BUSINESS.

But this fwift business

I must uneasy make, left too light winning

Make the prize light.

This is no mortal bufinefs, nor no found
That the earth owes.

I will feek him, fir, presently;

Tempest, A. 1, S. 2.

Tempeft, A. 1, S. 2.

convey the business

Lear, A. 1, S. 2.

as I fhall find means, and acquaint you withal.

My business in this state

Made me a looker on here in Vienna,

Where I have feen corruption boil and bubble,

Till it o'er-run the stew.

I.

Meafure for Meafure, A. 5, S. 1.

Our hands are full of business: let's away;
Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.

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

tity. I love you beyond limits, and cannot fay it is fo much, for how much foever I fhould name, it would be yet more.

JOHNSON. The prefent reading is harfh. I would strike out the prepofition of, and read and point thus:

"A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable
"Beyond all manner. So much I love you."

i, e. A love which cannot be expressed in words---a love of which you can have no conception.

I

A. B.

Convey the bufinefs.] Convey, for introduce. But convey is a fine word, as alluding to the practice of clandeftine conveying goods, fo as not to be found upon the felon. WARBURTON.

To convey, is rather to carry through, than to introduce; in this place it is to manage artfully. We fay of a juggler, that he has a clean conveyance. JOHNSON.

"Convey the business" can mean nothing more than make him acquainted with the business, or break the business to him. Edmund, though he really means to manage artfully, would never intimate fo much to his father; but on the contrary, appear open and plain in his dealing.

Γ

A. B.

I am

I am forry

To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business prefent.

Henry VIII. A. 1, S. 1.

C.

PRA

CALUM NY.

RAISE her but for this her without-door form,
Which on my faith deferves high speech) and
ftraight

The fhrug, the hum, or ha; these petty brands,
That calumny doth use :-Oh, I am out,
That mercy does; for calumny will fear

Virtue itself;-these shrugs, these hums, and ha's,
When you have faid, fhe's goodly, come between,
Ere you can say she's honeft.

Winter's Tale, A. 2, S. 1.
Be thou as chafte as ice, as pure as fnow, thou

fhalt not escape calumny.

Hamlet, A. 3, S. 1.

My place i' the state,

Will fo your accufation over-weigh,

That you shall ftifle in your own report,

And smell of calumny.

Meafure for Measure, A. 2, S. 4. I am right glad to catch this good occafion Moft thoroughly to be winnow'd, where And corn fhall fly afunder: for, I know,

I am forry

To fee you ta'en from liberty, to look on

my

chaff

The business prefent.] I am forry that I am obliged to

be prefent, and an eye-witnefs of your lofs of liberty. JOHNSON. Does it not rather mean, 1 am forry you are deprived of liberty, by which you will fee, or discover, what bufinefs is now in hand or going forward?

A. B. There's

Henry VIII. A. 5, S. 1.

There's none ftands under more calumnious tongues,

Than I myself.

No might nor greatness in mortality

Can cenfure 'scape; back-wounding calumny
The whiteft virtues ftrikes.

Measure for Measure, A. 3, S. 2.

CANNON.

· Depart in peace:

King John, A. 1, S. 1.

Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canft report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon fhall be heard :
So, hence!
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath;
And ready mounted are they, to fpit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls.

King John, A. 2, S. 1.

CAPACITY.
Your capacity

Is of that nature, that to your huge store

Wife things feem foolish, and rich things but poor.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 5. S. 2.

CELERITY.

Celerity is never more admir'd,

That by the negligent.

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 3, S. 7.

CEREMONY.

And what art thou, thou idol ceremony ?
What kind of god art thou, that fuffer'ft more
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? what are thy comings-in?
Art thou aught elfe but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?

Wherein

Wherein thou art lefs happy being fear'd,

Than they in fearing.

CHALLENGE.

Henry V. A. 4, S. 1.

I never in my life

Did hear a challenge urg'd more modeftly,
Unless a brother should a brother dare

To gentle exercife and proof of arms.

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

CHARITY.
-O father abbot,

An old man broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
Give him a little earth for charity!

Henry VIII. A. 4, S. 2.

You speak not like yourself; who ever yet

Have stood to charity, and display'd the effects
Of difpofition gentle, and of wisdom
O'er-topping woman's power.

I have no fpleen against you; nor injustice

For your, or any.

Henry VIII. A. 2, S. 4.

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand,

Open as day for melting charity;

Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd he's flint:
As humorous as winter, and as fudden

1

humorous as winter.] That is, changeable as the weather of a winter's day. JOHNSON. A winter's day has generally too decided a character to admit Dr. Johnson's interpretation without fome licence: a licence, however, which our author has perhaps taken. MALONE.

The meaning of the word "humorous," in this place, has not been properly explained. It does not here fignify changeable, but on the contrary fixed, obftinate. A humorous man, may mean a man wedded to his opinion; or whofe opinions or notions are rigid and fevere. When we now fay, he will have his humour, we mean, he is an obftinate man. A. B.

As

As flaws congealed in the fpring of day.

Henry IV. P. 2, A. 4, S. 4.

--From low farms,

Poor pelting villages, fheep-cotes and mills,

Sometime with lunatic bans, fometime with prayers,

Inforce their charity.

CHAR M.

Lear, A. 2. S. 3.

Your charm so strongly works 'em,

Poor pelting villages.] Pelting is ufed by Shakespeare in the fenfe of beggarly: I fuppofe from pelt, a skin. WARBURTON. Pelting is, I believe, only an accidental depravation of petty. Skakespeare ufes it in the Midfummer Night's Dream, of Small

brooks.

JOHNSON. Beaumont and Fletcher often use the word in the fame fenfe as Shakespeare. So in King and no King:

"This pelting, prating peace is good for nothing."
"To learn the pelting law."

Spanish Curate,

Midfummer Night's Dream," Every pelting river."

Measure for Measure,

Troilus and Creffida,

"Every pelting petty officer."
"We have had pelting wars fince
66 you refus'd

"The Grecian cause."

From the first of the two last instances, it appears not to be a corruption of petty, which is ufed the next word to it, but feems to be the fame as paltry; and if it comes from pelt, a skin, as Dr. Warburton fays, the poets have furnished villages, peace, law, rivers, officers of justice and war, out of one wardrobe.

STEEVENS.

"Pelting" fhould in this place be "palting," which fignifies paltry, trifling: "Pelting" is fuming, fretful. Pelting and palting, or paltring, are frequently confounded and mistaken for each other. But I will endeavour to fhew, from the above quoted pas fages, the different fignifications of the words.

"This pelting, prating peace." It should be palting, meaning, this trifling, prating peace, &c.

"To learn the pelting law." Here too it should be palting, or paltring. To palter, is fometimes to fhift, to dodge. The propriety of the epithet, therefore, when applied to law, is easily seen. "Every pelting river." Palting, i. e. paltry. "Every pelting petty officer, i. e. noify, turbulent.

"We have had pelting wars," &c. i. e. fuming, angry wars. &c.

A. B.

That