"Let me have a child, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage," seem in substance abstracted from a circumstance relative to Herod, that happened soon after the birth of Christ.

"Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

!! "And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." Matt. ii. 7, 8.

The flight of Joseph with the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus into Egypt, that the child might not be destroyed by Herod; and—

"that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son,"

might lead Shakespeare to put such words, connected with Herod's search for our Lord, into the mouth of Charmian, an Egyptian, with the sense which Steevens has given them :-"Charmian wishes for a son who may arrive to such power and dominion, that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought under his yoke."

The addition of the word fifty-"Let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage," and the context, cover Shakespeare's retreat; but after research, cause the evidence, in

favour of the source whence Shakespeare culled the notion, to be very presumptive.

Herod of Jewry is mentioned by Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, in Act II., Scene I.

Before Page's House.

Enter MISTRESS PAGE with Falstaff's Love-letter. "Mistress Page. What a Herod of Jewry is this! O, wicked, wicked world!"

She implies, doubtless, that Falstaff, like Herod, hesitates not to violate the most sacred bonds of love and friendship, in order to gain his own selfish ends.

But to return again to the play of Anthony and Cleopatra:

ACT III. SCENE XI.

"Cleopatra. Wherefore is this?

Anthony. To let a fellow that will take rewards,
And say, God quit you! be familiar with
My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal,
And plighter of high hearts! O that I were

Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar the horned herd!"

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["Hill of Basan, to outroar the horned herd."]Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion." Psalm xxii. 12, 13.

H

THE PLAY OF TIMON OF ATHENS.

The pertinent extracts about to be introduced, relate to Timon when reduced by his extreme liberality to penury: the first one refers to the ingratitude manifested by Lord Lucius when called on to assist his benefactor, now in the greatest distress.

ACT III. SCENE II.

"1st Stranger. Do you observe this, Hostilius? 2nd Stranger. Ay, too well.

1st Stranger. Why, this is the world's sport; And just of the same piece is every flatterer's soul. Who can call him his friend

That dips in the same dish?”

["Who can call him friend that dips in the same dish?"]-Thoughts evidently borrowed from 23rd verse of 26th chapter of Matthew, where the Eastern mode of eating is mentioned.

"And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." Matt. xxvi. 23.

ACT V. SCENE II.

The Woods. Timon's Cave.

"The Poet. Then this breaking of his has been but a try for his friends?

The Painter. Nothing else you shall see him a palm in Athens again, and flourish with the highest."

[“A palm and flourish.”]—The same sentiment is to be found in the 92nd Psalm :—

"The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Psalm xcii. 12.

No instance important enough to warrant notice is to be found in Cymbeline or Coriolanus; perhaps for this reason: because Shakespeare adheres literally to the details from which these subjects were composed.

In the play of Julius Cæsar, the great master gives us very clear and correct notions of Roman manners; but, by confining himself strictly to the story, furnishes us with little connected with the object of our research.

ACT I. SCENE II.

"Cassius. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to

hear:

And since you cannot see yourself

So well as by reflection, I, your glass,

Will modestly discover to yourself,

That of yourself which you yet know not of."

To the above there is a parallel in Proverbs :"As in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." Prov. xxvii. 19.

In the play of Othello, Shakespeare trammels his genius less than in the plays just noticed; if several pertinent examples may be considered sufficient evidence for such conclusion.

'ACT IV. SCENE II.

Another Apartment in the Castle.

"Emilia. I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other, Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom. If any wretch hath put this in your head,

Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse!”

Emilia, the wife of Iago, endeavours thus to persuade Othello that Desdemona is indeed as virtuous as he would fain believe her to be.

["Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse."]— "Let him suffer at once the curse which the serpent brought upon man—viz., death: may he be visited with instant death, whoever invented so wicked a lie !"

["Serpent's curse."]" And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden :

"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat