has the same thought in Henry IV. P, II. which affords some comment on this passage before us:

,,There is a history in all men's lives,

,,Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd: ,,The which observ'd, a man may prophecy ,,With a near aim, of the main chance of things

,,As yet not come to life," etc.

STEEVENS.

I am induced to

On considering this passage, think that the words character and history have been misplaced, and that it was originally written thus:

There is a kind of history in thy life,
That to the observer doth thy character
Fully unfold.

This transposition seems to be justified by the passage quoted by Steevens from the Second Part of Henry IV. M. MASON..

P. 89, l. 11.

belongings i. e. endowments.

MALONE.

P. 89, 1. 12. Are not thine own so proper, —] i. e. are not so much thy own property.

STEEVENS. to great

P. 89, 1. 18. But to fine issues: consequences: for high purposes. JOHNSON. P. 89, 1. 18. nor nature never lends] Two negatives, not employed to make an affirmative, are common in our author. STEEVENS.

P. 89, 1. 20 — 22.

she determines Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. }. e. She (Nature) requires and allots to herself the same advantages that creditors usually enjoy,

thanks for the endowments she has bestowed, and extraordinary exertions in those whom she has thus

favoured, by way of interest for what she has lent.

Use in the phraseology of our author's age, signified interest of money. MALONE.

P.. 89, 1. 22. 23. But I do bend my speech To one that can my part in him advertise;} This is obscure. The meaning is, I direct my speech to one who is able to teach, me how to govern; my part in him, signifying my office, which I have delegated to him. My part in him advertise; i. e. who knows what appertains to the character of a deputy or viceroy. Can advertise my part in him; that is, his represen tation of my person. But all these quaintnesses of expression, the Oxford editor seems sworn to extirpate; that is, to take away one of Shakspeare's characteristic marks; which, if not one of the comeliest, is yet one of the strongest. So he alters this to,

To one that can, in my part me advertise. A better expression indeed, but, for all that, none of Shakspeare's. WARBURTON.

I know not whether we may not better read, One that can, my part tó him advertise, One that can inform himself of that which it would be otherwise my part to tell him,

JOHNSON. To advertise is used in this sense, and with Shakspeare's accentuation, by Chapman, in his version of the 11th Book of the Odyssey =

,,Or, of my father, if thy royal car

-

,,Hath been advertis'd 164 STEEVENS. I believe, the meaning is, I am talking to one who is himself already sufficiently conversant with the nature and duties of my office; of that office, which I have now delegated to him.

MALONE.

''

P.. 89, 1. 24. Hold therefore, Angelo;] That is, continue to be Angelo; hold as thou art. JOHNSON. I believe that Hold therefore, Angelo; are the words which the Duke utters on tendering his commission to him. He concludes with Take thy commission STEEVENS.

If a full point be put after therefore, the Duke may be understood to speak of himself. Hold therefore, i. e. Let me therefore hold, or stop. And the sense of the whole passage may be this.

The Duke, who has begun an exhortation to Angelo, checks himself thus:,,But I am speaking to one, that can in him' [in or by himself] apprehend my part [all that I have to say]: I will therefore say no more on that subject]. then merely signifies to Angelo his appointment.

He

TYRWHITT.

that is,

P. 89, 1. 28. first in question, first called for; first appointed. JOHNSON. P. 89, last 1. Leaven'd choice is one of Shakspeare's harsh metaphors. His train of ideas seems to be this: I have proceeded to you with choice mature, concocted, fermented, leavened. When bread is leavened it is left to ferment: a leavered choice is therefore a choice not hasty, but ~consideratè; not declared as soon as it fell into the imagination, but suffered to work long in the mind. Thus explained, it suits better with prepared than levelled. JOHNSON.

P. 90, I. 11. That we may bring you something on the way.] i. e. accompany, you. So, in A Woman kill'd with Kindness, by Heywood, 1617:,,She went very Jovingly to bring him on his way to horse." And the same mode of expression is to be found in almost every writer of the times. REED.

Pago, 1, 14. — your scope is as mine own;] That is, your amplitude of power. JOHNSON.

P. 91, 1. 25 in metre?] In the primers there are metrical graces, such as, I suppose, were used in Shakspeare's time. JOHNSON.

P. 91, 1. 26. Proportion signifies measure; and refers to the question, What? in metre? »

WARBURTON. This speech is improperly given to Lucio. It clearly belongs to the second Gentleman, who had heart grace,,a dozen times at least.

P. 91, 1. 28. Grace is grace, despite of all controversy: Satirically insinuating, that the controversies about grace were so intricate and endless, that the disputants unsettled every thing but this, that grace was grace; which, however, in spite of controversy, still remained certain. WARBURTON.

ら

I am in doubt whether Shakspeare's thoughts reached so far into ecclesiastical disputes. Every commentator is warped a little by the tract of his Jown profession. The question is, whether the second gentleman has ever heard grace. The first gentleman limits the question to grace in metre. Lucio enlarges it to grace in any form or lan'guage. The first gentleman, to go beyond him, says, or in any religion, which Lucio allows, because the nature of things is unalterable; ́graće is às immutably grace, as his merry antagonist is a wicked villain. Difference in religion cannot make a grace not to be grace, a prayer not to be holy; as nothing can make a villain not to be a villain. This seems to be the meaning, such as it is.

JOHNSON.

P. 91, 1. 31. Well, there went but a pair of sheers between us. We are both of the same iece. JOHNSON.

P. 92, 1. — 5. The jest about the pile of a French velvet, alludes to the loss of hair in the French disease, a very frequent topick of our author's jocularity. Lucio finding that the gentleman understands the distemper so well, and mentions it so feelingly, promises to remember to drink his health, but to forget to drink after him. It was the opinion of Shakspeare's. time, that the cup of an infected person was contagions. JOHNSON.

The jest lies between the similar sound of the words pill'd and pild. This I have elsewhere explained, under a passage in Henry VIII:

„Pill'd priest thou liest." STEEVENS.

P. 92, 1. 19. To three thousand dollars a year.] A quibble intended between dollars and dolours. HANMER.

The same jest occurred before in the The Tempest. JOHNSON.

P. 93, 1. 19. what with the sweat, This may allude to the sweating sickness, of which the memory was very fresh in the time of Shak speare: but more probably to the meiod of cure then used for the diseases contracted in brothels.

You are very moist, Sir: did you sweat

"You have not the disease, I hope.

STEEVENS.

P. 93, 1. 27 - a peculiar river. i. e. a river belonging to an individual; not public property.

MALONE.