KNIGHT.

It is a merry knight.- Will you go an heirs?
Merry Wives of Windfor, A. 2, S. 1.

These knights will hack 2; and fo thou fhouldft not alter the article of thy gentry.

Merry Wives of Windfor, A. 2, S. 1.

Will you go an heirs?] This nonsense is spoken to Shallow.We fhould read-will you go on, HERIS? . e. will you go on, Mafter?---Heris, an old Scotch word for master. WARBURTON. Mr. Steevens would read, will you go on heroes? or, will you on hearts? and Mr. Malone thinks it fhould be, will you go and bear us?

go

Herie, in Spenfer, is worship, worshipful, probably from berus, the head of a family; and one who is confequently intitled to refpect. Shallow, it must be remarked is a country justice, the hoft may therefore fay to him, will you go on herie, or herus? meaning, will you go first, as you are worshipful, or diftinguished by being a justice?

2

A. B.

Thefe knights will back, and fo thou shouldst not alter the article of thy gentry. Dr. Warburton is of opinion, that we fhould read lack, but I do not clearly fee his meaning. Dr. Johnfon thinks, that hack is faid in allufion to the hacking off the spurs of recreant knights. Hanmer fays, that back means to turn hackney, or proftitute; and Blackstone, that the word back must fignify, to become cheap and vulgar.

"Thefe knights will back" is certainly very harfh. I am therefore much inclined to read, "these knights will jack," i. c. play the jack, in allufion to the proverb---Jack will never make a gen tleman. The fenfe is, This honour conferred on your hufband will fignify nothing; he will still be Jack in his manners---it will not alter the article of thy gentility. A. B.

LADY.

Y dear lady Difdain! are you yet living?
Much ado about nothing, A. 1, S. 1.

MY

Thou didst fwear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet, fitting in my dolphin-chamber, at the round table by a fea-coal fire, on Wednesday, in Whitfun-week, when the prince broke thy head for likening his father to a finging-man of Windfor; thou didft fwear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady thy wife.

Henry IV. P. 2, A. 2, S. 1.

That's the lady; all the world defires her : From the four corners of the earth they come, To kiss this fhrine, this mortal breathing faint.

Merchant of Venice, A. 2, S. 7.

Fair ladies, mask'd, arę roses in their bud; Dismask'd, their damask sweet commixture fhewn, Are angels vailing clouds, or roses blown.

Love's Labour Loft, A.

Constant you are;

But yet a woman; and for fecrefy,

No lady clofer; for I well believe,

Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know;

And fo far will I trust thee.

5,

S. 2.

Henry IV. P. 1, A. 2, S. 3.

'Tis thought,

That Marcius fhall be conful: I have feen
The dumb men throng to see him, and the blind
To hear him speak: matrons flung gloves,
Ladies and maids their fcarfs and handkerchiefs,
Upon him as he pafs'd: the nobles bended,

As

As to Jove's flatue; and the commons made
A shower, and thunder, with their caps, and fhouts.

Coriolanus A. 2, S. 2.

She, fweet lady, dotes,

Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,

Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

Midfummer Night's Dream, A. 1, S. 1.

O well-a-day, lady, if he be not drawn now!

Henry V. A. 2, S. 1.

LANGUAGE.

Thofe girls of Italy, take heed of them;

They fay, our French lack language to deny,

If they demand.

All's well that ends well, A. 2, S. 1.

You taught me language; and my profit on't

Is, I know how to curfe:

2

the red plague rid you. Tempeft, A. 1, S. 2. LAUGH

O well-a-day, if he be not bewn now!] I cannot understand the drift of this expreffion. If he be not bewn, muft fignify, if he be not cut down, and in that cafe, the very thing is fuppofed which Quickly was apprehenfive of. But I rather think her fright arifes from feeing the fwords drawn, and I have ventured to make a flight alteration accordingly. If he be not drawn, for, if he has not his fword drawn, is an expreffion familiar to our poet. THEOBALD.

I have not disturbed Mr. Theobald's emendation; but yet I think we might read-if he be not bewing. To hack and hew is a common vulgar expreffion. STEEVENS.

"Hewn" fhould be "hewin." Hewin, or bewid, in Chaucer, is coloured. Mrs. Quickly would fay---if he be not coloured, if he be not in a paffion.

That drawn is not the proper word, may be seen by turning to a fubfequent scene of the play, in which Piftol is made to fay, "O braggard vile, &c." and at which speech, in the old copies, is the following stage direction—(they drawe.)

2 the red plague.] I fuppofe from the redness univerfally inflamed.

The cryfipelas was anciently called the red plague.

A. B.

of the body,

JOHNSON. STEEVENS.

By

"

LAUGHTER.

I will devife matter enough out of this Shallow, to keep prince Harry in continual laughter, the wearing out of fix fashions (which is four terms, or two actions), and he fhall laugh without intervallums.

Henry IV. P. 2, A. 5, S. 1.

The brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent, or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other Henry IV. P. 2, A. 1, S. 2.

men.

O perilous mouths,

That bear in them one and the felf-fame tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof!

Bidding the law make court'fy to their will.

Measure for Measure, A. 2, S. 4. Your scope is as mine own;

So to inforce or qualify the laws,

As to your foul feems good.

Meafure for Measure, A. 1, S. 1.

The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, 'tis mine, and I will have it :
If you deny me, fie upon your law!

Merchant of Venice, A. 4, S. 1.
I beseech you,

Wreft once the law to your authority:
To do a great right, do a little wrong.

Merchant of Venice, A. 4, S. 1.

By red plague, I understand lightning. The "red plague rid you," is, as though he should fay, lightning blaft you. Lightning is called by the poets, the red-wing'd meffenger of Jove. Caliban may be fuppofed to have obferved the dreadful effects of lightning; but how should he know any thing about the eryfipelas?

A. B.

It is the curfe of kings, to be attended

By flaves, that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody houfe of life :

And, on the winking of authority,

To understand a law.

King John, A. 4, S. 2.

We must not make a fcare-crow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,,

And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.

Meafure for Meafure, A. 2, S. 1,

It is the law, not I, condemns your brother:
Were he my kinfman, brother, or my fon,
It would be thus with him.

Measure for Measure, A. 2, S. 2.

We have strict statutes and most biting laws,
Which for these fourteen years, we have let fleep;
Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave,

That goes not out to prey.

Meafure for Measure, A. 1, S. 4•

L I F E.

Haply, this life is best,

If quiet life be best, sweeter to you,

That have a sharper known; well corresponding
With your ftiff age; but, unto us, it is

A cell of ignorance: travelling a-bed;

A prifon for a debtor that not dares

To ftride a limit.

Cymbeline, A. 3, S. 3.

You, my lord, best know,

(Who least will feem to do fo) my paft life Hath been as continent; as chaîte, as true, As I am now unhappy.. Winter's Tale, A.

What fhould be the fear?

I do not fet my life at a pin's fee;

2

3,

S. 2.

And,