 154 [72] (72) I thank your Lordship, 'tis very hot. Ham. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the Wind is northerly. Osr. It is indifferent cold, my Lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot for my Complexion. Osr. Exceedingly, my Lord, it is very sultry, as 'twere, I cannot tell how.] The humourous Compliance of this fantastic Courtier, to every thing that Hamlet says, is so close a Copy from Juvenal, (Sat. III.) that our Author must certainly have had the Picture in his Eye. &lblank; Rides? majore Cachinno Concutitur: flet, si lacrymas aspexit amici, Nec dolet: igniculum brumæ si tempore poscas, Accipit endromidem: si dixeris, Æstuo, sudat.

Note return to page 155 [73] (73) Sir, here is newly come to Court Laertes.] I have restor'd here several speeches from the elder Quarta's, which were omitted in the Folio Editions, and which Mr. Pope has likewise thought fit to sink upon us. They appear to me very well worthy not to be lost, as they thoroughly shew the Foppery and Affectation of Osrick, and the Humour and Address of Hamlet in accosting the other at once in his own Vein and Style.

Note return to page 156 [74] (74) And in the Cup an Onyx shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive Kings In Denmark's Crown have worn.] This is a various Reading in several of the old Copies; but Union seems to me to be the true word, for several reasons. The Onyx is a species of lucid Stone, of which the Antients made both Columns and Pavements for Ornament, and in which they likewise cut Seals, &c. but, if I am not mistaken, neither the Onyx, nor Sardonyx, are Jewels which ever found Place in an Imperial Crown. On the other hand, an Union is the finest sort of Pearl, and has its Place in all Crowns and Coronets. Multùm enim interest utrum Unio statuatur in Cœno, an verò situs & insertus in Coronâ resplendeat: says Theodoret upon St. Matthew. Besides, let us consider what the King says on Hamlet's giving Laertes the first Hit. Stay, give me Drink: Hamlet, this Pearl is thine: Here's to thy Health. The Terms upon which thè King was to throw a Jewel into the Cup, were, if Hamlet gave Laertes the first Hit: which Hamlet does. Therefore, if an Union be a Pearl, and an Onyx a Gemm or Stone, quite differing in its Nature from Pearls; the King saying, that Hamlet has earn'd the Pearl, I think, amounts to a Demonstration that it was an Union- Pearl, which he meant to throw into the Cup.

Note return to page 157 [75] (75) The treach'rous Instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenom'd.] The King in the fourth Act, in the Scene betwixt him and Laertes, says; &lblank; So that with ease, Or with a little shuffling, you may chuse A Sword unbated, and in a Pass of Practise Requite him for your Father. In which Passage the old Folio's read, A Sword unbaited &lblank; which makes Nonsence of the Place, and destroys the Poet's Meaning. Unbated signifies, unabated, unblunted, not charg'd with a Button as Foils are. There are many Passages in our Author, where bate and abate signify to blunt. But doth rebate and blunt his natural Edge With Profits of the Mind. Meas. for Meas. That Honour which shall bate his Scythe's keen Edge. Love's Labour lost. For from his Metal was his Party steel'd, Which once in him abated, all the rest Turn'd on themselves like dull and heavy Lead. 2 Henry IV. So, likewise, Ben Jonson in his Sad Shepherd. As far as her proud Scorning him could bate, Or blunt the Edge of any Lover's Temper.

Note return to page 158 [76] (76) &lblank; Oh, proud Death! What Feast is tow'rd in thy eternal Cell,] This Epithet, I think, has no great Propriety here. I have chose the Reading of the old Quarto Editions, infernal. This communicates an Image suitable to the Circumstance of the Havock, which Fortinbras looks on and would represent in a light of Horror. Upon the Sight of so many dead Bodies, he exclaims against Death as an execrable, riotous, Destroyer; and as preparing to make a savage, and hellish Feast.

Note return to page 159 [77] (77) He never gave Commandment for their Death.] We must either believe, the Poet had forgot himself with Regard to the Circumstance of Rosincrantz and Guildenstern's Death; or we must understand him thus; that he no otherways gave a Command for their Deaths, than in putting a Change upon the Tenour of the King's Commission, and warding off the fatal Sentence from his own Head.

Note return to page 160 [78] (78) And from his Mouth, whose Voice will draw no more.] This is the Reading of the old Quarto's, but certainly a mistaken one. We say, a Man will no more draw Breath; but that a Man's Voice will draw no more, is, I believe, an Expression without any Authority. I chuse to espouse the Reading of the Elder Folio. And from his Mouth, whose Voice will draw on more. And this is the Poet's Meaning. Hamlet, just before his Death, had said; But I do prophesie, th' Election lights On Fortinbras: He has my dying Voice; So tell him, &c. Accordingly, Horatio here delivers that Message; and very justly infers, that Hamlet's Voice will be seconded by others, and procure them in Favour of Fortinbras's Succession.

Note return to page 161 [1] (1) Othello.] The Groundwork of this Play is built on a Novel of Cinthio Giraldi, (Dec. 3. Nov. 7.) who seems to have design'd his Tale a Document to young Ladies against disproportion'd Marriages: di non se accompagnare con huomo, cui la Natura & il cielo, & il modo della Vita disgiunge da noi: That they should not link themselves to such, against whom Nature, Providence, and a different way of Living have interpos'd a Bar. Our Poet inculcates no such Moral: but rather, that a Woman may fall in Love with the Virtues and shining Qualities of a Man; and therein overlook the Difference of Complexion and Colour. Mr. Rymer has run riot against the Conduct, Manners, Sentiments, and Diction, of this Play: but in such a Strain, that one is mov'd rather to laugh at the Freedom and Coarseness of his Raillery, than provok'd to be downright angry at his Censures. To take a short Sample of his Criticism;— “Shakespeare in this Play calls 'em the super-subtle Venetians: yet examine thoroughly the Tragedy, there is nothing in the noble Desdemona, that is not below any Country Chamber-maid with us. And the Account, he gives of their Noblemen and Senate, can only be calculated for the Latitude of Gotham. The Character of the Venetian State is to employ Strangers in their Wars: but shall a Poet thence fancy, that they will set a Negro to be their General? or trust a Moor to defend them against the Turk? With us a Black-a-moor might rise to be a Trumpeter; but Shakespeare would not have him less than a Lieutenant-General. With us a Moor might marry some little Drab, or Smallcoal-Wench; Shakespeare would provide him the Daughter and Heir of some great Lord, or Privy-Counsellour: and all the Town should reckon it a very suitable Match. Yet the English are not bred up with that Hatred and Aversion to the Moors, as are the Venetians who suffer by a perpetual Hostility from them. Littora littoribus contraria. Nothing is more odious in Nature than an improbable Lie: and certainly never was any Play fraught like this of Othello with Improbabilities.” &c.— Thus this Critick goes on; but such Reflexions require no serious Answer. This Tragedy will continue to have lasting Charms enough to make us blind to such Absurdities, as the Poet thought were not worth his Care.

Note return to page 162 [2] (2) Oft capt to him:] Thus the oldest Quarto, and some modern Editions; but I have chose to restore the Reading of the first and second Folio Impressions, Off-capt; i. e. stood Cap in Hand, soliciting him. So, in Anthony;—I have ever held my Cap off to thy Fortunes. And in Timon; And let his very Breath, whom thoul't observe, Blow off thy Cap.

Note return to page 163 [3] (3) Forsooth, a great Arithmetician, One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, A Fellow almost damn'd in a fair Wife.] Thus has this Passage ignorantly been corrupted, (as Mr. Warburton likewise saw with me;) by false Pointing, and an Inadvertence to Matter of Fact, thro' the whole Course of the Editions. By the Bye, this Play was not publish'd even singly, that I can find, till six Years after the Author's Death: and by that Interval became more liable to Errors. I'll subjoin the Correction, and then the Reasons for it. And, in Conclusion, Nonsuits my Mediators: “Certes, says he, “I have already chose my Officer;” &lblank; And what was he? Forsooth, a great Arithmetician, One Michael Cassio;—(“the Florentine's “A Fellow almost damn'd in a fair Wife;”—) That never, &c. This Pointing sets Circumstances right, as I shall immediately explain; and it gives a Variety, in Iago reporting the Behaviour of Othello, to start into these Breaks; now, to make Othello speak;—then, to interrupt what Othello says with his own private Reflexions;—then, again, to proceed with Othello's Speeches:—For this not only marks the Inquietude of Iago's Mind upon the Subject in hand; but likewise shews the Actor in the Variation of Tone and Gesture, whilst he (in a Breath, as 'twere) personates alternately Othello and himself. Besides, to come to the Necessity of the Change made; Iago, not Cassio, was the Florentine; Iago, not Cassio, was the married Man; Iago's Wife attends Desdemona to Cyprus; Cassio has a Mistress there, a common Strumpet; and Iago tells him in the fourth Act, She gives it out, that you shall marry her: Which would be very absurd, if Cassio had been already married at Venice. Besides, our Poet follows the Authority of his Novel in giving the villanous Ensign a fair Wife. “Havea similmente menata questo Malvagio “la sua Moglie in Cipri, la quale era bella & honesta Giovane.” And it is very good Reason for rejecting Iago, because he was a married Man, and might be thought too much govern'd by his Wife to be capable of this Charge. And this was a natural Objection in an unmarried General, as Othello was when he chose his Officers. Iago therefore was the Fellow almost damn'd in a fair Wife: which is an Expression obscure enough to deserve a short Explanation. The Poet means, Iago had so beautiful a Wife, that she was his Heaven on Earth; that he idoliz'd her; and forgot to think of Happiness in an After-state, as placing all his Views of Bliss in the single Enjoyment of her. In this sense, Beauty, when it can so seduce and ingross a Man's Thoughts, may be said almost to damn him. Jessica, speaking of Bassanio's Happiness in a Wife, says something almost equal to this. For having such a Blessing in his Lady, He finds the Joys of Heaven here on Earth; And if on Earth he do not merit it, In Reason he should never come to Heav'n. [Merch. of Venice. Beaumont and Fletcher likewise, in their King and no King, make Tigranes speak of such a Degree of Beauty sufficient to damn Souls. &lblank; had She so tempting Fair, That She could wish it off for damning Souls. i. e. either, for that it did damn Souls; or, for Fear it should.

