- ciently the same meaning. = 22:) — dispútable-] For disputatious. 23:) -- ducdame; For duedàme, Sir Thomas Hanmer, very acutely and judiciously, reads duc ad me, that is, bring him to me. Dr. Farmer thinks it is evident! a word coined for the nonce. = 24:) "And if he will come to me." MALONE. 25:) compact of jars,] i. c. made up of discords. 2:) Call me not fool, till heaven hath sent me fortune:] Fortuna favet fatuis, is, as Mr. Upton observes, the saying here alluded to; or, as in Publius Syrus: "Fortuna, nimium quem foret, stultum facit." = 27) only suit Suit means petition, not dress. 28:) if not, &c. Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the sarcasms of a jester, they subject themselves to his power; and the wise man will have his folly anatomised, that is dissected and laid open, by the squandering glances or random shots of a fool. JOHNSON.29:) - for a counter,] About the time when this play was written, the French counters (i. e. pieces of false money used as a means of reckoning) were brought into use in England. = 80:) -his bravery i. e. his fine clothes. 31:) "There then: How then, what then?" &c. MALONE. - 32:) inland bred,] Inland here, and elsewhere in this play, is the opposite to outland, or upland. Orlando means to say, that he had not been bred among clowns. = 33:) And know some nurture:] Nurture is education, breeding. 34:) And take upon command-] At your own command. =35:) His acts being seven ages.] I have seen, more than once, an old print, entitled The Stage of Man's Life, divided into seven ages. As emblematical representations of this sort were formerly stuck up, both for ornament and instruction, in the generality of houses, it is more probable that Shakspeare took his hint from thence, than from Hippocrates or Proclus, who are quoted by Mr. Malone. HENLEY. 36:)-and bearded like the pard, Beards of different cut were appropriated in our author's time to different characters and professions. The soldier had one fashion, the judge another, the bishop different from both, &c. 37:) sudden and quick-] Lest it should be supposed that these epithets are synonymous, it is necessary to be observed that one of the ancient senses of sudden is violent. 38:)modern instances,] Modern means trite, common. = 39:) Thou art not so unkind, &c.]|| That is, thy action is not so contrary to thy kind, or to human nature, as the ingratitude of man.= 40:) Thy tooth is not so keen, || Because thou art not seen,] It is the opinion of the best commentators, that this can only be tortured into a meaning. Dr. Johnson paraphrases thus: - Thou winter wind, thy rudeness gives the less pain, as thou art not seen, as thou art an enemy that dost not brave us with thy presence, and whose unkindness is therefore not aggravated by insult. 41:) As friend remember'd not.] Remember'd for remembering.= = ACT III. = = 1:) - an absent argument-] An argument is used for the contents of a book, thence Shakspeare considered it as meaning the subject, and then used it for subject in yet another sense. 2:) Make an extent-] "To make an extent of lauds," is a legal phrase, from the words of a writ, (extendi facias,) whereby the sheriff is directed to cause certain lands to be appraised to their full extended value, before he delivers them to the person entitled under a recognizance, &c. in order that it may be certainly known how soon the debt will be paid. MALONE.3:) expediently,] That is, expeditiously. 4:) - unexpressive-] For inerpressible. 5:) — may complain of good breeding,] May complain of a good education, for being so inefficient, of so little use to him. MALONE. 6:) like an ill-roasted egg,] Of this jest I do not fully comprehend the meaning. JoNSON. Shakspeare's similes hardly ever run on four feet. MALONE. 7:) - make incision in thee!] Warburton says, to make incision was a proverbial expression then in vogue for to make to understand. But Steevens thinks the allusion is to that common expression, of cutting such a one for the simples. In either case we regret the profaneness. 8:)thou art raw. i. c. thou art ignorant, unexperienced. S:) bawd to a bell-wether;] Wether and ram had anciently the same meaning. JOHNSON.10:)-fairest lin'd,] i. e. most fairly delineated. 11:) But the fair-] Fair is beauty, complexion.=12:) rank to market.] Sir T. Hanmer reads rate to market, which Mr. Malone adopts. The hobbling metre of these verses, (says Touchstone,) is like the ambling, shuffling pace of a butter woman's horse going to market. = 13:) the earliest fruit-] Shakspeare seems to have had little knowledge in gardening. The medlar is one of the latest fruits, being uneatable till the end of November. STEEVENS. 14:) That shall civil sayings show.] Civil, I believe, is not designedly opposed to solitary. It means only grave, or solemn. STEEVENS. 15:) in little show.] The allusion is to a miniature-portrait. The current phrase in our author's time was "painted in little." MALONE. = 16:) Atalanta's better part:] The commentators are not agreed what this lady's better part was: Dr. Johnson inclines to her beauty; Mr. Tollet to her virgin chastity; Dr. Farmer and Mr. Malone to her wit; Mr. Steevens sums up the evidence in these words: "after all, I believe that Atalanta's better part, means only the best part about her, such as was most commended." = 17:) the touches-] The features; les traits. 