Then am I king'd again: and, by-and-by, Merchant of Venice, A.-5, S. 1. I will no more return, Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France, A man, that more detefts, more stirs against, Pray heaven the king may never find a heart To work exceeding miracles on earth. Henry VI. P. 1, A. 5, S. 5. The king is a noble gentleman; and my familiar, I do affure you, very good friend :-for I must tell thee, it will please his grace (by the world) fometime to lean upon my poor fhoulder; and with his royal finger, thus dally with my excrement, with my muftachio. Love's Labour Loft, A. 5, S. 1. That it should come to this! But two months dead! nay, not fo much, not two ; So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a fatyr: fo loving to my mother, That That he might not let e'en the winds of heaven ▾ The king doth wake to-night, and take his rouse, Hamlet, A. i, S. 4. Do not fear our perfon; There's fuch divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would, Acts little of his will. My lord of Burgundy, Hamlet, A. 4, S. 5. We first address towards you, who with this king Lear, A. 1, S. 1. The That be permitted not the winds of heaven.] This is a fophiftical reading, copied from the players, for want of understanding the poet, whofe text is corrupt in the old impreffions; all of which concur in reading, "That he might not beteene the winds of heaven "Beteene" is a corruption without doubt, but not so inveterate a one, but that, by the change of a fingle letter, and the feparation of two words, mistakenly jumbled together, I am verily perfuaded, I have retained the poet's reading.---That he might not let e'en the winds of heaven, &c. THEOBALD. Mr. Theobald obferves, that "beteene" is undoubtedly a corruption, and Mr. Steevens appears to be of the fame opinion, by admitting "let e'en" to a place in the text,---but they are both mistaken. To "beteen" is to enrage, to anger. We must read the paffage thus : 66fo loving to my mother, "That the beteened winds of heaven might not i. e. Such was his love of my mother, that he would not permit the angry winds of heaven, at any time, to blow upon her. 2 A, B. The queft of love.] Queft of love, is amorous expedition. The king will always think him in our debt; Henry IV. P. 1, A. 1, S. 3. Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank Winter's Tale, A. 2, S. 3. Kent banish'd thus ! and France in choler parted! And the king gone to-night! fubfcrib'd his power'! Confin'd to exhibition! All this done Upon the gad! Lear, A. 1, S. 2. Thus king Henry throws away his crutch, Before his legs be firm to bear his body: Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy fide, And wolves are gnarling who fhall gnaw thee firft. Henry VI. P. 2, A. 3, S. 1. Time ferves, wherein you may redeem Your banish'd honours, and restore yourselves Into the good thoughts of the world again : Of this proud king. Henry IV. P. 1, A. 1, S. 3. The term originated from romance. A queft was the expedition in which a knight was engaged. This phrafe is often met with in the Fairy Queen. STEEVENS. "Queft," in this place, is requeft, folicitation. "Cease your "queft of love." Ceafe your love folicitations. I enated. A. B. -fabfcrib'd his power.] Subfcrib'd for transferred, aliWARBURTON. To fubfcribe, is to transfer by figning, or fubfcribing a writing of teftimony. We now use the term, He fubfcribed forty pounds to the new building. JOHNSON. "Subfcrib'd his power," is, his power contracted or limited. Or, we may read," profcrib'd his power"---his power is taken from him---there is an interdiction, a flop to all his power. The folio reads preferib'd. Q4 A. B. Gives Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter fhade Henry VI. P. 3, A. 2, S. 5. She, which late Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now All's well that ends well, A. 2, S. 3. I'll win this lady Margaret. For whom?: Why, for my king: tufh! that's a wooden thing'. Henry VI. P.1, A. 5, S. 4. S.4. K I S S. Good my lord, forbear; The ruddiness upon her lip is wet; You'll mar it, if you kifs it; ftain your own Ere I could Give him that parting kifs, which I had fet Cymbeline, A. 1, Long as my exile, fweet as my revenge! S. 4. a wooden thing.] Is an aukward business,---an undertaking not likely to fucceed. STEEVENS. "A wooden thing" is a mad thing. "Tufh! that's a wooden "thing"--Hold, the thought is madness. A. B. And And the most noble mother of the world Coriolanus, A. 5, S. 3. I found not Caffio's kiffes on her lips: He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, Othello, A. 3, S. 3. And let him, for a pair of reechy kiffes', Make you to ravel all this matter out, Hamlet, A. 3, S. 4. Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave, Whip me fuch honest knaves. Othello, A. 1, S. 1. You ftubborn ancient knave, you reverend braggart, I reechy kiffes.] Reechy is fmoky. The author meant to convey a coarse idea, and was not very fcrupulous in his choice of an epithet. The fenfe, however, is applied with greater propriety to the neck of a cook-maid in Coriolanus. STEEVENS. "Reechy," in this place, is rather Smoking than smoky."Reechy kiffes" are hot, burning kiffes. 2 A. B. ancient knave.] Two of the quartos read miscreant knave, and one of them unreverent, instead of reverend. STEEVENS. "Unreverent" is right. Unreverent is rude, disrespectful. Cornwal would fay, "you old rogue, you irreverent braggart!" A. B. KNIGHT. |