Note return to page 164 [4] (4) Wherein the tongued Consuls.] So the generality of the Impressions read; but the oldest Quarto has it, toged; (which gave the Hint for my Emendation;) the Senators, that assisted the Duke in Council, in their proper Gowns.—Iago, a little lower, says to Brabantio, Zounds, Sir, you're robb'd: for shame, put on your Gown; Now I think, 'tis pretty certain, that Iago does not mean, “Slip on your Night-gown, but your Gown of Office, your Senatorial Gown; put on your Authority, and pursue the Thief who has stole your Daughter.” Besides, there is not that Contrast of Terms betwixt tongued, as there is betwixt toged, and Soldiership. This Reading is peculiarly proper here; and the same Opposition is almost for ever made by the Roman Writers. For Instance; Cicero in Offic. Cedant Arma Togæ,&lblank; Idem in Pisonem. —Sed quòd Pacis est Insigne & Otii, Toga: contrà autèm Arma, Tumultûs atq; Belli. Vell. Paterculus de Scipione Æmiliano. —paternisq; Lucii Pauli Virtutibus simillimus, omnibus Belli ac Togæ dotibus, &c. Cassius Ciceroni. Etenìm tua Toga omnium Armis felicior. Ovid. Metamor. lib. XV.— Cæsar in urbe suâ Deus est; quem Marte Togâq; Præcipuum, &c. Idem in Epist. ex Ponto, li. 2. Ep. 1. &lblank; Jàm nunc hæc à me, juvenum bellôq; togâq; Maxime. Juvenal. Sat. 10. &lblank; nocitura Togâ, nocitura petuntur Militiâ. And in a great Number of Passages more, that might be quoted. But now let me proceed to explain, why I have ventured to substitute Counsellors in the Room of Consuls: and then, I hope, the Alteration will not appear arbitrary. The Venetian Nobility, 'tis well known, constitute the great Council of the Senate, and are a Part of the Administration; and summon'd to assist and counsel the Doge, who is Prince of the Senate; and, in that Regard, has only Precedency before the other Magistrates. So that, in this Respect, they may very properly be call'd Counsellors. Again, when the Officer comes from the Duke to Brabantio, in a subsequent Scene of this Act, he says, The Duke's in Council, and your Noble self, I'm sure, is sent for. And when Brabantio comes into the Senate, the Duke says to him; We lack'd your Counsel, and your Help to Night. Now Brabantio was a Senator, but no Consul. Besides, tho' the Government of Venice was Democratic at first, under Consuls and Tribunes; that Form of Power has been totally abrogated, since Doges have been elected: And whatever Consuls of other States may be resident there, yet they have no more a Voice, or Place, in the publick Councils, or in what concerns Peace or War; than foreign Ambassadors can have in our Parliament.

Note return to page 165 [5] (5) Must be led and calm'd.] There is no Consonance of Metaphor in these two Terms. I have chose to read with the first Folio, and several other of the old Editions. Belee'd is a Sea-Term as well as calm'd; and a Ship is said to be belee'd, when she lies close under the Wind, on the Lee-Shore; makes no Sail.

Note return to page 166 [6] (6) And hath in his effect a Voice potential, As double as the Duke's.] Rymer seems to have had his Eye on this Passage amongst others, when he talks so much of the Impropriety and Barbarity in the Style of this Play. But it is, in Truth, a very elegant Grecism. As double, signifies, as large, as extensive. So the Greeks us'd &grd;&gri;&grp;&grl;&gro;&gruc;&grst;, for, latus, grandis, as well as, duplex: and, in the same Manner and Constructions, the Latines sometimes us'd their duplex. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 167 [7] (7) &lblank; I fetch my Life and Being From Men of royal Siege; and my Demerits May speak unbonnetted to as proud a Fortune As this that I have reach'd.] Thus all the Copies read this Passage. But, to speak unbonnetted, is to speak with the Cap off, which is directly opposite to the Poet's Meaning. So, in King Lear; This Night, in which the cub-drawn Bear would couch, The Lion, and the belly-pinched Wolf, Keep their Furr dry, unbonnetted he runs, And bids what will take all. Othello means to say, that his Birth and Services set him upon such a Rank, that he may speak to a Senator of Venice with his Hat on; i. e. without shewing any Marks of Deference, or Inequality. I, therefore, am inclin'd to think, Shakespeare wrote; May speak, and bonnetted, &c. Or, if any like better the Change of the Negative un, in the corrupted Reading, into the Epitatic im, we may thus reform it: May speak imbonnetted, &c. I propos'd the Correction of this Passage in my Shakespeare restored; upon which, Mr. Pope, in his last Edition, has found out an other Expedient, and would read, May speak unbonnetting, &c. i. e. as he says, without pulling off the Bonnett. But the Sense thus is equivocal and obscure: and unbonnetting more naturally signifies, pulling off the Bonnett, than the contrary.

Note return to page 168 [8] (8) And many of the Consuls, rais'd and met, Are at the Duke's already.] Thus all the Editions concur in reading; but there is no such Character as a Consul appears in any Part of the Play. I change it to, Counsellors; i. e. the Grandees that constitute the great Council at Venice. The Reason I have already given, above, in the Close of the 5th Note,

Note return to page 169 [9] (9) &lblank; that she shunn'd The wealthy curled Darlings of our Nation.] Tho' I have not disturb'd the Text here, I ought to subjoin a very probable Conjecture which Mr. Warburton propos'd to me. The wealthy culled Darlings of our Nation. i. e. pick'd, select, chosen, from the common Suitors. For the Epithet curled, as he observes, was no Mark of Distinction or Difference between a Venetian and a Moor; which latter People are remarkably curl'd by Nature. And tho' culled now, when our Ears are nicer than our Understandings, may not so frequently find a Place in the Drama; the same Objection did not lie to the Sound of it in Shakespeare's Days. Of all Complexions the cull'd Sov'reignty. Love's Labour lost. Call for our chiefest Men of Discipline To cull the Plots of best Advantages. King John. Then, in a Moment, Fortune shall cull forth Out of one Side her happy Minion. ib. Before I drew this gallant Head of War, And cull'd these fiery Spirits from the World To out-look Conquest. ib. For who is He, whose Chin is but enrich'd With one appearing Hair, that will not follow These cull'd and choice-drawn Cavaliers to France? Henry V. Now ye familiar Spirits, that are cull'd Out of the pow'rful Regions under Earth. 1 Henry VI. And here's a Lord, come Knights from East to West, And cull their Flow'r, Ajax shall cope the best. Troil. and Cress. No, Madam; we have cull'd such Necessaries As are behovefull for our State to morrow. Rom. and Jul. In tatter'd Weeds, with overwhelming Brows, Culling of Simples. ibid. &c, &c. &c.