18:)-a palm-tree:] A palm tree, in the forest of Arden, is as much out of its place, as the lioness in a subsequent scene. = 19:)—I was never so be-rhymed since Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat,] Rosalind is a very learned lady. She alludes to the Pythagorean doctrine, which teaches that souls transmigrate from one animal to another, and relates that in his time she was an Irish rat, and by some metrical charm was rhymed to death. JOHNSON.=20:) — friends to meet;] Alluding ironically to the proverb: "Friends may meet, but mountains never greet. 21:) out of all whooping!] i, e. out of all measure, or reckoning. This appears to have been a phrase of the same import as another formerly in use, "out of all cry."=24) Good my complexion!] A little unmeaning exclamatory ad- | dress to her beauty; in the nature of a small oath. Ritsox. | 23:) - One inch of delay more is a South-sea-off discovery.] The old copy reads, and Mr. Malone adheres to itis a South-sea of discoverie: which, says Mr. Henderson, is the only reading that can preserve the sense of Rosalind. A South-sea of discovery, is not as a discovery, as FAR OFF, but as COMPREHENSIVE as the South-sea; which, being the largest in the world, affords the widest scope for exercising curiosity, = 24:) - speak sad brow, and true maid.) i e speak with a grave countenance, and as truly as thou art a virgin; speak seriously and honestly.25:) Wherein went he? In what manner was he clothed? How did he go dressed ? =26:) Garagantua's mouth-] Rosalind requires ninc questions to be answered in one word. Celia tells her that a word of such magnitude is too big for any mouth but that of Garagantua, the giant of Rabelais. JORNSON. = 27:) — to count atomies, Atomies are those minute particles discernible in a stream of sunshine that breaks into a darkened room. HENLEY. 28;) Cry, holla! to thy tongue, Holle wa a term of the manege, by which the rider restrained and stopp'd his horse. = 29)—to kill my heart.] A quibble between heart and hart. 30:) but I answer you right painted cloth,] This alludes to the fashion in old tapestry hangings, of mottos and moral sentences from the mouths of the figures worked or painted in them. =31:) — removed —] i. e. remote, sequestered.=32:)—in-land man;] is used in this play for one civilized, in opposition to the rustic of the priest. 33:) a blue eye:] i. c. a blueness about the eyes. 34:) an unquestionable spirit;] that is, a spirit unwilling to be conversed with. 35:)—your having-] Having is possession, estate. ==== = 86:) Then your hose should be ungarter d, &c.] These seem to have been the established and characteristical marks by which the votaries of love were denoted in the time of Shakspeare.37:) — point-derice —] i. e. exact, drest with finical nicety. =38:) - a moonish youth, i. e. variable. 39:) — Audrey;] Is a corruption of Etheldreda. The saint of that name is so styled in ancient calendars.= 40:) — as the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.] Capricious is not here humoursome, fantastical, &c. but lascivious. UPTON. Mr. Upton is, perhaps, too refined in his interpretation of capricious. Our author remembered that caper was the Latin for a goat, and thence chose this epithet. This, I believe, is the whole. There is a poor quibble between goats and Goths. MALONE. 41:) — ill inhabited i. e. ill-lodged. An unusual sense of the word. 42:) it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room:] A great reckoning in a little room, implies that the entertainment was mean, and the bill extravagant.=43:) A material fool!] A fool with matter in him: a fool stocked with notions. 44:) — I am foul.] Not fair, or homely. = 45:) what though? What then? = 46:) the rascal.] Lean, poor deer, are called rascal deer.=978) -defence-] Defence, as here opposed to "no skill,” signifies the art of fencing. - = 48:) Sir Oliver: He that has taken his first degree at the university, is in the academical | style called Dominus, and in common language was heretofore termed Sir. The Sir Hugh Evans of Shakspeare is not a Welsh knight who hath taken orders, but only a Wel-h clergyman without any regular degree from either of the Universities. See Barrington's History of the Gredir Family. NICHOLS.=49:) — God'ild you --~] i, e. God yield you, God reward you. 50:) his bow,] i. e. his yoke. The anrient yoke in form resembled a bow. = = 51:) "behind thee. MALONE. 52:) "with thee." MALONE. 53:) Something browner than Judas's:] Judas was constantly represented in ancient painting or tapestry, with red hair and beard. =54:) I'faith, his hair is of a good colour.] There is much of nature in this petty perverseness of Rosalind: she finds fault in her lover, in hope to be contradicted, and when Celia in sportive malice too readily seconds her accusations, she contradicts herself rather than suffer her favourite to want a vindication. — 55:) — as the touch of holy bread.] ¦ We should read beard, that is, as the kiss of an holy saiat or hermit, called the kiss of charity. This makes the comparison just and decent; the other impions and absurd. WARBURTON.56:) as concave as a cover'd goblet,] i. e. hollow. 57:)- much question] i. e. conversation. 58:)quite traverse, athwart, &c.] An unexperienced lover is here compared to a puny tilter, to whom it was a disgrace to have his lance broken across, as it was a mark either ef want of courage or address. This happened when the horse flew on one side, in the career: and hence arose the jocular proverbial phrase of spurring the horse only on one side. = 59%) of his lover] i. c. of his mistress. = 69:) 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable:] Sure for surely. = 61:) The cicatrice and capable impressure-] Cicatrice is here not very properly used; it is the scar of a wound. Capable may mean here — perceptible. = 62:) — power of fancy,] Fancy is here used for love. = 63:) — Who might be your mother,] It is common for the poets to express cruelty by saying, of those who commit it, that they were born of rocks, or suckled by tigresses. JOHNSON. 