. Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him, Romeo, A. 2, S. 2. Obeying with my wind when I do blow, Henry VI. P. 3, A. 3, S. 1. You leaden meffengers, That ride upon the violent speed of fire, Fly with false aim; move the ftill-piercing air, That fings with piercing.' All's well that ends well, A. 3, All those which were his fellows but of late, Make facred even his ftirrup, and through him I S. 2. Timon, A. 1, S. 1. move the fill-piercing air, That fings with piercing.] The words are here oddly fhuffled into nonsense. We should read, pierce the ftill-moving air, "This fings with piercing.' i. e. pierce the air, which is in perpetual motion, and fuffers no injury by piercing. WARBURTON. Perhaps we might better read, "The ftill-piecing_air," i. e. the air that clofes immediately. STEEVENS. "Still-piecing air" is very harfh. The old copy reads, "Still peering air.". -Peering, I think, may have been printed in mistake for fleering, and the words which immediately follow ("that fings with piercing") fomewhat ftrengthens my conjecture. "Pierce," fays Helena, "the air, that regards not your "attack---that fleers, that mocks, that laughs, in fhort, at your 66 power, but do not touch Bertram." A. B. What, What, think'ft That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit ? Timon, A. 4, S. 3. Purge all infection from our air, whilft you Do climate here! Winter's Tale, A. 5, S. 1. The air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself. Unto our gentle fenfes'. Macbeth, A. 1, S. 6. AMBITION. As Cæfar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him but, as he was ambitious, I flew him: There are tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honour, for his valour; and death, for his ambition. Julius Cæfar, A. 3, S. 2. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Unto our gentle fenfes] How odd a character is this of the air, that it recommends itself to all the fenfes, not excepting the fight and hearing. Without doubt we should read " Unto our general "sense," meaning the touch or feeling, which not being confined to one part, like the rest of the fenfes, but extended over the whole body, the poet, by a fine periphrafis, calls the general fenfe. WARBURTON. Gentle fenfe is and intimates JOHNSON. Senfes are nothing more than each man's fenfe. very elegant, as it means placid, calm, compofed, the peaceable delight of a fine day. There is no neceffity for Dr. Warburton's alteration. As to Dr. Johnfon's explanation of the prefent reading, it is no way fatisfactory. I read, The air Nimbly and fweetly recommends itself :-- Gentle unto our fenfe. i. e. Soft, bland, pleafing to the fenfe. A. B. Whofe Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Cæfar feem ambitious? When that the poor have cry'd, Cæfar hath wept ; Yet Brutus fays, he was ambitious; Julius Cæfar, A. 3,. S. 2, I 'Tis a common proof, That lowlinefs is young ambition's ladder, And charity chas'd hence by rancour's hand; And equity exil'd your highness' land. Henry VI. P. 2. A. 3, S. 1. Fare thee well, great heart! Ill weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk ! Is room enough. Henry IV. P. 1. A. You all did fee, that, on the lupercal, I thrice presented him a kingly crown, A. 5, S. 4. Which he did thrice refufe. Was this ambition? I fpeak not to difprove what Brutus fpoke, Julius Cafar, A. 3, S. 2. 1 Common proof] Common experiment. JOHNSON. Rather, continually feen or found. The fubftantive for the verb. A. B. Urge Urge them, while their fouls Are capable of this ambition; Left zeal, now melted, by the windy breath Cool and congeal again to what it was. King John, A. 2, S. 2. Love, and meeknefs, lord, Become a churchman better than ambition; I could fay more, But reverence to your calling makes me modeft. Henry VIII. A. 5, S. 2. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition; Henry VIII. A. 3, S. 21 2. AMIT Y. Madam, although I fpeak it in your presence, Of god-like amity, Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 4. ANG E R. To climb fteep hills, Requires flow pace at firft: Anger is like A full-hot horfe; who being allow'd his way, Self-mettle tires him. Henry VIII. A, 1, S. 1. Anger's my meat; I fup upon myself, And fo fhall starve with feeding-Come, let's go : In anger, Juno-like. Coriolanus, A. 4, S. 2. It engenders choler, planteth anger; And better 'twere, that both of us did fast,Since, of ourselves, ourselves are cholerick, 4 Than Than feed it with fuch over-roafted flesh. Taming of the Shrew, A. 4, S. 2. O, let not women's weapons, water-drops, ANGLING. Lear, A. 2, S. 4. The pleasant'ft angling is to fee the fish Much ado about nothing, A. 3, S. 1. ANSWER. The answer is as ready as a borrow'd cap'. Henry IV. P. 2, A, 2, S. 2. APPLAUSE. O, thou fond many! with what loud applause Henry IV. P. 2, A. 1, S. 3. The answer is as ready as a borrow'd cap.] But how is a borrow'd cap fo ready? read a borrower's cap, and then there is fome humour in it; for a man that goes to borrow money is of all others the moft complaifant; his cap is always at hand. WARBURTON. Perhaps the old reading, a borrow'd cap, might be right. Falstaff's followers, when they stole any thing, called it a purchase. A borrowed cap might be a ftolen one; which is fufficiently ready, being, as Falstaff fays, to be found on every hedge. MALONE. Perhaps we should read, as ready as borrow'd crap. Crap, in vulgar language, is money. The expreffion is fuch as may well be expected from Poins. The meaning will be, that borrowed money, as it is eafily gotten, fo it is frequently fquandered with little thought; or, according to the proverb, "lightly come, lightly go.' A. B. No |