Note return to page 170 [10] (10) Judge me the World, if 'tis not gross in Sense, That thou hast practis'd on her with foul Charms, Abus'd her delicate Youth with Drugs, or Minerals, That weaken Motion.] Brabantio is here accusing Othello of having us'd some foul Play, and intoxicated Desdemona by Drugs and Potions to win her over to his Love. But why, Drugs to weaken Motion? How then could she have run away with him voluntarily from her Father's House? Had she been averse to chusing Othello, tho' he had given her Medicines that took away the Use of her Limbs, might she not still have retain'd her Senses, and oppos'd the Marriage? Her Father, 'tis evident, from several of his Speeches, is positive that she must have been abused in her rational Faculties; or she could not have made so preposterous a Choice, as to wed with a Moor, a Black, and refuse the finest young Gentlemen in Venice. What then have we to do with her Motion being weaken'd? If I understand any thing of the Poet's Meaning here, I cannot but think, he must have wrote; Abus'd her delicate Youth with Drugs, or Minerals, That weaken Notion. i. e. her Apprehension, right Conception and Idea of Things, Understanding, Judgment, &c. 'Tis usual with as to say; we have no Notion of a Thing, when we would mean, we don't very clearly understand it. The Roman Classicks used the Word in the same Manner; and Cicero has thus defin'd it for us. Notionem appello, quod Græci tùm &gresa;&grn;&grn;&gro;&gri;&gra;&grn; tùm &grp;&grr;&groa;&grl;&grh;&gry;&gri;&grn;. Dei notionem nullum Animal est quod habeat præter hominem. Idem I. de, Legibus. Cujus rei rationem notionemq; eodem Volumine tradidit. Plin. lib. 17. cap. 28, &c. Nor is our Author infrequent in the Usage of this Term. Does Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his Eyes? Either his Notion weakens, his Discernings Are lethargied, &c. King Lear. &lblank; Your Judgments, my grave Lords, Must give this Cur the Lye; and his own Notion, Who wears my Stripes, &c. Coriolanus. &lblank; And all things else, that might To half a Soul, and to a Notion craz'd Say, thus did Banquo. Macbeth. And, in Cymbeline, he has express'd the same Idea by an equivalent Term. The Drug he gave me, which he said was precious And cordial to me, have I not found it Murth'rous to th' Senses? I made this Emendation in the Appendix to my Shakespeare restor'd, and Mr. Pope has adopted it in his last Edition.

Note return to page 171 [11] (11) For if such Actions may have Passage free, Bondslaves and Pagans shall our Statesmen be.] I have long had a Suspicion of Pagans here. Would Brabantio infer, if his private Injury were not redress'd, the Senate should no longer pretend to call themselves Christians? But Pagans are as strict and moral, we find, all the World over, as the most regular Christians, in the Preservation of private Property. The Difference of Faith is not at all concern'd, but mere humane Policy, in ascertaining the Right of meum and tuum. I have ventur'd to imagine, that our Author wrote, Bondslaves and Pageants shall our Statesmen be. i. e. if we'll let such injurious Actions go unpunish'd, our Statesmen must be Slaves, Cyphers in Office, and have no Pow'r of redressing; be Things of meer Show, and gaudy Appearance only. So, in Meas. for Meas. Mine were the very Cypher of a Function, To fine the Faults, whose Fine stands in Record, And let go by the Actor. And, so, in King Henry VIII. &lblank; if we stand still, in fear Our Motion will be mock'd or carped at, We should take root here where we sit: Or sit State-Statues only.

Note return to page 172 [12] (12) So may he with more fertile Question bear it;] This is Mr. Pope's Reading; but upon what Authorities, I am yet to learn. All the old Impressions, Quarto's and Folio's, I know, have it; So may he with more facile Question bear it. i. e. He may with a more easy Struggle, with less Strength, carry Cyprus; and the Poet subjoins this Reason for it, because Cyprus was not near so well fortified, nor in the Condition to oppose, as Rhodes was. I ought to mention, to the Praise of my Friend Mr. Warburton's Sagacity, that tho' he had none of the old Editions to collate or refer to, he sent me word by Letter, that the Context absolutely requir'd facile Question.

Note return to page 173 [13] (13) It is a Judgment maim'd and most imperfect That will confess, Perfection so could err Against all Rules of Nature.] Perfection erring, seems a Contradiction in Terminis, as the Schoolmen call it. Besides, Brabantio does not blazon his Daughter out for a Thing of absolute Perfection; he only says, she was indued with such an extreme innate Modesty, that for her to fall in Love so preposterously, no sound Judgment could allow, but it must be by magical Practice upon her. I have ventur'd to imagine that our Author wrote; That will confess, Affection so could err, &c. This is entirely consonant to what Brabantio would say of her; and one of the Senators, immediately after, in his Examination of the Moor, thus addresses himself to him; &lblank; But, Othello, speak; Did you by indirect and forced Courses Subdue and poyson this young Maid's Affections, &c.

Note return to page 174 [14] (14) Wherein of Antres vast and Desarts idle, &c.] Thus it is in all the old Editions: But Mr. Pope has thought fit to change the Epithet. Desarts idle; in the former Editions; (says he,) doubtless, a Corruption from wilde.—But he must pardon me, if I do not concur in thinking this so doubtless. I don't know whether Mr. Pope has observ'd it, but I know that Shakespeare, especially in Descriptions, is fond of using the more uncommon Word, in a poetick Latitude. And idle, in several other Passages, he employs in these Acceptations, wild, useless, uncultivated, &c. Crown'd with rank Fumitar, and Furrow Weeds, With Hardocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckow-flow'rs, Darnel, and all the idle Weeds that grow In our sustaining Corn. King Lear. i. e. wild and useless. &lblank; The murm'ring Surge, That on th' unnumber'd idle Pebbles chafes, Cannot be heard so high. Ibid. i. e. useless, worthless, nullius Pretii: for Pebbles, constantly wash'd and chaf'd by the Surge, can't be call'd idle, i. e. to lie still, in a state of Rest. The even Mead, that erst brought sweetly forth The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover, Wanting the Scythe, all uncorrected, rank, Conceives by Idleness. Henry V. i. e. by Wildness, occasion'd from its lying uncultivated. And exactly with the same Liberty, if I am not mistaken, has Virgil twice used the Word ignavus: &lblank; Hyems ignava Colono. George. I. v. 299. Et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos. Georg. II. v. 208.

Note return to page 175 [15] (15) &lblank; Such was the Process: And of the Canibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi; and Men whose Heads Do grow beneath their Shoulders.] This Passage Mr. Pope has thought fit to throw out of the Text, as containing incredible Matter, I presume: but why, if he had any Equality in his critical Judgment, did he not as well castrate the Tempest of these Lines? Who would believe, that there were Mountaineers Dewlapt like Bulls, whose Throats had hanging at 'em Wallets of Flesh? Or that there were such Men, Whose Heads stood in their Breasts? I have observ'd several times, in the Course of these Notes, our Author's particular Deference for Sir Walter Raleigh; and both these Passages seem to me intended complimentally to him. Sir Walter, in his Travels, has given the following Account, which I shall subjoin as briefly as I may. “Next unto Arvi, there are two Rivers Atoica and Caora; and on that Branch which is call'd Caora, are a Nation of a People whose Heads appear not above their Shoulders: which, tho it may be thought a meer Fable, yet, for mine own part, I am resolv'd it is true; because every Child in the Provinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirm the same. They are call'd Ewaipanomaws, they are reported to have their Eyes in their Shoulders, and their Mouths in the middle of their Breasts. It was not my Chance to hear of them, till I was come away; and if I had but spoken one word of it while I was there, I might have brought one of them with me, to put the Matter out of Doubt. Such a Nation was written of by Mandeville, whose Reports were holden for Fables for many years: and yet since the East-Indies were discover'd, we find his Relations true of such things as heretofore were held incredible. Whether it be true, or no, the Matter is not great; for mine own part, I saw them not; but I am resolv'd, that so many People did not all combine, or forethink to make the Report. To the West of Caroli are diverse Nations of Canibals, and of those Ewaipanomaws without Heads.” Sir Walter Raleigh made this Voyage to Guiana in 1595. Mr. Lawrence Keymish, (sometime his Lieutenant) who went thither the next Year, and who dedicates his Relation to Sir Walter, mentions the same People; and, speaking of a Person who gave him considerable Informations, he adds, “He certified me of the headless Men, and that their Mouths in their Breasts are exceeding wide.” Sir Walter, at the time that his Travels were publish'd, is styled Captain of her Majesty's Guard, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Lieutenant General of the County of Cornwal. If we consider the Reputation, as the ingenious Martin Folkes Esq; observ'd to me, any thing from such a Person, and at that time in such Posts, must come into the World with, we shall be of Opinion that a Passage in Shakespeare need not be degraded for the Mention of a Story, which, however strange, was countenanc'd with such an Authority. Shakespeare, on the other hand, has shewn a fine Address to Sir Walter, in sacrificing so much Credulity to such a Relation. Besides, both the Passages in our Author have this further Use; that they do in some Measure fix the Chronology of his writing Othello, as well as the Tempest: for as neither of them could be wrote before the Year 1597; so the Mention of these Circumstances should persuade us, they appear'd before these Travels became stale to the publick, and their Authority was too narrowly scrutiniz'd. We may be able to account, perhaps, in a few Lines, for the Mystery of these suppos'd headless People; and with that I will close this long Note. Olearius, speaking of the Manner of Cloathing of the Samojeds, a People of Northern Muscovy, says; “Their Garments are made like those that are call'd Cosaques, open only at the Neeks. When the Cold is extraordinary, they put their Cosaques, over their Heads, and let the Sleeves hang down; their Faces being not to be seen, but at the Cleft which is at the Neck. Whence Some have taken Occasion to write, that in these Northern Countries, there are People without Heads, having their Faces in their Breasts.”