64:) "mo beauty." MALONE. 65:) Of nature's sale-work:] The allusion is to the practice of mechanics, whose work bespoke is more elaborate than that which is made up for chance customers. === 66:) Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer.] The sense is, The ugly seem most ugly, when, though ugly, they are scoffers.: 07:)--though all the world could see, None could be so abus'd in sight as he.] Though all mankind could look on you, none could be so deceived as to think you beautiful but he. JOHNSON. = = 68:) Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?] The second of these lines is from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 1637.69%) That the old carlot-] i. e. peasant, from carl or churl; probably a word of Shakspeare's coinage. =70:) - a peevish boy:] Peevish, in ancient language, signifies weak, silly.=71:) "He is not very tail." MALONE. = used for sayings, though neither in its primary or figurative ACT IV. 1:) which is nice;] i. c. silly, trifling. = 2:) Malone reads, "travels; which by often rumination wraps me, in a most humorous sadness." — :) — disable —] i. e. undervalue. 4:) swam in a gondola.] That is, been at Venice, the seat at that time of all licentiousness, where the young English gentlemen wasted their fortunes, debased their morals, and sometimes lost their religion. 5:) — a Rosalind of a better leer than you] i. e. of a better feature, complexion, or colour, than you. 6:) I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain,] Statues, and particularly that of Diana, with water conveyed through them to give the appearance of weeping figures, were anciently a frequent ornament of fountains. -I will laugh like a hyen,] The bark of the hyena was anciently supposed to re-ry at the door of a vintner. The practice is still observed semble a loud laugh. 8:) Make the doors-] This is an expression used in several of the midland counties, instead of bar the door. :) - Wit, whither wilt?] This was an exclamation much in use, when any one was either talking nonsense, or usurping a greater share in conversation than justly belonged to him. 10:) make her fault her husband's occasion,] That is, represent her fault as occasioned by her husband.=11:) — the most pathetical break-promise,] Rosalind means a lover whose falschood would most deeply affect his mistress. 12:) begot of thought,] i. c. of melancholy, 13:) The foregoing noisy scene was introduced only to fill up an interval, which is to represent two hours. XI. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. This contraction of the time we might impute to poor Rosalind's impatience, but that a few minutes after we find Orlando sending his excuse. I do not see that by any probable division of the Acts this absurdity can be obviated. JOHNSON. ls ACT I. 1:) Lafeu,] We should read-Lefeu. STEEVENS.2:) Parolles,] I suppose we should write this name Paroles, i. e. a creature made up of empty words. STEEVENS. 3:) Violenta only enters once, and then she neither speaks, nor is spoken to. This name appears to be borrowed from an old metrical history, entitled Didaco and Violenta, 14:) And here much Orlando!] Much! was frequently used to indicate disdain. 15:) "did bid me." MALONE.= 16:)-vengeance] is used for mischief. 17:)-youth and kind-] Kind is the old word for nature. 18:)- all that I can make: i.e. raise as profit from any thing.-19:)-11576. STEEVENS.=4:)—in ward,] Under his particular care, sec, love hath made thee a tame snake,] This term was, in our author's time, frequently used to express a poor contemptible fellow. == 20:)-purlicus of this forest,] Purlieu, says Manwood's Treatise on the Forest Laws, c xx. a certaine territorie of ground adjoyning unto the forest, meared and bounded with unmoveable marks, meeres, and boundaries: which territories of ground was also forest, and afterwards disaforested againe by the perambulations made for the severing of the new forest from the old." REED. 21:)-napkin:] i. e. handkerchief.=22:) And he did render him-] i.e. describe him. = 23:) in which hurtling-] To hurtle is to move with impetuosity and tumult. 24:) Cousin - Ganymede!] Celia, in her first fright, forgets Rosalind's character and disguise, and calls out cousin, then recollects herself, and says Ganymede. JOHNSON.= as my guardian, till I come to age. It is now almost forgotten in England, that the heirs of great fortunes were the king's wards. Whether the same practice prevailed in France, it is of no great use to enquire, for Shakspeare gives to all nations the manners of England. JouNsoN. = 5:) -virtuous qualities,] By virtuous qualities are meant qualities of good breeding and erudition, and not moral ones. WARBURTON. 