P. 288. Lucio.-ha? what fay'ft thou trot ?] It fhould be read, I think, what fay 'ft thou to't? the word trot being feldom (if ever) used to a man. Old Trot or Trat, fignifies a decrepid old woman, or an old drab. In which fenfe it is ufed in Gawin Douglas, Virgil's Æneid, book iv.

"Out on the old trat, agit wyffe, or dame." GRAY.* L. 19.-which is the way.] What is the mode now? JOHN. L. 25. in the tub.] The method of cure for venereal complaints is grofly called the powdering-tub. JOHN. P. 289. go, fay, I fent thee thither. For debt Pompey? or bow ?] It fhould be pointed thus, Go, fay, I fent thee thither for debt, Pompey; or bou i. e. to hide the ignominy of thy cafe, fay, I fent thee to prison for debt, or whatever other pretence thou fanciest better. morously replies, "For being a bawd, for i. e. the true caufe is the most honourable. racter.

The other hubeing a bawd," This is in chaWARB.

Hoid.] Pompey, as he is going to prison, on seeing Lucio. cries, I fpy comfort; I cry bail :' &c. hoping, that Lucio would ftand his friend: but he all along, instead of comforting, aggravates his diftrefs, by bantering him. After feveral other queftions, he asks, "Art thou going to prifon, Pompey ?"

Clown. "Yes, faith, Sir.

Lucio. "Why 'tis not amifs, Pompey: farewel. Go, "fay I fent thee thither."

After this jeft he resumes his questions, and asks the cause of his commitment" For debt, Pompey, or how?" to which the Clown gives the true anfwer; that he was committed for being a bawd.

Where now is the leaft foundation for this conceit, of biding the ignominy of his punishment? or the humour of that reply, for being a bawd; i. e. the true caufe is the most bonourable? CANONS.* P. 290. 1. 7. It is too general a vice.] The occafion of the obfervation was Lucio's faying, that it ought to be treated "with a little more lenity;" and his answer to it is," The vice is of great kindred." Nothing can be more abfurd

all this. From the occafion, and the answer, therefore, it appears, that Shakespeare wrote,

It is too gentle a vice,

which fignifying both indulgent and well-bred, Lucio humorously takes it in the latter fenfe.

WARB.

Ibid.] Read either, it is too indulgent a vice, or too well-bred a vice, in anfwer to what Lucio fays; and you will find, they are both nonsense. The word gentle, therefore, if Shakespeare did write it, must have a third sense; which 'Mr. Warburton unkindly keeps to himself.

But the truth is, the old reading is right; and the dialogue, before Mr. Warburton interrupted it, went on very well. "A little more lenity to letchery, fays Lucio, would do no harm in him;" the duke anfwers, "It is too general a vice." "Yes, replies Lucio, the vice is of great kindred, it is well allied," &c. As much as to fay, Yes truly, it is general; for the greatest men have it, as well as we little folks. And, a little lower, he taxes the duke perfonally with it. Nothing can be more natural than all this.

CANONS.* L. 17. In the former editions-and he is a motion generative; that's infallible.] This may be fenfe; and Lucio, perhaps, may mean, that though Angelo have the organs of generation, yet that he makes no more use of them than if he were an inanimate puppet. But I rather think, our author wrote; -and he is a motion ungenerative, because Lucio again in this very fcene fays;-this ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with continency. THEOE.

Ibid.] The vulgar reading," he is a motion generative,” is nonfenfe, and the conjecture of Mr. Theobald," he is a mo tion ungenerative," an expreffion protected by its own obscurity, and which it is impoffible to attack, because it is impoffible to understand it. The true reading however is so extremely obvious, that I imagine it can hardly be miffed by any one, whofe eyes have not been clouded by the mift of erudition. Though I am steadily of opinion, that conjectures ought to be propofed with modefty, not obtruded with a dictatorial air, yet I will venture for once to fay, that Shakespeare wrote,

1

and he has no motion generative, the meaning of which needs no explanation.

Iid.] He is not a motion generative.

REVISAL.*
CAPELL.

L. 32. Clackdih.] The beggars, two or three centuries ago, ufed to proclaim their want by a wooden dish, with a moveable cover, which they clacked, to thew that their veifel was empty. This appears in a paffage quoted on another occafion by Dr. Gray. REVISAL.* P. 291. 1. 9. —the greater file of the jubjećt.] The larger lift, the greater number.

JOHNS.

THEOB.

P. 292. 1. 17. eat mutton on Fridays.] A wench was called a faced mutton. L. 18. He is not paft it. Sir T. Hanmer.] In other editions, he is now past it, yet. JOHNS. P. 293. 1. 1. mercy fwear.] We fhould read fwerve, i. e. deviate from her nature. The common reading gives us the idea of a ranting whore. WARB.

