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OFFENCE S.

That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
It is most true; true, I have married her;
The very head and front of my offending
Hath this extent, no more. Othello, A. 1, S. 3.
If my offence be of fuch mortal kind,

That, neither service paft, nor present forrows,
Nor purpos'd merit in futurity,

Can ranfom me into his love again,
But to know fo must be my benefit;
So fhall I clothe me in a forc'd content,

And fhut myself up in fome other course,
To fortune's alms.

Othello, A. 3, S. 4.

Who is here fo bafe, that would be a bond-man? If any, fpeak; for him have I offended. Who is here fo rude, that would not be a Roman? If any, fpeak; for him have I offended. Who is here fo vile, that will not love his country? If any, fpeak; for him have I offended. Julius Cæfar, A. 3, S. 2.

King of England fhalt thou be proclaim'd

In every borough as we pafs along;

And he, that cafts not up his cap for joy,
Shall for the offence make forfeit of his head.

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

▾ And Shoot myself up in fome other course.] The quarto 1630, and the folio read,

"And fhut myself up.'

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I cannot help thinking this reading the true one. The idea feems taken from the confinement of a monaftic life.

STEEVENS.

I think the quarto right which reads shoot, instead of Jhut. To fay that a man will shut himself up in a course of life, is language fuch as Shakespeare would never make ufe of, even in his most whimsical or licentious moments. MONCK MASON.

I think the poet may have written,

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"And shape myself upon fome other course.' To fhape one's courfe, is a very common expreffion, and is used

by Shakespeare elsewhere.

A. B.

The

The nature of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion we do bury
The incenfing relicks of it.

All's well that ends well, A. 5, S. 3.

My life, fir, in any cafe: not that I am afraid to die; but that, my offences being many, I would repent out the remainder of nature: let me live, fir, in a dungeon, i' the ftocks, or any where, so I may live. All's well that ends well, A. 4, S. 3. This is most strange! that she should in this time Commit a thing fo monftrous, to dismantle So many folds of favour! fure, her offence Must be of fuch unnatural degree,

That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection
Fall into taint 2.

Lear, A. 1, S. 1.

I am

* That monsters it.] This uncommon verb occurs again in Coriolanus.

STEEVENS.

"To hear my nothings monster'd," "Monsters it" fhould, I think, be mafters it; and I am the more inclined to this opinion, as monftrous occurs a line or twobefore. I read the paffage thus:

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"Commit a thing fo monftrous, to dismantle
"So many folds of favour! fure, her offence
"Muft be of most unnatural degree,

"That mafters it."

"That mafters it," i. e. that mafters your favour or kindness. If we do not admit this reading, where is the antecedent to it?

2

or your fore-vouch'd affection

A. B.

Fall into taint.] Such is the reading of the folio. The common books read,-"fall'n into taint." Or, fignifies before, and or ever, is, before ever; the meaning of the folio may therefore be, fure her crime must be monftrous before your affection can be affected with hatred. JOHNSON.

I believe the reading of the first quarto,

66 or you for vouch'd affection “Fall'n into taint,'

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to be the true one. In fupport of the reading of the quarto, in preference to that of the folio, it should be obferved, that Lear had not vouch'd, had not made any particular declaration of his

affection

I am myself indifferent honeft; but yet I could accufe me of fuch things, that it were better, my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck, than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in.

Hamlet, A. 3, S. 1.

ORNA MEN T.

In religion,

What damned error, but fome fober brow
Will bless it, and approve it with a text,
Hiding the groffness with fair ornament?

Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 2,

The world is ftill deceiv'd with ornament:
In law, what plea fo tainted and corrupt,
But, being feafon'd with a gracious voice,
Obfcures the show of evil?

Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 2.

affection for Cordelia; while, on the other hand, Goneril and Regan have made, in this fcene, an oftentatious profeffion of their love for their father. MALONE.

The reading of the folio is right. Taint, I think, is fufpicion. 66 or your fore-vouch'd affection

"Fall into taint."

That is, the affection which you had before expreffed will be queftioned or difbelieved its fincerity will be doubted.

Mr. Malone is wrong, in saying that Lear had not made any declaration of his affection for Cordelia. He fays of her, in one place, "Now our joy, although the last, not least," and in another, "We lov'd her moft," &c.

A. B.

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P.

PASSION, PASSIONS.

S this the noble Moor, whom our full fenate Call-all-in-all fufficient? This the noble nature Whom paffion could not shake? whofe folid virtue The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,

Could neither graze, nor pierce? Othello. A. 4, S. 1. By heaven

My blood begins my fafer guides to rule;

And paffion having my beft judgment collied',

Affays to lead the way.

Othello, A. 2, S. 3.

I will go to Benedick,
And counsel him to fight against his paffion :
And, truly, I'll devife fome honest flanders
To ftain my cousin with.

Much ado about nothing, A. 3, S. 1.
The colour of the king doth come and go,
Between his purpose and his confcience,
Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles fet:
His paffion is fo ripe, it needs must break.

King John, A. 4, S. 2.

And paffion having my best judgment collied.] Thus the folio reads, and I believe rightly. Othello means, that paffion has difcoloured his judgment. To colly, anciently, fignified to be Smut, to blacken as with coal. Hanmer reads, cholered.

STEEVENS.

I think we should read "colliding." To collide is to clash, to frike againft. The line may stand thus:

"And paffion now colliding 'gainft my judgment." i. e. Paffion clashing or striking against my judgment, affays, &c.

A. B.

O, that

O, that my tongue were in the thunders mouth!
Then with a paffion would I shake the world;
And rouze from fleep that fell anatomy,
Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice.

King John, A. 3, S. 4.

Such fmiling rogues as thefe,

Like rats, oft bite the holy cords in twain
Too intrinfecate t' unloofe: fmooth every paffion
That in the nature of their lords rebels;
Bring oil to fire, fnow to their colder moods;
Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
With every gale and vary of their masters.

Lear, A. 2. S. 2.

Now and then an ample tear trill'd down
Her delicate cheek: it feem'd, she was a queen
Over her paffion; who, moft rebel-like,
Sought to be king o'er her.

Lear, A. 4, S. 3.

O, it offends me to the foul, to hear a robustious perriwig-pated fellow tear a paffion to tatters, to very rags, to fplit the ears of the groundlings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb fhews and noise: I would have fuch a fellow whipp'd for o'er-doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod pray you avoid it. Hamlet, A. 3, S. 2.

For Hecuba!

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for paffion,

That I have? he would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant: and amaze, indeed,
The very faculty of eyes and ears.

Hamlet, A. 2, S. 2.

That old and antique fong we heard last night;
Methought, it did relieve my paffion much;

Y 2

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