6:)—they are virtues and traitors too; in her they are the better for their simpleness;] Her virtues are the better for their simpleness, that is, her excellencies are the better because they are artless and open, without fraud, without design. The learned commentator has well explained virtues, but has not, I think, reached the force of the word traitors, and therefore has not shown the fall extent of Shakspeare's masterly observation. Virtues in an unclean mind are virtues and traitors too. Estimable and useful qualities, joined with an evil disposition, give ACT V. =1:) "or, to wit." MALONE. — 2:) And you, that disposition power over others, who, by admiring the fair sister.] Oliver speaks to her in the character she had tioning the sharpers of his time, observes, that some of virtue, are betrayed to the malevolence. The Tatler, menassumed, of a woman courted by Orlando his brother. = 8:) them are even of such elegance and knowledge that a young clubs cannot part them.] It appears from many of our old man who falls into their way, is betrayed as much by his dramas, that, in our author's time, it was a common custom, judgment as his passions. JOHNSON. =7:)—all livelihood --] on the breaking out of a fray, to call out "Clubs- clubs,' to part the combatants. 4:) - human as she is,] that is, i. c. all appearance of life. :) I do affect a sorrow, indeed, but i have it too.] Helena has, I believe, a meaning not a phantom, but the real Rosalind, without any of the danger generally conceived to attend the rites of incantation. here, that she does not wish should be understood by the JOHNSON. 5:)-bid your friends;] i. e. invite your friends. countess. Her affected sorrow was for the death of her b:) all observance;] Probably an error, for obeisance. father; her real grief for the lowness of her situation, which she feared would for ever be a bar to her union with her == 7:) — a woman of the world] To go to the world, is to beloved Bertram. 9:) If the living be enemy to the grief, be married. So, in Much Ado About Nothing: "Thus (says the excess makes it soon mortal. Lafeu says, excessive Beatrice) every one goes to the world, but Ï.": young gentlemen, &c.] The sense seems to be- Though the = 8:) Truly, grief is the enemy of the living: the countess replies, If words of the song were trifling, the music was not (as might mortal: that is, If the living do not indulge grief, grief the living be an enemy to grief, the excess soon makes it have been expected) good enough to compensate their defect. 9) As those that fear they hope, and know they understand that which dies; and Dr. Warburton [who reads destroys itself by its own excess. By the word mortal, I fear.] The meaning, I think, is, As those who fear, they even those very persons, entertain hopes, that their fears interpretation gives a sentence more acute and more refined. -be not enemy –] that which destroys. I think that my will not be realized; and yet at the same time they well know that there is reason for their fears. MALONE. Let the reader judge. JOHNSON. 10:) That thee may furnish,] 10:) - trod a measure;] a very stately solemn dance. That may help thee with more and better qualifications.= God'ild you, sir ;] í. e. God yield you, reward you. = 11:11:) Laf. Farewell, pretty lady: You must hold the credit 12:) of your father. || Hel. 0, were that all!—I think not on my according as marriage binds, and blood breaks: A man, by father;] Would that the attention to maintain the credit of the marriage ceremony, swEARS that he will keep only to his wife; when, therefore, he leaves her for another, BLOOD my father, (or, not to act anbecoming the daughter of such BREAKS his matrimonial obligation, and he is FORSWORN. a father, for such, perhaps, is the meaning,) were my only solicitude! I think not of him. My cares are all for BerHENLEY.=13:)—dulcet diseases.] This word is capriciously tram. MALONE.=12:) In his bright radiance and collateral - light, &c.] I cannot be united with him and move in the rounds thine eye?] There is something exquisitely beautiful same sphere, but must be comforted at a distance by the in this representation of that suffusion of colours which radiance that shoots on all sides from him. JOHNSON.13:)|| glimmers round the sight when the eye-lashes are wet with In our heart's table;] A table was, in our author's time, a tears. HENLEY. = 46:) I care no more for,] There is a determ for a picture, in which sense it is used here.=14:)— sigued ambiguity: I care no more for, is, I care as much trick of his sweet favour:] Trick is an expression taken from for. I wish it equally. FARMER. = 47:) — strive —] To strive drawing; but on the present occasion may mean neither is to contend. = 48) Your salt tears' head.] The source, tracing nor outline, but peculiarity.=15:) Cold wisdom wait- the fountain of your tears, the cause of your grief. Joaning on superfluous folly.] Cold for naked: as superfluous SON. — 4:) — in their kind—] i. e. in their language, accordfor over-clothed. This makes the propriety of the antithe- ing to their nature. = 50:) — captious and inteuible sieve,] sis. WARBURTON. 16:) And no.] I am no more a queen than Dr. Farmer supposes captious to be a contraction of capayou are a monarch. 17:)-inhibited sin] i. e. forbidden. cious. Mr. Malone thinks it means recipient, capable of re= 18:) -Your date is better-] Here is a quibble on the ceiving what is put into it; and by intenible, incapable of word date, which means both age, and a candied fruit much holding or retaining it. = 51:) And luck not to lose stili:] used in our author's time. =19) A phoenix, &c] The eight Helena means to say, that, like a person who pours water lines following friend, I am persuaded is the nonsense of into a vessel full of holes, and still continues his employsome foolish conceited player. WARBURTON. 20:) — a trai- ment, though he finds the water all lost, and the vessel tress,] It seems that traitress was in that age a term of empty; so, though she finds that the waters of her love are endearment.