No doubt Mrs Ford was an excellent carver, perhaps equal to any in Windsor; and entertained her friends with choice viands: but the entertainment to which Falstaff alludes being that of love, her adroitness in the art of carving is not absolutely necessary.

Falstaff has spied a certain craving in the eye of this merry wife; and as she has given him the leer of invitation, he, in his lascivious humour, says,

She craves, she gives the leer of invitation.

Act IV.-Scene 11.-page 162. Mrs Page. Alas, three of master Ford's brothers watch the door with pistols, that none shall

issue out.

This anachronism is not Shakspeare's, but the printer's. We must call to remembrance, that Pistol having quarrelled with Falstaff, disclosed the knight's intentions to Ford: and we also find Pistol employed as the Crier Hobgoblin in Windsor forest. If then, that Ford really employed three of his brothers to watch the door, is it not highly probable that the treacherous Pistol was also employed to identify Falstaff? Under these considerations, I believe our author wrote: Three of master Ford's brothers watch the door,

with Pistol, &c.

word.

Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,

As much in mock as mark.

This is as ridiculous a blunder as any in our author's plays; and various have been the attempts to force its elucidation: nay, forgery, it is said, was adopted by Mr Kenrick, to give a list of the supposed forfeits which barber-surgeons exacted from those customers that deviated from their established rules!

On the absurd idea that such a custom ever prevailed, either on the Continent or in England, I shall be silent; and, being satisfied that the passage is grossly corrupt, I hasten to restore the original reading.

This error, like numbers of the same class, originates from mistake of sound: instead of forceps, the very sagacious transcriber gave the more familiar word-forfeits. The passage corrected affords a new figure.

laws, for all faults; But faults so countenanc'd, that the strong statutes Stand like the forceps in a barber's shop, As much in mock as mark.

The exasperated Duke considers his laws as mocked by the people; and that they afford as much food for merriment, as loungers in a barber's shop derive by playing tricks on each other with the forceps, which is exposed as a mark of the barber's profession. Thus the forceps in a barber-surgeon's shop, became the mock of idlers, though exhibited as a mark of surgical knowledge; and, in like manner, the Duke's laws had become the mock of the dissolute, though they were the mark of legislative wisdom.

Act V.-Scene IV.-page 197.

Herne's oak, with obscured lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night. The troop of supposed fairies, with obscured lights, are to display their lights, not "to the night," (darkness) but, to Sir John Falstaff, knight; and which, as Mrs Ford observes, "cannot choose but amaze him." We should read:--they will at once display to the knight.

This error has kept the true sense of the passage long enough in darkness; the light now thrown on it, will, I hope, have its effect.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.-Act III.Scene I-page 304.

Claudio.

And the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, &c. Greater nonsense cannot be exhibited! How can the spirit be delighted, that is condemned to bathe in fiery floods? We should read:

And the delated spirit To bathe in fiery floods, &c. Delated (accused) the spirit, or soul accused for its criminality, is thus condemned.

amusement in pointing the forceps to the mouth of a companion, while under the operation of shaving: the position for shaving, and that when seated to have a bone extracted from the throat, being precisely the same.

Then, again: The forceps used by an accoucheur, would, to the dissolute, afford. similar cause for idle mirth.

MACBETH.-Scene III-page 48. Macbeth. This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill :-cannot be good:Cannot be ill; cannot be good. Then what can this supernatural soliciting amount to? The text is corrupt. I am convinced the author wrote:

This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill can it be good?

Macbeth, reflecting on supernatural agency, debates with himself, whether evil or good may result from his credulity:-he is not, at this moment, the hardened villain; but, ambition spurring him on, he says,—If ill, "why hath it given me an earnest of suc

cess?"here he pauses; and taking in his mind's eye the horrid picture occasioned by ambition, he demands-Can it be good? If good, "why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair ?" for, can good result from that which proceeds from evil?

The transcriber mistook the sound of the words from having just written cannot. Act II-Scene II.-page 112. Macbeth. Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of

care.

With the information received from four commentators on the words-ravell'd sleave, all we can learn is, that sleave means "the ravelled knotty part of silk,"-HEATH. "Silk that has not been twisted,"-STEEVENS. "Coarse, soft, unwrought silk,"MALONE. "Ravelled means entangled," -M. MASON. Surely, these explanations of ravelled sleave cannot be considered as aids to unravel the passage? If the commentators knew the application of the metaphor, why not say, that the ravell'd sleave of care, meant-the brain ?—and which is compared to the ball of the silk-worm. This ball becomes the insect's tomb, and wherein it remains until the heat of the sun re-animates it; when it awakens transformed :so with man, in sleep, all his cares cease, and when he awakes, it is with renovated vigour.