Note return to page 176 [16] (16) But Words are Words; I never yet did hear, That the bruis'd Heart was pierced thro' the Ear.] One superfluous Letter has for these hundred Years quite subverted the Sense of this Passage; and none of the Editors have ever attended to the Reasoning of the Context, by which they might have discover'd the Error. The Duke has by sage Sentences been exhorting Brabantio to Patience, and to forget the Grief of his Daughter's stoln Marriage; to which Brabantio is made very pertinently to reply, to this Effect: “My Lord, I apprehend very well the Wisdom of your Advice; but tho you would comfort me, Words are but Words; and the Heart, already bruis'd, was never pierc'd, or wounded, thro the Ear.”—Well! If we want Arguments for a Senator, let him be educated at the Feet of our sagacious Editors. It is obvious, I believe, to my better Readers, that the Text must be restor'd, as Mr. Warburton acutely observ'd to me. That the bruis'd Heart was pieced tho' the Ear. i. e. That the Wounds of Sorrow were ever cur'd, or a Man made heart-whole meerly by Words of Consolation. I ought to take Notice, this very Emendation was likewise communicated to me by an ingenious, unknown, Correspondent, who subscribes himself only L. H.

Note return to page 177 [17] (17) &lblank; I therefore beg it not To please the Palate of my Appetite. Nor to comply with Heat the young affects, In my defunct, and proper Satisfaction; But to be free and bounteous to her Mind.] As this has been all along hitherto printed and stop'd, it seems to me a Period of as stubborn Nonsense, as the Editors have obtruded upon poor Shakespeare throughout his whole Works. What a preposterous Creature is this Othello made, to fall in Love with, and marry, a fine young Lady, when Appetite and Heat, and proper Satisfaction are dead and defunct in him! (For, defunct signifies nothing else, that I know of, either primitively or metaphorically:) But if we may take Othello's own Word in the Affair, when he speaks for himself, he was not reduc'd to this fatal unperforming State. &lblank; or, for I am declin'd Into the Vale of Years; yet That's not much. Again, Why should our Poet say, (for so he says, as the Passage has been pointed;) that the young affect Heat? Youth, certainly, has it, and has no Occasion or Pretence of affecting it, whatever superannuated Lovers may have. And, again, after defunct, would he add so absurd a collateral Epithet as proper? But, I think, I may venture to affirm, that affects was not design'd here as a Verb; and that defunct was not design'd here at all. I have, by a slight Change, rescued the Poet's Text from Absurdity; and this I take to be the Tenour of what he would say; “I do not beg her Company with me, merely to please myself; nor to indulge the Heat and Affects (i. e. Affections) of a new-married Man, in my own distinct and proper Satisfaction; but to comply with her in her Request, and Desire, of accompanying me.” Affects, for Affections, our Author in several other Passages uses. For ev'ry Man with his Affects is born. Love's Labour Lost. As severe to banish their Affects with him. Richard II. Th' Affects of Sorrow for his valiant Sons. Titus Andronicus. &c. &c.

Note return to page 178 [18] (18) If the Balance of our Lives had not one Scale of Reason to poise another of Sensuality.] i. e. If the Scale of our Lives had not one Scale, &c. which must certainly be wrong. Some of the old Quarto's have it thus, but the two elder Folio's read, If the Braine of our Lives had not one Scale, &c. This is corrupt; and I make no doubt but Shakespeare wrote, as I have reform'd the Text, If the Beame of our Lives, &c. And my Reason is this; that he generally distinguishes betwixt the Beam and Balance, using the latter to signify the Scales; and the former, the Steel-bar to which they are hung, and which poises them. I'll subjoin a few Instances of his Usage of both Terms. In your Lord's Scale is nothing but himself, And some few Vanities that make him light, But in the Balance of great Bolingbroke, &c. Richard II. I have in equal Balance justly weigh'd, &c. 2 Henry IV. Weigh'd between Loathness and Obedience, at Which end the Beam should bow. Tempest. We, poizing us in her defective Scale, Shall weigh thee to the Beam. All's well, &c. We, poize the Cause in Justice' equal Scale, Whose Beam stands sure. 2 Henry VI. &lblank; thy Madness shall be paid with Weight, Till our Scale turn the Beam. Hamlet. In like manner, the French always use los Balances to signify the Scales; le Fleau, the Beam of the Balance.

Note return to page 179 [19] (19) The Food, that to him now is as luscious as Locusts, shall shortly be as bitter as Coloquintida.] Mr. Warburton has suspected this Passage, and attempted an Emendation; which I ought to subjoin, with his Reasoning upon it. “Tho some kind of Locusts have been sometimes eaten, I think, they cannot be given as an Instance of very delicious Food. Besides, how comes Locusts, a kind of Insect, to be oppos'd to Coloquintida, a medicinal Drugg? Be assur'd, the true Reading is not Locusts, but Loches, a very pleasant Confection, introduced into Medicine by the Arabian Physicians; and so is very fitly oppos'd both to the Bitterness, and the Use of Coloquintida.”—I have not, however, disturb'd the Text for two Reasons; because all the printed Copies agree in one Reading without any Variation: and because I am not sure, that by Locusts the Poet means the Insect, but the Fruit of the Locust Tree; which is sweet and luscious in the same degree, as Coloquintida, the Fruit of the wild Gourd, is acerb and bitter.

Note return to page 180 [20] (20) What ribs of Oak, when the huge Mountains melt. Can hold the morties?] This is an arbitrary Change of Mr. Pope's, without any Authority or Reason, but the smoothing the Versification. But, I am afraid, this great Critick was dreaming of Mountains at Land; and these, he thought, could not well melt on Ribs of Oak (i. e. Ships) at Sea. But our Poet happens to mean, Waves as big as Mountains; and these are often known to melt on Ships: not is any Metaphor more common in Poetry. So, again, afterwards, in this very Play; And let the lab'ring Bark climb Hills of Seas Olympus-high: &lblank; and anon behold The strong-ribb'd Bark thro' liquid Mountains cuts. Troil. and Cress. Like as we see the wrathful Sea from far, In a great Mountain heap'd, with hideous Noise, With thousand billows beat against the Ships: Locrine. And so, Beaumont and Fletcher in their Elder Brother; The Merchant, when he ploughs the angry Sea up, And sees the mountain Billows falling on him: In all which Passages our Poets have but imitated their Predecessors the Classics. &grP;&gro;&grr;&grf;&grua;&grr;&gre;&gro;&grn; &grd;&grap; &grasa;&grr;&gra; &grk;&gruc;&grm;&gra; &grp;&gre;&grr;&gri;&grs;&grt;&graa;&grq;&grh; &gro;&grusa;&grr;&gre;&grid; &grisc;&grs;&gro;&grn;, &grK;&gru;&grr;&grt;&grw;&grq;&grea;&grn;, &lblank; Hom. Odyss. &grg;. 242. &grK;&grua;&grm;&gra;&grt;&graa; &grt;&gre; &grt;&grr;&gro;&grf;&groa;&gre;&grn;&grt;&gra;, &grp;&gre;&grl;&grwa;&grr;&gri;&gra;, &grisc;&grs;&gra; &grosa;&grr;&gre;&grs;&grs;&gri;&grn;. Odyss. &grg;. 290. &lblank; &grhs;&grl;&gri;&grb;&graa;&grt;&gro;&gri;&grs;&gri; &grd;&grap; &gres;&gro;&gri;&grk;&groa;&grt;&gra; &grk;&grua;&grm;&gra;&grt;&grap; &grosa;&grr;&gre;&grs;&grs;&gri;&grn; &GRAsa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grq;&gre;&grn; &grasa;&grl;&grl;&gra; &grf;&grea;&grr;&gro;&grn;&grt;&gro;. Qu. Calaher. l. xiv. Curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda. Virg. Geor. iv. &lblank; insequitur cumulo præruptus aquæ mons. Idem. Æn. I. Cum Mare surrexit, cumulusq; immanis aquarum In montis speciem curvari, & crescere visus. Ovid. Metam. l. xv. Me miserum, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum! Id. Trist. l. 1. El. 2.

Note return to page 181 [21] (21) &lblank; Another Ship of Venice Hath seen a grievous Wreck, &c.] But no Ship, before this, has arriv'd, or brought any Account of the Turkish Fleet's Distress: How then can This be call'd another Ship? Oh, but the eldest Quarto has call'd it so; and, if there be a various Reading, Mr. Pope is pretty good at taking the wrong one. The two Elder Folio's and the Quarto in 1630 read, as I have restor'd to the Text; &lblank; A noble Ship of Venice.