=21:) christendoms,] This word, which signi- still lost, that her affection is thrown away on an object fies a collective body of christianity, every place where the whom she thinks she never can deserve, she yet is not dischristian religion is embraced, is surely used with much li- couraged, but perseveres in her hopeless endeavour to accence on the present occasion. 22:) And show what we complish her wishes. 52:) Whose aged honour cites a alone must think;] And show by realities what we now must virtuous youth,] i. e. whose respectable conduct in age shows, only think. = 23:)-so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's or proves that you were no less virtuous when young. = counsel, i, e. thou wilt comprehend it.= 24:) What power || 53:) Wish chastly, and love dearly, that your Dian Has is it, which mounts my love so high; || That makes me see, both herself and love;] i.e. Venus. Helena means to say and cannot feed minc eye?] She incans, by what influence "If ever you wished that the deity who presides over chasis my love directed to a person so much above me? whytity, and the queen of amorous rites, were one and the same am I made to discern excellence, and left to long after it, person; or, in other words, if ever you wished for the without the food of hope? JOHNSON.25:) - kiss like native honest and lawful completion of your chaste desires."=5) things.] Things formed by nature for each other. = = 26:) — — notes, whose faculties inclusive-] Receipts in which Senoys-] The Sanesi, as they are termed by Boccace. greater virtues were inclosed than appeared to observation. Painter, who translates him, calls them Senois. They were =55:) Embowell'd of their doctrine,] i. e. exhausted of the people of a small republic, of which the capital was their skill. Sienna. The Florentines were at perpetual variance with them. STEEVENS.27:) It much repairs me-] To repair, in these plays, generally signifies, to renovate.= 28:) He ACT II. 1:) "young lords." MALONE.=2:) “my lords." had the wit, &c.] I believe honour is not dignity of birth MALONE. = = 3:) and yet my heart,&c.] i, e. in the commen or rank, but acquired reputation:- Your father, says the phrase, I am still heart-whole; my spirits, by not sinking king, had the same airy flights of satirical wit with the under my distemper, do not acknowledge its influence. = 4: young lords of the present time, but they do not what he let higher Italy (Those 'bated, that inherit but the did, hide their unnoted levity, in honour, cover petty faults|| fall || Of the last monarchy,) see, &c.] The ancient geogra with great merit. This is an excellent observation. Jocose phers have divided Italy into the higher and the lower, the follies, and slight offences, are only allowed by mankind in Apennine hills being a kind of natural line of partition; the him that over-powers them by great qualities. JOHNSON. = side next the Adriatic was denominated the higher Italy, 29:) His tongue obey'd his hand:] We should read His and the other side the lower; and the two seas followed the tongue obey'd the hand. That is, the hand of his honour's same terms of distinction, the Adriatic being called the upclock, showing the true minutes when exceptions bad him per Sea, and the Tyrrhene, or Tuscan, the lower. Now the speak. 30:) So in approof lives not his epitaph, | As in Sennones, or Scuois, with whom the Florentines are here your royal speech.] Mr. Heath supposes the meaning to be supposed to be at war, inhabited the higher Italy, their this: "His epitaph, or the character he left behind him, is chief town being Arminium, now called Rimini, upon the not so well established by the specimens he exhibited of his Adriatic. HANMER. Dr. Johnson says, that the sense may worth, as by your royal report in his favour." 31:) be this: Let upper Italy, where you are to exercise your whose judgments are | Mere fathers of their garments;] valour, see that you come to gain honour, to the abatement, Who have no other use of their faculties, than to invent that is, to the disgrace and depression of those that have new modes of dress. 32:)-Steward, and Clown.] A clown now lost their ancient military fame, and inherit but the in Shakspeare is commonly taken for a licensed jester, or fall of the last monarchy. To abate is used by Shakspeare domestic fool. We are not to wonder that we find this cha- in the original sense of abattre, to depress, to sink, to deracter often in his plays, since fools were at that time main-ject, to subduc.=5:) - beware of being captives, Before tained in all great families, to keep up merriment in the you serve.] The word serve is equivocal; the sense is, Be house. In the picture of Sir Thomas Moore's family, by Hans not captives before you serve in the war. 6:) — — and no Holbein, the only servant represented is Patison the fool. sword worn, But one to dance with!] It should be rememThis is a proof of the familiarity to which they were ad bered that, in Shakspeare's time, it was usual for gentlemitted, not by the great only, but the wise.33:) — to even men to dance with swords on. Our author gave to all counyour content,] To act up to your desires. 34:)—you lack tries the manners of his own. = 7:)—they wear themselves not folly to commit them, and have ability enough to make in the cap of the time, there, do muster true gait, de.] such knaveries yours.] It appears to me that the accusative The obscurity of the passage arises from the fantastical them refers to knaveries, and the natural sense of the pas language of a character like Parolles, whose affectation of sage seems to be this: "You have folly enough to desire to wit urges his imagination from one allusion to another, commit these knaveries, and ability enough to accomplish without allowing time for his judgment to determine their them." M. MASON. 