Ibid.] The common reading (agrecably to a very common form of expreffion, This would make a faint fwear) I fuppofe means no more than that the excess of the provocation would get the better of the mild difpofition even of mercy herfelf, and put her in a paffion.

L. 24.] All the folios, from the fea.
P. 295. 1. 2. Pattern in himself to know,

REVISAL.*

JOHNS.

Grace to ftand, and virtue go] Thefe lines I cannot understand, but believe that they fhould be read thus: Patterning himself to know,

Το

In Grace to stand, in Virtue go.

is
pattern, to work after a pattern, and, perhaps, in Shake-
fpeare's licentious diction, fimply to work. The fenfe is,
"He that bears the fword of heaven should be holy as well
as fevere; one that after good examples labours to know
himself, to live with innocence and to act with virtue."
JOHNSON.

L. 12. Hocu may likeness made in crimes,
Making practice on the times,

To draw with idle fpiders' ftrings

Moft pondrous and fubftantial things] Thus all the editors read corruptly: and fo have made an obfcure paffage in itself, quite unintelligible. Shakespeare wrote it thus,

The fenfe is this, How much wickedness may a man hide within, though he appear an angel without. How may that likeness made in crimes, i. e. by Hypocrify; [a paradoxical expreffion, an angel made in crimes] by impofing upon the world [thus emphatically expreffed, making practice on the times] draw with its falfe and feeble pretences [finely called Spiders' Atrings] the most pondrous and fubftantial matters of the world, as riches, honour, power, reputation, &c. WARB. Ibid.] The Revifal reads thus,

How may fuch likeness trade in crimes,
Making practice on the times,

To draw with idle fpider's ftrings

Moft pondrous and fubftantial things;

meaning by ponderous and fubftantial things, pleasure and wealth.

JOHNS. Ibid.] How may likeness made in crimes, &c. CAPELL.* L. 19. So difguife ball by th' difguis'd] So difguife fhall by means of a perfon disguised, return an injurious demand with a counterfeit perfon. JOHNS.

L. 22. Take, ob, take, &c.] This is part of a little fong of Shakespeare's own writing, confifting of two ftanzas, and fo extremely fweet, that the reader won't be displeased to have the other.

Hide, oh, hide thofe hills of fnow,
Which thy frozen bofom bears,
On whose tops, the pinks that grow,
Are of those that April wears.

But my poor heart first set free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee.

WARB.

Ibid.] This fong is entire in Beaumont's Bloody Brother,

and in Shakespeare's poems.

The latter Stanza is omitted by Mariana, and not fuiting a female character. THEOB. P. 296. 1. 9. My mirth is much difpleas'd, but pleas'd my woe.] Though the mufick foothed my forrows, it had no tendency to produce light merriment. JOHNS.

L. 16. Conftantly.] Certainly; without fluctuaion of mind.

JOHNS. L. 23. Circummur'd with brick.] Circummured, walled round. "He caufed the doors to me mured and cafed up." Painter's Palace of Pleasure. JOHNS.

P297. 1. 7. In action all of precept,- -] i. e. fhewing the feveral turnings of the way with his hand; which contained fo many precepts, being given for my direction. WARB. Ibid.] I rather think we should read, in precept all of action; that is, in direction given not by words but by mute figns.

JOHNS.

L. 12. I have poffeft him.] I have made him clearly and

ftrongly comprehend.

JOHNS.

P. 298. 1. 1. Faife eyes.] That is, eyes infidious and tray

terous.

JOHNS.

L. 3. Contrarious quefts.] Different reports run counter to each other.

JOHNS.

O place and greatnefs!] It plainly appears that this fine fpeech belongs to that which concludes the preceding scene, between the duke and Lucio. For they are abfolutely foreign to the fubject of this, and are the natural reflections arifing from that. Befides, the very words, Run with these falfe and moft contraricus quefts, evidently refer to Lucio's fcandals juft preceding: which the Oxford Editor, in his ufual way, has emended, by altering these to their.But that fome time might be given to the two women to confer together, the players, I fuppofe, took part of the speech, beginning at No might nor greatness, &c. and put it here, without troubling themselves about its pertinency. However, we are obliged to them for not giving them their own impertinency, as they have frequently done in other places. WARB.

Ibid.] I cannot agree that these lines are placed here by the players. The fentiments are common, and fuch as a prince, given to reflection, must have often prefent. There was a neceffity to fill up the time in which the ladies converfe apart, and they must have quick tongues and ready apprehenfions, if they understood each other while this fpeech JOHNS.

was uttered.

L. 20. Doth flourish the deceit.] A metaphor taken from