G. 222. W. 195.--For he can live without a wife and purchase. Purchase.] "This word is evidently used for inheritance.” Always most positive when most wrong. The critic takes purchase for a substantive, whereas it is a verb; and used in direct opposition to inheritance. But Mr. Weber neither understands himself nor his author. Romanello retorts the words of Livio, (p. 152.) and the drift of his argument is—“ Marriage is expensive; but if I do not charge myself with a wife, I shall not only be able to live, but to buy an estate." This is the constant meaning of the verb in our old dramatists: as a substantive, purchase was a cant term for the produce of pilfering, &c. G. 223. W. 195.-So would the He you talk to, Romanello, "It is difficult," Mr. Weber says, " to conceive what our author meant by this strange phrase;" which, accordingly, he grossly misinterprets. It seems almost impossible to blunder on so simple an expression. "I would act in the same manner as yourself, Romanello, without storming, as you do, about it." G. 223. W. 196.—This your courtesy Foil'd me a second. "i. e. the nature of your courtesy has prevented me from offering another act of courtesy to you, by accepting yours"! This is really too bad: but the editor sinks into the very abyss of dotage in his notes on this play. All that Ford means, and all that he says is," I was deceived for an instant by your kindness." "This very quaint and inaccurate sentence seems to mean, 'I'll swear that not even he (Nitido) has not been amongst the ladies,' by which I shall forswear myself," &c. This incomparable nonsense is extracted solely out of his own blunder! Read: Nitido, I'll forswear thee, too. Secco had sworn that Troylo and Nitido were privy to the introduction of Pragnioli; the former he had already exculpated, and, in his fright, now offers to deny what he swore of the other. G. 229. IV. 231.-I mean to employ. Read: sage to sense. G. 232. W. 204. I meant to employ;-which restores the pas souls so white As breathe beneath this roof. "The author in this place forgot the impropriety of applying the word breathing to souls"! How lucky that our philosopher never forgets any thing! Thus, in the page in which this profound observation occurs, we are carefully reminded for the tenth time, that "Ever, means always," "Sudden, suddenly," &c. G. 233. IV. 205.-Flesh and bone. Read: Flesh and blood. G. 244. W.206.-Plain the ladies' eyebrows. For plain, read plane their eyebrows; i. e. pluck out the straggling hairs. G. ib. W. ib.-Set a nap on their cheeks. "I cannot decide to what species of the barber's occupation these words allude. Perhaps a nap was similar to a cupping glass, and might be used to bring colour into them"! Such folly would not be credited on report. G. 236. W.207. Read: seems more like sense. most admissible and portentous. most admirable and portentous :--which G. 237. W.208.-For squirting, read: Squirting of wine. G. 244. W.213. A better sister. much more worthy "The quarto reads corruptly, A better brother.” This is the last note on this play, and it is marked by the same intrepidity of ignorance which characterizes all the rest. The passage cannot be understood without the old reading, (brother,) which Mr. Weber has removed from the text, to make way for his own nonsense. THE LADY'S TRIAL. G. 255. W. 229. The newest news, unvampt. "I have not met with this singular word."-He thinks, however, that it means to uncover; and proposes to amend the text by reading "unvamp it, i. e. disclose it." This singular word is mighty common. Vamp'd, as every one but Mr. Weber knows, is patch'd, or, made up: unvamp'd, therefore, (for so it should be read) is authentic, unsophisticated. G. 256. W. 230. Enter Adurni, Auria, and Fulgoso. "The entrance of Fulgoso is not noticed in the quarto, but as he makes a speech, the insertion was necessary.” Had Mr. Weber read a page or two forward, he would have seen that it was impossible Fulgoso could enter with those two, since he is spoken of as a perfect stranger to both the fact is, that the old printer has given Ful. for Fut. G. 258. W. 232. And then to take the wrack of our divisions, Will sweeten, &c. "This is very obscure, but the intended meaning is probably to recal to our minds the rack or torment which we endured during the time of our being separated." Mr. Weber's attempt at explanation is more obscure than the obscurity which he found, or rather made, in the text. And then to take the wreck of our divisions, Read: Will sweeten the remembrance of past dangers, &c. And then (i. e. on meeting to part no more) to seize the remnant of time which our separations have left us, will sweeten, &c. G. 260. W. 233. Read: Before we kiss, receive This caution from thine Auria; first-Castanna, Let us bid farewell. He is about to speak when he perceives his sister, whom he desires to remove out of hearing, and accordingly she walks aside. G. 260. W. 234. Appear not in a fashion that can prompt Some widowed neglect of hand, some value. The notes on this passage are not unworthy of the text. "Holla to report.] Holla," as Mr. Malone says, " is a term of horsemanship, and is generally used for stopping the horse. Here it evidently means exactly the reverse, as it stands for urging on"! "Some widowed neglect of hand, some value.] If a line has not been lost after this, which I strongly suspect, the text must mean -some (men) value a degree of neglect towards their husbands in women who have been left by them alone, or in a state of widowhood." It is truly vexatious to see a beautiful speech (and this is a very beautiful one) so mangled. Read: Appear not in a fashion that can prompt The gazer's eye, or holla, to report Some widowed neglect of handsome value. Auria is giving his parting advice to his wife for the regulation of her conduct in his absence; and it is every way 66 worthy of him and of the author. "Do not," he says, appear abroad so particularly dressed as to invite attention, and prompt the gazer's eye, or voice (clamorous voice, if the reader pleases) to report (to prattle of) a handsome woman apparently neglected by her husband." "As there is no sense which can be extracted from these words, there can be little doubt, that either a violent corruption, or an omission of one or more lines, has taken place, the purport of which is however difficult to conceive." Mr. Weber's perplexity is heart-breaking. Read: G. 265. W. 239. Read: Whose virtues are her only dower, else [none] She fed you liberally? She feed you liberally? And the answer is, “Yes, twenty ducats." G. 267. IV. 241. A wanton mistress is a common sewer This excellent conceit of "labours projected in a man's brain by a common sewer," is wholly due to the brilliant fancy of Mr. Weber, and he accordingly felicitates himself on having "restored some degree of sense," as he says, to the passage, by inserting must in the place of much, the old reading. Read: A wanton mistress is a common sewer.- The first line refers to Levidolche, of whom Adurni speaks, as a strumpet who entertains all comers: he then adverts to the plan mentioned by Futelli, which he treats with contempt as stale, and observes that he has a much |