35:) to go to the world,] This phrase congruity. The cap of time being the first image that achas already occurred, and signifies to be married. 36:) - curs, true gait, manner of eating, speaking, &c. are the seService is no heritage:] This is a proverbial expression. veral ornaments which they muster, place, or arrange in 37:) that ears my land,] To ear is to plough. 38:) A time's cap. This is done under the influence of the most prophet 1, madam; and I speak the truth the next way:] received star; that is, the person in the highest repute for It is a superstition, which has run through all ages and setting the fashions: - and though the devil were to lead people, that natural fools have something in them of divin- the measure or dance of fashion, such is their implicit subity. On which account they were esteemed sacred: Tra- mission, that even he must be followed. HENLEY, = 8:} vellers tell us in what esteem the Turks now hold them; lead the measure,] i. e. the dance. 9:) - across:] This werd nor had they less honour paid them heretofore in France, as is used when any pass of wit miscarries. While chivalry appears from the old word benét, for a natural fool. Next was in vogue, breaking spears against a quintain was a way, is nearest way. = 39.) Was this fair face the cause, favourite exercise. He who shivered the greatest number &c.] The name of Helen, whom the countess has just called was esteemed the most adroit; but then it was to be perfor, brings an old ballad on the sacking of Troy to the formed exactly with the point, for if achieved by a side clown's mind. Fond done is foolishly done =40:) "or every,' stroke, or across, it showed uuskilfulness, and disgraced the i. e. before every. MALONE. = 41:) twould mend the lot-practiser. 10:) - medicine,] is here put for a she-physitery well;] This surely is a strange kind of phraseology. I cian. 11:) dance cauary,] a kind of dance. — 12:) -her have never met with any example of it in any of the con- years, profession,] By profession is meant her declaration temporary writers; and if there were any proof that in the of the end and purpose of her coming. 13:) Than I dare lotteries of queen Elizabeth's time wheels were employed, I blame my weakness:] Lafeu's meaning appears to me to be should be inclined to read-lottery wheel. MALONE. 42:) this: That the amazement she excited in him was se Clo. That man, &c.] Here is an allusion, violently enough great, that he could not impute it merely to his own weakforced in, to satirize the obstinacy with which the puritans ness, but to the wonderful qualities of the object that occarefused the use of the ecclesiastical habits, which was, at sioned it." M. MASON. = 14:) — Cressid's uncle,] 1 am like that time, one principal cause of the breach of the union; Pandarus. See Troilus and Cressida. 15:) - well found.) and perhaps, to insinuate, that the modest purity of the sur- i. e. of known, acknowledged, excellence. = 16:) When miplice was sometimes a cover for pride. 48:) sithence,] racles have by the greatest been denied.] i. e, disbelieved, i. e. since. 44:) By our remembrances-] That is, accord- or contemned.—17:) Myself against the level of mine aim;] ing to our recollection. So we say, he is old by my rec- i. e. I am not an impostor that proclaim one thing and dekouing. JOHNSON. 45:) — -- What's the matter, || That this sign another, that proclaim a cure and aim at a fraud. = distemper'd messenger of wet, || The many-colour'd Iris, || 18:) -no worse of worst extended,] i. e. to be so defamed = = = 1 that nothing severer can be said against those who are most --- -- = large deep custard, set for the purpose. 58:) "Will to deserve." MALONE. 59:) And rather muse,] To muse is to wonder.= 60:)-the wealth I owe ;] i. e. I own, possess.= ACT III. = 1:)— I cannot yield,] = of the reasons. JOHNSON.= 2:)- an outward man,] i. e. one ACT IV. 1:) some band of strangers i'the adversary's entertainment.] That is, foreign troops in the enemy's pay. =2:) - -so we seem to know, is to know, &c.] We must each fancy a jargon for himself, without aiming to be understood by one another, for provided we appear to understand, that will be sufficient for the success of our project. HENLEY. 3:)-the instance?] The proof. : 4:) - of Bajazet's mule,] Parolles probably means, he must buy a tongue which has still to learn the use of speech, that he may run himself into no more difficulties by his loquacity, Mr. Malone reads mute.=5:) i. e. the shaving of my beard. 6:) What is not holy, that we swear not by,] The sense is - We never swear by what is not holy, but swear by, or take to witness, the Highest, the Divinity. The tenor of the reasoning contained in the following lines perfectly corresponds with this: If I should swear by Jove's great attributes, that I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths, when you found by experience that I loved you ill, and was endeavouring to gain credit with you in order to seduce you to your ruin? No, surely; but you would conclude that I had no faith either in Jove or his attributes, and that my oaths were mere words of course. For that oath can certainly have no tie upon us, which we swear by him we pro fess to love and honour, when at the same time we give the || strongest proof of our disbelief in him, by pursuing a course which we know will offend and dishonour him. HEATH.