Act IV.-Scene I.-page 202. Third Witch. Harper cries:-'Tis time, 'tis time. In this scene we perceive a cauldron, in which, it must be supposed, are various ingredients towards composing an infernal broth. In the progress of this magical preparation, the Witches await certain signals: the mewing of the brindled cat three times, is the first. The hedge-pig has whin'd once; but before the Witches can proceed in their infernal ceremony, the hedge-pig must repeat its cries, to make the magical numberthrice, and which they await. Scarcely hath the second Witch finished her observation, that the hedge-pig had whined once; when that animal whines again and again: this is the critical moment for the Witches to proceed in their infernal ceremony; and, immediately, the third Witch exclaims:

Hark, her cries !-'Tis time, 'tis time.

Then they go round about the cauldron and throw in the additional ingredients.

It is almost unnecessary to say, that the transcriber, who wrote as another person recited, mistook the sound of the words, and, for-Hark her, wrote-Harper.

Mr Steevens thinks Harper is some imp, or familiar spirit! but, in my opinion, Mr Harper was as little known to Shakspeare as to any of his commentators.

tion for the inhabitants of the infernal regions; who, if he had the power, would Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, and thereby render the subjects of Lucifer peaceable and quiet; and establish a good understanding where, hitherto, there has been discord, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

In the present passage, we behold the mischief and confusion which a single letter produces. Our inimitable author wrote: Nay, had I power, I should

Sour the sweet milk of concord into hell. Thus, we gain the designed antithesis. Elucidation is almost unnecessary. Had he power, he would change concord into discord: what was sweet on earth, he would sour, to gratify his baneful passions; and, thereby, make this fair world a hell.

In RICHARD II. Act III. sc. ii. we have a similar antithesis:

"Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour." Again, Act V. sc. v.

"How sour sweet musick is."

Act V.-Scene V.-page 277. Macbeth. She should have died hereafter,

There would have been a time for such a word.

Some of my predecessors say, this passage is corrupt: others, that it is a broken speech. In my opinion, the punctuation only wants correcting. We should read,—

She should have died: Hereafter,

KING LEAR.-Act I.-Scene I.-page 375. Lear. The untented woundings of a father's curse

Pierce every sense about thee.

The only sense which the present reading affords, Mr Steevens has furnished; but as commentators, like doctors, differ in opinion, mine is, that the woundings are so corrupt, they require fresh dressing :-Assuredly, our author wrote:

The indented woundings of a father's curse,

What part is wounded ?-the heart! Can a tent be applied to an internal wound?— No! What occasions the indented woundings? a heavy pressure of affliction: Then, as Goneril is the immediate cause of Lear's anguish, so proceeds his curse from the affected part. See Act II. sc. iv. where Lear makes known his distress to Regan:

"O, Regan, she hath tied Sharp-tooth'd unkindness, like a vulture, here." [Points to his heart The transcriber's ear deceived him :-untented and indented are nearly alike both in sound and characters.

Kent. If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would Act II-Scene II.-page 394.

make thee care for me.

If he had him in a pinfold, from whence he could not run away, he would give him a sound drubbing. If lipsbury was not a phrase well known in our author's time, to imply gagging, it has been coined for the purpose; as it is evident Kent means,Where the movement of thy lips should be of no avail.

*

We are not ourselves a married man, and are not without hopes of being permitted to remain a bachelor all the rest of our lives. A few months ago (we will not attempt to deny it) we had some thoughts of trying a wife, for we conjectured that we could support a small family in a flat, not uncomfortably, on the produce of our various periodical labours. We accordingly set about studying the subject, and got together Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women, Gregory's Legacy, Gisborne on Duties, Celebs in Search of a Wife, a few dozens of anonymous advice, and finally, these Letters from a Lady of Distinction. The consequence was, that we laid aside immediately all intentions of the sort, and after what we have been told by such high authorities, we fairly confess that we would not be induced to marry, though offered twenty guineas per sheet.

We had no idea what sort of creatures young ladies have all along been, from our great-great-grandmothers in clusive. They have been regularly instructed by aged and experienced persons of both sexes in all the arts of hypocrisy, duplicity, cunning, and hocus-pocus-and we now perceive, that the very bride on her wedding day, covered with blushes though she be, has long been in regular and scientific training, how best to humbug her husband.

Long before a young lady is matched, or the day fixed for entering the ring, she is given over to the care of those knowing old ones, Fordyce, Gregory, and Gisborne. They soon put her into excellent wind-and enable her even with gloves to administer severe punishment, while at the same time, she is taught how to stop, and hitting and getting away. She thus enters the ring, an accomplished pugilist, and the artless Johnny Raw, her husband, having no chance to win during the first rounds of the fight, relinquishes the contest severely punished both about his ogles and his listeners. So true it is, that light weights with skill and bot

tom, are, at all times, more than a match for mere strength without the benefit of science.