Note return to page 182 [22] (22) &lblank; The Ship is here put in; A Veronesso, Michael Cassio, &c.] But Michael Cassio was no Veronese; we find, from other Passages in the Play, he was of Rome. I read with the best Copies, only altering the Pointing;   The Ship is here put in, A Veronesse; i. e. A Vessel properly belonging to the State of Verona, but in the Service of Venice: and Verona, I believe, does, by the Adige, send down Ships to the Adriatick.

Note return to page 183 [23] (23) One, that in the Authority of her Merit, did justly put on the Vouch of very Malice itself.] Tho' all the printed Copies agree in this Reading, I cannot help suspecting it. If the Text should be genuine, I confess, it is above my Understanding. In what Sense can Merit be said to put on the Vouch of Malice? I should rather think, Merit was so safe in it self, as to repel and put off all that Malice and Envy could advance and affirm to its Prejudice; was upon its Guard against every Attack of Calumny, and defied it. I have ventur'd to reform the Text to this Construction, by a very slight Change that makes it intelligible. To the same purpose the Duke says, in Measure for Measure. &lblank; Lord Angelo is precise, Stands at a Guard with Envy. So, Queen Catherine, speaking of her self and the Clearness of her Life and Conduct, My Lords, I care not (so much I am happy Above a Number,) if my Actions Were try'd be ev'ry Tongue, ev'ry eye saw them, Envy and base Opinion set against them; I know my Life so even. K. Hen. VIII. And much to the Tenour of our Poet's Sentiment, as I have corrected it, Ausonius speaks of Chastity. Quæ casta est? De quâ mentiri Fama veretur.

Note return to page 184 [24] (24) How say you, Cassio? Is he not a most profane and liberal Counsellor?] But in what Respect was Iago a Counsellor? He caps Sentences, indeed; but they are not by way of Advice, but Description: what he says, is, Reflexions on Character and Conduct in Life. For this Reason, I am very apt to think, our Author wrote Censurer.

Note return to page 185 [25] (25) When the Blood is made dull with the Act of Sport, there should be a Game to inflame it, and to give Satiety a fresh Appetite; loveliness in Favour, Sympathy in Years, Manners, and Beauties.] This, 'tis true, is the Reading of the Generality of the Copies: but, methinks, 'tis a very peculiar Experiment, when the Blood and Spirits are dull'd and exhausted with Sport, to raise and recruit them by Sport: for Sport and Game are but two Words for the same thing. I have retriev'd the Pointing and Reading of the elder Quarto, which certainly gives us the Poet's Sense; that, when the Blood is dull'd with the Exercise of Pleasure, there should be proper Incentives on each side to raise it again, as the Charms of Beauty, Equality of Years, and Agreement of Manners and Disposition: which were wanting in Othello to rekindle Desdemona's Passion.

Note return to page 186 [26] (26) &lblank; Which thing to do, If this poor Trash of Venice, whom I trace For his quick hunting, stand the putting on.] A trifling, insignificant Fellow may, in some Respects, very well be call'd Trash; but what Consonance of Metaphor is there betwixt Trash, and quick hunting, and standing the putting on? The Allusion to the Chase Shakespeare seems to be fond of applying to Rodorigo, who says of himself towards the Conclusion of this Act; I follow her in the Chase, not like a Hound that hunts, but one that fills up the Cry. I have a great Suspicion, therefore, that the Poet wrote; If this poor Brach of Venice, which, we know, is a degenerate Species of Hound, and a Term generally us'd in Contempt: and this compleats and perfects the metaphorical Allusion, and makes it much more Satirical. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 187 [27] (27) If Consequence do but approve my Dream.] All the printed Copies concur in this Reading, but, I think, it does not come up to the Poet's Intention; I rather imagine that he wrote, If Consequence do but approve my Deem. i. e. my Opinion, the Judgment I have form'd of what must happen. So, in Troil. and Cressida; Cres. I true? how now? what wicked Deem is this?

Note return to page 188 [28] (28) In night, and on the Court and Guard of Safety?] This is spoken by Othello; but Guard of Safety, tho' coupled with a Word of Synonomous Construction, was never Soldier's Language. I have ventur'd to make the Conjunction, and Sign of the Genitive Case change Places: and so the Phrase in Use is restor'd, tho' against the Authority of the printed Copies. In Night, and on the Court of Guard and Safety? So, before; The Lieutenant to night watches on the Court of Guard. And, again; Good Michael, look you to the Guard to Night. And so in Anto. and Cleop. Let's bear him to the Court of Guard; he is of Note.

Note return to page 189 [29] (29) For that he hath devoted, and given up himself to the Contemplation, Mark, and Devotement of her Parts and Graces.] I remember, it is said of Antony, in the Beginning of his Tragedy, that He, who used to fix his Eyes altogether on the dreadful Ranges of War, &lblank; now bends, now turns, The Office and Devotion of their View Upon a Strumpet's Front. This is finely express'd; but I cannot perswade my self that our Poet would ever have said, any one devoted himself to the Devotement of any thing. All the Copies agree; but the Mistake certainly arose from a single Letter being turn'd upside-down at Press. I read; &lblank; to the Contemplation, Mark, and Denotement of her Parts and Graces. The three Words are, indeed, in some degree tautological; but the Practise is allow'd to add an Energy to the thing it would express.

Note return to page 190 [30] (30) Two Things are to be done; My Wife must move for Cassio to her Mistress: I'll set her on to draw the Moor apart.] Mr. Pope has falsified the Text, because it wanted a little Help: so that, in the first place, we don't see what were the two things to be done: and, then, it was Iago, not his Wife, that was to draw the Moor apart. The old Books read; &lblank; Two things are to be done; My Wife must move for Cassio to her Mistress, I'll set her on my self, a while, to draw the Moor apart. This unreasonable long Alexandrine was certainly a Blunder of the Editors: a slight Transposition and Change will regulate it, as the Poet intended. My Wife must move for Cassio to her Mistress: I'll set her on. &lblank; My self, the while, to draw the Moor apart, And bring him jump, &c.

Note return to page 191 [31] (31) Cas. Dost thou hear me, mine honest Friend? Clown. No, I hear not your honest Friend; I hear you.] Tho' the Clown has his Design of playing at cross-purposes here, he has no Design to make such an absurd answer. But, for this, the Inattention of our Editors is only accountable: 'Tis plain, to make the low Joak intelligible, we must expunge [me] out of Cassio's Speech; as both Mr. Warburton and Dr. Thomas Bentley observ'd to me: and their Observation happens to have the Sanction of the elder Quarto.

Note return to page 192 [32] (32) Excellent Wretch! Perdition catch my Soul, But I do love thee; &c.] Tho' all the printed Copies concur in this Reading, I think, it is very reasonably to be suspected. Othello is exclaiming here with Admiration and rapturous Fondness: but Wretch can scarce be admitted to be used, unless in Compassion or Contempt. I make no question, but the Poet wrote; Excellent Wench!—Perdition catch my soul, &c. It is to be observ'd, that, in Shakespeare's time, Wench, Lass, and Girl were not used in that low and vulgar Acceptation as they are at this time of day; but very frequently with Dignity. To appeal to a few Instances. &lblank; Oh ill-starr'd Wench! Pale as thy Smock! Othello. Agrip. &lblank; Royal Wench! She made great Cæsar lay his Sword to bed; &c. Anto. and Cleop. Now boast thee, Death, in thy Possession lies A Lass unparagon'd. ibid. &lblank; What, Girl! tho gray Do something mingle with our younger brown, &c. ibid.