=7:) | I see, that men make hopes, in such affairs,] i. e. I perceive that while our lovers are making professions of love, they entertain hopes that we shall be betrayed by our passions to yield to their desires. Mr. Malone reads, “in such a scene."8:) - Since Frenchmen are so braid,] i. e. crafty or deceitful. 9:) — in his proper stream o'erflows himself That is, betrays his own secrets in his own talk The reply shows that this is the meaning, JOHNSON. = 10:) It is not meant damnable in us,] Adjectives are often used as adverbs by our author and his contemporaries. = 11:) - his company i. c. his companion. = 12:) bring forth this counterfeit module;] Module being the pattern of any thing, may be here used in that sense. Bring forth this fellow, who, by counterfeit virtue, pretended to make himself a pattern. JOHNSON. 13:) - -in usurping his spurs so long.] These words allude to the ceremonial degradation of a knight. 14:) that had the whole theoric-] i. e. theory, 15:) — I con him no thanks for't,] To con thanks exactly answers the French sçavoir gré. To con is to know. — 10:) - if I were to live this present hour, &c.] Perhaps we should read: -if I were to live but this present hour. STEEVENS, 17:) -off their cassocks,] Cassock signifies a horseman's loose coat, and is used in that sense by the writers of the age of Shakspeare.18:)-my conditions,] i. c. my disposition and character. Mr. Malone reads condition.=19:)-intergatories: i. e. interrogatories. =20:)-though I know, his brains are forfeit to the next tile that falls.] In Lucian's Contemplantes, Mercury makes Charon remark a man that was killed by the falling of a tile upon his head, whilst he was in the act of putting off an engagement to the next day. 21:) Half won, is match well made; match, and well make it;] The meaning is, "a match well made, is half won; make your match, therefore, but make it well." = 22:) - - an egg out of a cloister;] He will steal any thing, however trifling, from any place, however holy. Robbing the spital, is a common phrase, of the like import. = 23:) — for a quart d'ecu-] The fourth part of the smaller French crown; about eight-pence of our money. = =24:) Why does he ask him of me] This is nature. Every man is, on such occasions, more willing to hear his neighbour's character than his own. JOHNSON.25:) — to beguile the supposition] That is, to deceive the opinion, to make the count think me a man that deserves well. = 26)— my motive-] Motive for assistant, or rather for mover.27:) When saucy-] Saucy may very properly signify luxurious, and by consequence lascivious. 28:)-death and honesty-] i. e. an honest death. == =29:) -your impositions,] i. e. your commands. = 30:) Our waggon is prepar'd, and time revives us:] Time revives us, seems to refer to the happy and speedy termination of their embarrassments. She had just before said: "With the word, the time will bring on summer."=31:) All's well that ends well:] All's well that ends well, is one of Camden's proverbial sentences. = 32:) still the fine's the crown;] 1. e. the end, finis coronat. — = 33:) whose villainous saffron-] Here some particularities of fashionable dress are ridiculed. Snipt taffata needs no explanation; but villainous saffron alludes to a fantastic fashion, then much followed, of using yellow starch for their bands and ruffs. 34:)-to suggest] i. e. seduce. =35:) I am a woodland felLow, sir, &c.] Shakspeare is but rarely guilty of such impious trash. And it is observable, that then he always puts that into the mouth of his fools, which is now grown the characteristic of the fine gentleman. WARBURTON, = = 36:) unhappy.] i. e, mischievously waggish, unlucky. - 37:) carbonadoed-] i. e. scotched like a piece of meat for the gridiron. = ACT V. 1:) Enter a gentle Astringer.] A gentle astringer is a gentleman falconer. The word is derived from osterous or austercus, a goshawk; and thus, says Cowell, in his Law Dictionary: "We usually call a falconer, who keeps that kind of hawk, an austringer."=2:) Our means will make us means.] Shakspeare delights much in this kind of redu. plication, sometimes so as to obscure his meaning. Helena says, they will follow with such speed as the means which they have will give them ability to exert.—3:) — Lavatch,] This is an undoubted, and perhaps irremediable, corruption of some French word: or perhaps la vache. = 4:) “mood.' -MALONE. 5:) — allow the wind.] i. c. stand to the leeward of me. :) - save your word.] i. e. you need not ask; here it is. 7:)—you shall eat;] Parolles has many of the lineaments of Falstaff, and seems to be the character which Shakspeare delighted to draw, a fellow that had more wit than virtue. Though justice required that he should be detected and exposed, yet his vices sit so fit in him that he is not at last suffered to starve. JOHNSON. 8:) — esteem-] Meaning that his esteem was lessened in its value by Bertram's misconduct; since a person who was honoured with it could be so ill-treated as Helena had been, and that with impunity. 9:)-home.] That is, completely, in its full extent. = 10:) Of richest eyes;] Shakspeare means that her beauty had astonished those, who, having seen the greatest number of fair women, might be said to be the richest in ideas of beauty. 