Who the "Lady of Distinction" may have been who penned the letters which Mr Colburn has now published, we know not-but we are told by the Editor, that she " displays a knowledge of the usages of society, more especially of that higher class of it to which the author belonged." We shrewdly suspect that those higher persons to whom she belonged owed their eminence less to their graces than their garrets-and that ladies of equal distinction might be found in no inconsiderable numbers, in less lofty situations, as for example, cellars and thrice-sunken stories. We are told, also, that these letters of this lady of distinction were addressed to "the ornament of the British court, the delight of every fashionable circle, the enthusiastic patroness of genius, and the ready friend of the wretched." They were inflicted upon her, it is said, immediately after her marriage in 1774and yet, in one of them, the writer speaks of the death of Lavater, which happened, if we mistake not, in 1801. It appears, therefore, that the editor has most cruelly mangled and interpolated this lady of distinction. We, however, advise our readers not to perplex themselves with this bug-bear of an aged lady inditing letters to a niece in 1774, but at once to figure to themselves some young gentleman sitting in cheap furnished lodgings, off the Strand somewhere, perhaps about seven shillings per week-such a young gentleman, for example, as Dr Polidori, or some other, that will occur-and his privacy only broken in upon by printers devils, impotent of the endurance of the want of copy. The reader is thus relieved from that feeling of giddiness which one is apt to suffer in very high places-and owns how comfortable is the change from a lady of distinction to a gentleman of no distinction at all.

But be the sex of this lady what it may, let us attend a little to her advice. And, in the first place, she

favours her niece with a long letter on the character of her husband, the delicacy of which idea cannot be sufficiently admired. Worthy well meaning old woman! what effect thinkest thou would a long epistle of thine produce on a young girl's mind during the honey-moon, who did indeed love her husband? We leave this question to be answered by any one of our lately married contributors. "In sincerity," says the dowager or Dr Polidori," I look upon the disposition of your husband to be greatly similar to your own, rather open to 'foibles than to errors. This is a very nice distinction-but she continues, at least in him, they are no more. For what in woman are generally considered as crimes, custom, however unjustly, has made in the sex but follies. "When I mention those things, which among men are called follies, I understand the disposition for drinking to be one." To get drunk, therefore, is, in the opinion of this old dame, nothing more than folly in a woman-a little act of levity, which, but for the injustice of custom, might be thought oc casionally to confer a certain grace. She then goes on with a little more freedom-slyly insinuating that the young wife may turn her husband's failings to her own advantage.

"To be free on this subject, as the present business was to point out the real character and temper of your husband, which, in some particulars, your inexperience might mistake, I must mention that I think he has some portion of pride; and obstinacy always attends this in a proportionate degree. I do not mean to reflect on him in so doing; his birth, his rank, his fortune, his connexions, all produce the one, and that is as naturally the parent of the other. But he has good nature in a much greater degree than any other quality; this would influence him to give into every thing with in the bounds of prudence that you might prescribe, if it were without seeming to do so; and he dotes upon you with a sincere affection: this will give you, indeed, all that you need to wish, and continue so long as you do not abuse it: but the greater his love, the less he will bear any sort of abuse."

If, however, there be any thing insidious in the above doctrine, the old lady makes amends for it, in the following most judicious advice:

"Every thing generally fails that is attempted with precipitation and rashness.Never complain of the time he is absent from you; for if he find you uneasy on that

account, he will leave you the sooner, and expecting a repetition of complaint at his return, he will defer that return the longer. Never object to his company; for he will then think his own judgment questioned, and that he can only support it by opposition. These things of themselves weary and nauseate the mind; nothing, except what is innocent, gives lasting pleasure. The first hours of a scene of drinking and revelry, are joyous; but the last are tedious and painful. (How do you know, my good lady?) If you receive him tenderly when he returns from one of these parties, his love for you will make him feel it in the most affecting manner. He will compare the pleasure of those hours immediately after his return, with the pain of those which he passed just before it. He will not only resolve to leave the party sooner at the next meeting, but he will do so. From leaving the bottle at the first sign of uneasiness, he will, on your continuing the He at first learned to go away from pain, pleasure of your meeting, leave it before. he will now go from the prospect of it.

This will be a certain effect from the difference he will find between his companions, and your tenderness and affection: and what is this? Why, it is what I told you would happen: the end will be effected, while you seemed not to have it in contemplawill leave the glass when the most sober do; tion. He will no longer be fond of wine; he and this being his own act, not yours, will continue: and being, likewise, the effect, not of your remonstrances, but of his own

conviction, he will never return to the error again."

We are absolutely beginning quite to delight in this little volume, and hope that we have not said any thing disrespectful of it or its author. The dowager gives some apparently judicious advice how a young wife may gradually break off with her husband's friends without positively offending them, so as to enable the different parties to settle comfortably into coolness or dryness. And then she recommends dead silence respecting her husband's merits or defects.

"It will be doubtless natural for you, beside accidentally intrusting your more intimate acquaintance with your sentiments, to do it purposely, but, though it be natural, it is evidently wrong. Avoid it as you would the bite of an asp, or the sting of a

scorpion. The minutest things that con

cern a husband and his wife, may be swelled into ineidents of the utmost consequence Little things may make the best friends enemies, and then the slightest hint will serve as a foundation for volumes. I do not only guard you against giving breath to the least suspicion or disgust with regard to your husband; I would prescribe as strict