Note return to page 193 [33] (33) &lblank; but, in a Man that's just, They're close denotements working from the heart, That Passion cannot rule.] I cannot see, why this Reading should be prefer'd into the Text; and another degraded, which makes the Sentiment admirably fine. They're cold Dilations working from the Heart, That Passion cannot rule. “These Stops and Breaks, which thou mak'st, (says Othello) are cold Dilations, or the cold keeping back a Secret, which Men of phlegmatick Constitutions, whose Hearts are not ruled or govern'd by their Passions, we find, can do; while more sanguine Tempers reveal themselves at once, and without Reserve. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 194 [34] (34) Who steals my Purse, steals Trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his; and has been Slave to thousands.] Of Riches, and other temporal Possessions, being uncertain, and often changing their Masters, we meet with several Passages in the Classics. which might have given our Author a Hint for this Sentiment. Nunc ager Umbreni sub Nomine, nuper Ofelli Dictus, erit nulli proprius; sed cedet in usam Nunc mihi, nunc alii. Horat. Serm. lib. ii. 2 This Lucian seems to have imitated in an Epigram. &gras;&grg;&grr;&grog;&grst; &GRAs;&grx;&gra;&gri;&grm;&gre;&grn;&gria;&grd;&gro;&gru; &grg;&gre;&grn;&groa;&grm;&gre;&grn; &grp;&gro;&grt;&greg;, &grn;&gruc;&grn; &grd;&greg; &grM;&gre;&grn;&gria;&grp;&grp;&gro;&gru;,   &grK;&gra;&grig; &grp;&graa;&grl;&gri;&grn; &gres;&grc; &grer;&grt;&grea;&grr;&gro;&gru; &grb;&grha;&grs;&gro;&grm;&gra;&gri; &gre;&gris;&grst; &grera;&grt;&gre;&grr;&gro;&grn;. &grK;&gra;&grig; &grg;&grag;&grr; &gres;&grk;&gre;&gric;&grn;&gro;&grst; &gresa;&grx;&gre;&gri;&grn; &grm;&grea; &grp;&gro;&grt;&grap; &grwsai;&gre;&grt;&gro;, &grk;&gra;&grig; &grp;&graa;&grl;&gri;&grn; &gro;&grurc;&grt;&gro;&grst;   &GROsa;&gri;&gre;&grt;&gra;&gri;, &gre;&gris;&grm;&grig; &grd;&grap; &grora;&grl;&grw;&grst; &gro;&grus;&grd;&grea;&grn;&gro;&grst; &gras;&grl;&grl;&grag; &grt;&grua;&grx;&grh;&grst;. Nil proprium ducas, quod mutarier potest. Publ. Syrus.   &GROs;&gru;&grk; &grosc;&grd;&grap; &grora;&grt;&grwi; &grp;&grea;&grp;&gro;&gri;&grq;&gra;&grst; &gras;&grr;&grg;&gru;&grr;&gria;&grwi;, &grp;&graa;&grt;&gre;&grr;.   &GROr; &grk;&gra;&gri;&grr;&grog;&grst; &gror; &grt;&gru;&grx;&grwg;&grn; &grt;&gro;&gric;&grst; &grm;&greg;&grn; &gro;&grus; &grk;&gre;&grk;&grt;&grh;&grm;&grea;&grn;&gro;&gri;&grst;   &GREsa;&grd;&grw;&grk;&gre;, &grt;&grwc;&grn; &grk;&gre;&grk;&grt;&grh;&grm;&grea;&grn;&grw;&grn; &grd;&grap; &gras;&grf;&gre;&gria;&grl;&gre;&grt;&gro;. Apollodorus.   &grX;&grr;&grha;&grm;&gra;&grt;&gra; &grd;&grap; &gras;&grn;&grq;&grr;&grwa;&grp;&grw;&grn; &grasa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grt;&gre; &grasa;&grl;&grl;&gro;&grst; &gresa;&grx;&gre;&gri;. Solon.

Note return to page 195 [35] (35) Should you do so, my Lord, My Speech would fall into such vile excess, Which my thoughts aim not at.] This is Mr. Pope's Reading, and, I am afraid, as erroneous as it is unauthoriz'd. For, suppose, Othello were to believe all that Iago told him on Suspicion, how would Iago's Speech fall into the worse Excess thereupon? All the old Copies, that I have seen, read, Success: and this is certainly the Author's Meaning “If you should believe all I have said, my Speech would succeed worse, have more vile Consequences in your Resentment against your Wife, than I had any Aim, or Purpose, to excite.”

Note return to page 196 [36] (36) Dang'rous Conceits are in their Nature poisons,] I cannot possibly account for Mr. Pope's Ostentation of Industry upon this Passage. This Line, says he, restor'd from the first Edition, compleats the Sense. But, pray, let us observe the Accuracy of this wonderful Restorer. The Line, 'tis true, is in the first Edition; but 'tis likewise in the first and second Impressions in Folio; 'tis in the Quarto, of 1630; and 'tis in the Editions put out by Mr. Rowe; how then is it restor'd? Huic mandes, si quid recte curatum velis.

Note return to page 197 [37] (37) &lblank; Let him command, And to obey shall be in me Remorse, What bloody Business ever.] Thus all the old Copies, to the manifest Depravation of the Poet's Sense. Mr. Pope has attempted an Emendation, but with his old Luck and Dexterity. Not to obey shall be in me Remorse, &c. I read with the Change only of a single Letter; Nor, to obey, shall be in me Remorse, &c. i. e. Let your Commands be ever so bloody, Remorse and Compassion shall not restrain me from obeying them. Much to the same Tenour Lady Macbeth says; Stop up th' Access and Passage to Remorse, That no compunctious Visitings of Nature Shake my fell Purpose.

Note return to page 198 [38] (38) Iago. My Friend is dead.] i. e. I am so firmly resolv'd to obey your Commands, that you may conclude Cassio already dead. Ben Jonson, I remember, in a like Circumstance, in his Catiline, has finely express'd the Impetuosity of Cethegus's Character; the Dialogue is about making away with Cicero. &lblank; He shall die; Shall was too slowly said:—He's dying; That Is yet too slow:—He's dead. But this, by the Bye, is a Copy from Seneca the Tragedian, in his Hercules Furens. Lycus Creouti debitas pœnas dabit: Lentum est, dabit; dat: hoc quoq; est lentum, dedit.

Note return to page 199 [39] (39) Clown. I will catechize the World for him; That is, make Questions, and by them answer.] This Clown is a Fool to some purpose. He was to go seek for One; he says, he will ask for him, and by his own Questions make Answer. Without doubt, we should read; &lblank; and bid them answer. i. e. the World; those; whom he questions. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 200 [40] (40) &lblank; The Hearts of old gave Hands; But our new Heraldry is Hands not Hearts.] The Sense of the Sentence here is very clear; but, notwithstanding, I have a Suspicion, that a Point of History is obliquely alluded to. Soon after King James the First came to the Crown, in order to raise a Sum, he created the new Dignity of Baronets: each Man was to pay so much for his Title. Amongst their other Prerogatives of Honour, they had this, viz. an Addition to their paternal Arms of a Hand, gules, in an Escutcheon argent. And we are not to doubt, but this was the new Heraldry hinted at by our Author: and the Satire is most exquisite, plainly insinuating that some, then created, had Hands, indeed; but no Hearts: that is, Money to pay for the Creation, but no Virtue to purchase the Honour. But the finest part of the Poet's Address in this Allusion, is, the Compliment he paid by it to his old Mistress, Elizabeth. For James's Pretence for raising this Sum, by the new Creation, was the Reduction of Ulster, and other Provinces in Ireland; the Memory of which he would perpetuate by this Addition to the Arms, which is the Arms of Ulster. Now the Methods used by Elizabeth in the Conquest of that Kingdom were so different from this, (the Dignities, she confer'd, being on those who had employ'd their Steel, not their Gold in that Service;) that nothing could more add to her Glory than being compared to her Successor in this Point of View. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 201 [41] (41) &lblank; That Handkerchief Did an Ægyptian to my Mother give;] Because this Episode of the Handkerchief has been attack'd by Snarlers and Buffoon-Criticks, I am tempted to subjoin an Observation or two in Justification of our Author's Conduct. The Poet seems to have been aware of the Levity of such Judges, as should account the giving away an Hankerchief too slight a Ground for Jealousy. He therefore obviates this, upon the very Moment of the Handkerchief being lost, by making Iago say;   Trifles, light as Air, Are, to the Jealous, Confirmations strong As Proofs of holy Writ. Besides this, let us see how finely the Poet has made his Handkerchief of Significancy and Importance. Cinthio Giraldi, from whom he has borrowed the Incident, only says, that it was the Moor's Gift, upon his Wedding, to Desdemona; that it was most curiously wrought after the Moorish Fashion, and very dear both to him and his Wife; il quel Pannicello era lavorato alla Moresca sottilissimamente, et era carissimo alla Donna & parimente al Moro. But our Author, who wrote in a superstitious Age, (when Philtres were in Vogue for procuring Love, and Amulets for preserving it;) makes his Handkerchief deriv'd from an Inchantress; Magick and Mystery are in its Materials and Workmanship; its Qualities and Attributes are solemnly laid down; and the Gift recommended to be cherish'd by its Owners on the most inducing Terms imaginable, viz. the making the Party amiable to her Husband, and the keeping his Affections steady. Such Circumstances, if I know any thing of the Matter, are the very Soul and Essence of Poetry: Fancy here exerts its great creating Power, and adds a Dignity, that surprizes, to its Subject. After this, let us hear the coarse Pleasantries of Mr. Rymer. “So much ado, so much Stress, so much Passion, and Repetition, about an Handkerchief! Why was not this call'd the Tragedy of the Handkerchief? What can be more absurd, than (as Quintilian expresses it), in parvis litibus has Tragædias movere? We have heard of Fortunatus's Purse, and of the invisible Cloak, long ago worn thread-bare, and stow'd up in the Wardrobe of obsolete Romances: One might think, that were a fitter Place for this Handkerchief, than that it, at this time of day, be worn on the Stage, to raise every where all this Clutter and Turmoil. Had it been Desdemona's Garter, the sagacious Moor might have smelt a Rat: but the Handkerchief is so remote a Trifle, no Booby, on this side Mauritania, could make any Consequence from it.”—Whether this be from the Spirit of a true Critic, or from the Licence of a Railer, I may be too much prejudiced to determine: so leave it to every indifferent Judgment.