11:)--the first view shall kill || All repetition:] The first interview shall put an end to all re collection of the past. Shakspeare is now hastening to the end of the play, finds his matter sufficient to fill up his re = maining scenes, and therefore, as on such other occasions, contracts his dialogue and precipitates his action. Decency required that Bertram's double crime of cruelty and disobedience, joined likewise with some hypocrisy, shoud raise more resentment; and that though his mother might easily forgive him, his king should more pertinaciously vindicate his own authority and Helen's merit. Of all this Shakspeare could not be ignorant, but Shakspeare wanted to conclude his play. JOHNSON. = 12:) I am not a day of season,] That is, of uninterrupted rain; one of those wet days that usually happen about the vernal equinox. 13:) My high-repented blames,] High-repented blames, are faults repented of to the height, to the utmost. 14:) In Florence was it from a casement thrown me,] Bertram still continues to have too little virtue to deserve Helen. He did not know indeed that it was Helen's ring, but he knew that he had it not from a window. JOHNSON. 15:) - noble she was, and thought| I stood ingaged:] Ingaged, in the sense of uningaged, is a word of exactly the same formation as inhabitable, which is used by Shakspeare and the contemporary writers for uninhabitable. MALONE. 16:) Plutus himself, That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine,] Plutus, the grand alchemist, who knows the tincture which confers the properties of gold upon base metals, and the matter by which gold is multiplied, by which a small quantity of gold is inade to communicate its qualities to a large mass of base metal. = 17) —— Then, if you know That you are well acquainted with yourself, || Confess 'twas hers,] The true meaning of this expression is, If you know that your facalties are so sound, as that you have the proper consciousness of your own actions, and are able to recollect and relate what you have done, tell me, &c. JOHNSON. = 18) My fore-past proofs, &c.] The proofs which I have already had are sufficient to show that my fears were not vain and irrational. I have rather been hitherto more easy than I ought, and have unreasonably had too little fear. "Jousses. 19) Who hath, for four or five removes, come short, &c.] Who hath missed the opportunity of presenting it in person to your majesty either at Marseilles, or on the road from thence to Rousillon, in consequence of having bees four or five removes behind you. MALONE.=20:) I will bug me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll him:] i e. I'll buy me a son-in-law as they buy a horse in a fair; toul him," i. e enter him on the toul or toll-book, to prove I came honestly by him, and ascertain my title to him. Mr. Maloue reads the passage thus: "I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll for this: I'll none of him." 21:) shall cease.) i. e. decease, die. = 22:)— and rich validity,] Falidity means value.23:) Methought, you said,] The poet has here forgot himself, Diana has said no such thing. BLACKSTONE 24) He's quoted-] i, e. noted, or observed.= 25:) WV hose nature sickens, but to speak a truth:] i. e. only to speak a truth.=26:) — all impediments in fancy's course, &c.] Every thing that obstructs love is an occasion by which lore is heightened. And, to conclude, her solicitation concurring with her fashionable appearance, she got the ring. I am not certain that I have attained the true meaning of the word modern, which, perhaps, signifies rather meanly pretty. JOHNSON. 27:) Máy justly diet me.] May justly make me fast, by depriving me (as Desdemona says) of the rites for which I love you. 28:) companion- i. e. fellow, = 29) But thou art too fine-] Too fine, too fall of finesse, too artful. A French expression-trop fine.—30:) — customer } i. e. a common woman. = = 31:) He knows himself, &c.] The dialogue is too long, since the audience already knew the whole transaction; nor is there any reason for puzzling the King and playing with his passions; but it was much easier than to make a pathetical interview between Helen and her husband, her mother, and the king. JoHNSON. — 32:) — ezərcist-] Shakspeare invariably uses the word exorcist, to imply a person who can raise spirits, not in the usual sense of one that can lay them.=33:) Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts;] The meaning is: Grant us then your patience: hear us without interruption. And take our parts; that is, support and defend us. = XII. TAMING OF THE SHREW. - IND. — 1:) I'll pheese you,] To pheese or fease, is to separate a twist into single tareads. In the figurative sease it may well enough be taken, like teaze, or toze, for to harass, to plague, or to beat. Perhaps I'll pheese you, may be equivalent to I'll comb your head, a phrase vulgarly used by persons of Sly's character on like occasions.:) — no rogues:] That is, vagrants, no mean fellows, but gentlemen. JOHNSON. = 8:) paucas pallabris;] Sly, as an ignorant fellow, is purposely made to aim at fanguages out of his knowledge, and knock the words out of joint The Spaniards say, pocas palabras, i. e. few words; as they do likewise, Cesso, i. e. be quiet.4:)—you have burst?] To burst and to break were anciently synonymous. Burst is still used for broke in the North of England. = 5:)— Go by, says Jeronimy:— Go to thy cold bed and warm thee.] These phrases are allusions to a fustian old play, called Hieronymo, or the Spanish Tragedy, which was the common butt of raillery to all the poets in Shakspeare's time. Mr. Malone reads Ge by S. Jeronimy.” — 6:) -the thirdborough.] The c`e of thirdborough is the same with that of constable, c |