Note return to page 202 [42] (42) And shut myself up in some other Course, To Fortune's Arms.] i. e. to be embraced by Fortune: which was a greater Happiness than Cassio yet dreamt of. I don't know whether we are to dispute here with Mr. Pope's Eyes, or his Understanding, for departing from all the old Copies, which read as they should do; And shut myself up in some other Course, To Fortune's Alms. i. e. To Chance, and Casualty. So before, in this Play; I'd whistle her off, and let her down the Wind To prey at Fortune. i. e. at Random. And so, in King Lear; &lblank; Let your study Be to content your Lord, who hath receiv'd you At Fortune's Alms. i. e. a Beggar; stript of the Indulgence of Fortune.

Note return to page 203 [43] (43) Naked in bed, Iago, and mean no harm? It is Hypocrisie against the Devil.] This Passage puts me in mind of a singular Set of Devotees in the primitive Church of both Sexes, (whom S. Cyprian condemns in one of his Epistles) and which had continued a considerable time, as we may see from Dodwell's Cyprianic Dissertations, where we have a full Account of them. There were several of both Sexes, who had made their Vows and Professions of Chastity; and, as the extreamest Trial of their Virtue, scrupled not to lie naked together in Bed. Some had been excommunicated for it of the female Sex, who yet stuck to their Innocence, and offer'd to undergo any Trials of their Virginity. Whether our Author had these dissembling Devotees in his Mind or no, I dare not pretend to Say: but some of the Sect, if I remember right, were detected and brought to Punishment in his Time. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 204 [44] (44) &lblank; as Knaves be such abroad, Who having by their own importunate Suit, Or voluntary Dotage of some Mistress, Convinced or supplied them, cannot chuse But they must blab.] I alter'd this, as I have now reform'd the Text, in the Appendix to my Shakespeare restor'd. I cannot understand the vulgar Reading, which possesses the Copies. My Emendation makes the Sense of the Passage easy and intelligible: that there are some such long-tongued Knaves in the World, who, if they thro' the Force of Importunity extort a Favour from their Mistress, or if thro' her own Fondness they make her pliant to their Desires, cannot help boasting of their Success. To convince, here, is not, as in the common Acceptation, to make sensible of the Truth of any thing by Reasons and Arguments; but to overcome, get the better of, &c. So, in Macbeth; &lblank; his two Chamberlains Will I with Wine and Wassel so convince, &c. And, again: &lblank; their Malady convinces The great Assay of Art. And, so, in Cymbeline; Your Italy contains none so accomplish'd a Courtier to convince the Honour of my Mistress. To supple, (a Verb form'd from the Adjective,) tis well known, signifies, to make pliant and flexible: and is, particularly, a Term in Surgery, when any part swoln and stiff is, by Fomentations, &c. reduced, and made soft and pliable. I find the word used in our Author's time, in the Sense that I here make it bear. Fit. &lblank; And you, Mas Broker, Shall have a Feeling. Bro. &lblank; So it supple, Sir, The Nerves. Staple of News. He's monstrous vex'd, and musty at my Chess-play, But this shall supple him, when he has read it. Spanish Curate. Cypr. Thought and Affection cannot be controll'd. Phil. Yet may't be bent and suppled with Extreams. Dumb Knight.

Note return to page 205 [45] (45) For, as I think, they do command him home, Deputing Cassio in his Government.] Had Mr. Rymer intended, or known how, to make a serious and sensible Critic on this Play, methinks, here is a fair Open given for Enquiry and Animadversion. Othello is, as it were, but just arriv'd at Cyprus upon an Emergency of defending it against the Turks; the Senate could hardly yet have heard of the Ottoman Fleet being scatter'd by Tempest; and Othello is at once remanded home, without any Imputation suggested on his Conduct, or any Hint of his being employ'd in a more urgent Commission. Tis true, the Deputation of Cassio in his Room seems design'd to heighten the Moor's Resentment: but some probable Reason should have been assign'd, and thrown in to the Audience, for his being recall'd. As to what Iago says afterwards, that Othello is to go to Mauritania, This is only a Lye of his own Invention to carry a Point with Rodorigo.—It is in little Omissions of this Sort that Shakespear's Indolence, or Neglect of Art, is frequently to be censur'd.

Note return to page 206 [46] (46) &lblank; whose solid Virtue The Shot of Accident nor Dart of Chance Could neither graze nor pierce.] But 'tis no Commendation to the most solid Virtue to be free from the Attacks of Fortune: but that it is so impenetrable as to suffer no Impression. Now, to graze, signifies, only to touch the Superficies of any thing. That is the Attack of Fortune: And by That Virtue is try'd, but not discredited. We ought certainly therefore to read, Can neither raze nor pierce. i. e. neither lightly touch upon, nor pierce into. The ignorant Transcribers being acquainted with the Phrase of a Bullet grazing, and Shot being mention'd in the Line before, they corrupted the true Word. Besides, we do not say, graze a Thing; but graze on it. Mr. Warburton. The same Distinction, betwixt raze and pierce, our Author has mark'd, I remember, in his Translation of Paris's Epistle to Helen. My Wound is not a slight Raze with an Arrow, But it hath pierc'd my Heart, and burn'd my Marrow. In the same manner the French us'd their Word raser, which sometimes signifies, brushing over, touching a Thing but lightly. Il se dit des corps qui passent fort près de quelques autres, & ne les touchent que légerément; says Richelet. So, with them, raser les eaux, means, to skim lightly over the Water. And in the same Manner, the best Latin Poets used their Verb, radere; to skim along by, run gently over. &lblank; ripas radentia flumina rodunt. Lucret. V. 257. Fit qouque enim interdum, ut non tam concurrere nubes Frontibus adversis possint, quam de latere ire Diverso motu radentes corpori' tractum. Idem VI. 117. Ille inter navemq; Gyæ, scopulosq; sonanteis, Radit iter lævum interior. Vir. Æn. V. 170. &lblank; Projectaq; Saxa Pachini Radimus. Idem Æn. III. 699. Proxima Circææ raduntur littora terræ. Id. Æn. VII. 10. &c. &c. But, to return to our Author. I have ventur'd to attack another Part of this Sentence, which my ingenious Friend slip'd over. I cannot see, for my Heart, the Difference betwixt the Shot of Accident and Dart of Chance. The Words, and Things they imply, are purely Synonymous; but that the Poet intended two different Things, seems plain from the discretive Adverb. Chance may afflict a Man in some Circumstances; but other Distresses are to be accounted for from a different Cause. I am perswaded, our Author wrote; The Shot of Accident, nor Dart of Change, &c. And, in several other Places, our Poet industriously puts these two Words in Opposition to each other. Which shackles Accident, and bolts up Change. Anto. & Cleop. &lblank; How Chances mock, And Changes fill the cup of Alteration; 2 Hen. IV. Tho' Chance of War hath wrought this Change of Cheer. Tit. Andron. So, Milton, a very studious Imitator of Shakespeare's Manner and Expression; Besides, what Hope the never-ending Flight Of future days may bring, what Chance, what Change, Worth waiting: Par. lost. Bo. II. In brief sententious Precepts while they treat Of Fate, and Chance, and Change in human Life. Par. reg. Bo. IV.

Note return to page 207 [47] (47) &lblank; Turn thy Complexion there, Patience, thou young and rose-lip'd Cherubin; I here look grim as Hell.] The Poet makes an Apostrophe to Patience as a Goddess; and is suppos'd to make Othello bid her turn her Complexion and Cherubin's Looks, because he looks as grim as Hell upon the Occasion. But I am perswaded, the Text has been all along slightly corrupted, by mistaking I in the last Verse for the Pronoun of the first Person: whereas, in our Author's days, it likewise stood for the Adverb of affirming. As I have reform'd the Text, a proper Contrast is restor'd; and Patience is urg'd not only to turn her Complexion, to drop the rosy Looks of a Cherub, but to put on the grim Aspect of a Fiend.

Note return to page 208 [48] (48) You have told me, she hath receiv'd them, and return'd me Expectations and Comforts of sudden Respect and Acquaintance.] This was, first, the Reading of the Player-Editors, who, I presume, did not understand the Reading of the old Quarto, which I take to have been the Poet's Word, Acquittance; i. e. a Requital, a proper Return of her Favours. So, in Henry V. And shall forget the Office of our Hand, Sooner than 'Quittance of Desert and Merit, According to the Weight and Worthiness.

Note return to page 209 [49] (49) And, having the World for your Labour, 'tis a Wrong in your own World, and you might quickly make it right.] I am mistaken, if by this Sentiment the Author did not intend to ridicule the Opinion of those Philosophers, who hold, that Right and Wrong are of so arbitrary Natures, that God, consistently with his Attributes, may authorize Injustice. For, because it becomes Injustice only by his Will, it ceases to be so when that Will is alter'd. Mr. Warburton.

Note return to page 210 [50] (50) I've rubb'd this young Gnat almost to the Sense, And he grows Angry.] The rubbing a Gnat to Sense, is, I believe, an Experiment that never was communicated even to the Royal Society. The least Frication, on the contrary, would not only rub him out of all Sense, but out of Life into the Bargain. The old Quarto's have it, Quat: a Word, which, I confess, I am absolutely a Stranger to. I have ventur'd to conjecture, I've rubb'd this young Knot, &c. The Knat, or Knot, is a small Bird, plentiful with us, in Lincolnshire and Lancashire; which took its Name, as Cambden says, from its being a delicious Morsel with King Canute, who was likewise call'd Knout. This Bird, being once taken, as Gesner tells us, is above all others tame and tractable. In this respect it sorts with Rodorigo's Character, an easy, manageable Cully. And, again, as he is amorous in his Pursuit, so this Bird is of the Species of those quæ Clunes agitant. It is call'd by some of the Latin Writers, Cinclus.

Note return to page 211 [51] (51) Cas. I'm maim'd for ever.] None of the Editions hitherto have by any marginal Direction accounted for what Cassio here says, and likewise for what he afterwards says, My Leg is cut in Two. We are not to suppose, he receiv'd this violent Hurt in fencing with his Opposite; but as Rodorigo and He are engaged, Iago with a broad Sword hacks at him behind. In this Incident our Author precisely copies his Italian Novelist. Uscendo una Sera il Capo di Squadra di casa d' una Meretrice colla quale egli si solazzava, essendo la notte buia, gli si accosto l' Alfiero con la Spada in mano, & gli dirizzò un colpo alle gambe, per farlo cadere: & auvenne, ch' egli gli tagliò la destra coscia à traverso, onde il Misero cadde. “The Captain (Cassio) coming one Night from the House of a Harlot, (with whom he entertain'd himself,) it being very dark, the Antient with his Sword ready drawn attack'd him, and let drive a Blow at his Legs with Design to cut him down: And he happen'd to cut him across the right Thigh in such a manner, that with the Wound the miserable Gentleman fell to Earth.”

Note return to page 212 [52] (52) Put out the light, and then put out the light.] The Players, in all the Companies wherever I have seen this Tragedy perform'd, commit an Absurdity here, in making Othello put out the Candle, which, 'tis evident, never was the Poet's Intention. Desdemona is discover'd in her Bed, in the dark; and Othello enters the Chamber with a single Taper. If there were any other Lights burning in the Room, where would be the Drift of putting out his? If there were no others, and that he puts his out, how absurd is it for Desdemona in the Dark to talk of his Eyes rowling, and his gnawing his nether Lip?—This, I conceive, to have been the Poet's Meaning. Othello, struck in part with Remorse at the Murther he's going to do, thinks it best to do it in the Dark; this compunction of Nature, in the hurry and perturbation of thought, and those Remains of Tenderness still combating in his Bosom, strikes him into an instant Reflexion, that if he puts out the light, he can rekindle it; but if he once puts out the Light of her Life, that will be extinguish'd for ever. While he is busied in this Contemplation, he throws his Eyes towards her; and then sooth'd with her beauteous Appearance, sets down the Light, to go and kiss her. Upon this, Desdemona wakes; and they continue in Discourse together till he stifles her.

Note return to page 213 [53] (53) Methinks, it should be now a huge Eclipse Of Sun and Moon; and that th' affrighted Globe Should yawn at Alteration.—] Mr. Rymer is so merry, as he thinks, upon this Passage, that I can't help transcribing his wonderful Criticism—“This is wonderful. Here is Poetry to elevate and amuse. It would be uncivil to ask Flamstead, if the Sun and Moon can both together be so hugely eclipsed, in any heavy hour whatsoever. Nor must the Spectators consult Gresham-Colledge, whether a Body is naturally frighted till he yawn again.”—Such are the ludicrous Criticisms of your Wits! But is the Word Eclipse absolutely restrain'd to that natural Phænomenon which we understand by it? If Othello thought his Deed so horrid, that the Sun and Moon ought to start from their Spheres at it, and cease to enlighten this under-Globe, might not such a Defection be call'd an Eclipse, with a Vengeance? Well; but, then, can a Body be frighted till it yawn? Here again, yawn is restrain'd to the Oscitation of a Man ready to fall asleep; and, for the Joak's sake, must mean no other kind of gaping. This Gentleman must have known, sure, that yawn (as well as &grx;&gra;&grn;&gro;&gruc;&grn;, from which it is deriv'd) was oftner apply'd to the gaping of the Earth, than employ'd to signify the &grs;&grt;&groa;&grm;&gra; &grk;&gre;&grx;&grh;&grn;&grog;&grst;, the yawning, for instance, of a Critick gaping after a feeble Jeast. But, I am afraid, Mr. Rymer was not too diligent a Reader of the Scriptures. Let the Poet account for the Prophanation, if he has committed any: but it is very obvious to me, his Allusion is grounded on a certain solemn Circumstance, when Darkness is said to have cover'd the whole Face of the Land; when Rocks were rent, and Graves open'd.

Note return to page 214 [54] (54) I look down tow'rds his Feet: but That's a Fable,] I wont pretend to affirm, but Ben Jonson seems to me to be sneering at Shakespeare, for hinting at a Notion, inculcated, by the Foppery of Painters, and Superstition of Zealots, into the Vulgar, that the Devil has cloven Feet. I look'd o' your Feet afore, you cannot cozen me; Your Shoe's not cloven, Sir, you are whole-hoof'd. Devil's an Ass.

Note return to page 215 [55] (55) &lblank; of One, whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a Pearl away Richer than all his Tribe.] I have restor'd, Judian, from the Elder Quarto, as the genuine and more eligible Reading. Mr. Pope thinks, this was occasion'd probably by the Word Tribe just after: I have many Reasons to oppose to this Opinion. In the first Place, the most ignorant Indian, I believe, is so far the Reverse of the Dunghil Cock in the Fable, as to know the Estimation of a Pearl, beyond that of a Barley-Corn. So that, in that Respect, the Thought itself would not be just. Then, if our Author had design'd to reflect on the ignorance of the Indian without any farther Reproach, he would have call'd him rude, and not, base. Again, I am persuaded, as my Friend Mr. Warburton long ago observ'd, the Phrase is not here literal, but metaphorical: and, by his Pearl, our Author very properly means a fine Woman. To instance only in two Passages from his Troilus, of the like Usage; Her Bed is India; there she lies, a Pearl; Is She worth keeping? why, She is a Pearl, Whose Price hath launch'd above a thousand Ships, And turn'd crown'd Kings to Merchants. But Mr. Pope objects farther to reading Judian, because, to make Sense of This, we must presuppose some particular Story of a Jew alluded to, which is much less obvious: But has Shakespeare never done this, but in this single Instance? Let us turn back, for Proof, to his Twelfth-night; Why should I not, had I the Heart to do't, Like to th' Ægyptian Thief, at point of Death, Kill what I love? Here is a particular Story hinted at, (which I have explain'd in the proper place,) much less obvious than the Story above presuppos'd. But this we are to observe of Shakespeare, that tho both his Stories are introduc'd tacito nomine, his Allusion and Similie are as clear, as if he had given us the express History. Ben Jonson, I am sure, does not always convey his Allusions it the same Clearness. I have a Husband, and a two-legg'd one, But such a Moonling, as no wit of Man, Or Roses, can redeem from being an Ass. Here is a Story presuppos'd, but so darkly couch'd, that, I dare warrant, scarce one Reader in five hundred of this Poet ever guess'd at it. Nor can Any One know what he would be at, who has not read either Lucian or Apuleius: and observ'd, that when Lucius by a magical Unguent was converted into an Ass, the only Means of recovering his own Form was for him to brouse on fresh Roses. I hope, the Explication of this obscure Passage will compensate for the Digression. But, to return to my Author. I am satisfied, in his Judian, he is alluding to Herod; who, in a Fit of blind Jealousie, threw away such a Jewel of a Wise as Mariamne was to him. What can be more parallel in Circumstance, than the Conduct of Herod and Othello? Nor was the Story so little obvious, as Mr. Pope seems to imagine. For, in the Year 1613, the Lady Elizabeth Carew publish'd a Tragedy, call'd Mariam, the fair Queen of Jewry. I shall only add, that our Author might write Judian, or Judean, (if that should be alledg'd as any objection) instead of Judæan, with the same License and Change of Accent, as, in his Antony and Cleopatra, he shortens the second Syllable of Euphrates in Pronunciation.

Note return to page 216 1120701 ERRATUM. Vol. I. p. 249. l. 14, instead of, On his wife's Frailty, read, On his wife's Fealty.—If any other slight Errors have escap'd observance, or been committed at Press, it is hop'd, They are so very few that they will be easily pardon'd by the Readers.

Note return to page 217 ERRATUM. In the Title of the above Table, instead of Collected by the Editor, read, Collated by &c.

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