like a WILFUL youth, This does not at all agree with what he had before' promised, that what followed should be pure innocence. For wilfulness is not quite so pure. We should read WITLESS, i. e. heedless: and this agrees exactly to that to which he compares his case, of a school-boy : who, for want of advised watch, lost his first arrow, and sent another after it with more attention. But wilful agrees not at all with it. WARB.

Dr. Warburton confounds the time past and present. He has formerly lost his money like a wilful youth, he now borrows more in pure innocence without disguising his former fault or his present designs. JOHN.

like a wilful youth.'' Wilful,' has no perfect sense in this place. I would read wileful,' i. e. deceitful, disingenuous. See Johnson's note on <6 Angel's vailing clouds," in Love's Labour Lost, in which he has made the same mistake as that he here notices in Warburton.

B.

Por. But, if my father had not scanted me,
And hedg'd me by his will to yield myself
His wife, who wins me by that means I told you,
Yourself, renowned prince, then stood as fair,
As any comer I have look'd on yet,

For my affection.

And hedg'd me by his wit-I suppose we may safely read: and hedg'd me by his will. Confined me by his will. JoHN.

'Hedg'd me, &c.'' Hedg'd me by his wit,' i. e. obliged me, compelled me, by this device. B..

Gob. By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit. God's sonties, I know not exactly of what oath this is a corruption. I meet with God's santy in Decker's Honest Whore, 1635.

Again, in The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art, a comedy, bl, 1. without date:

“Gods sainte, this is a goodly book indeed." Perhaps it was once customary to swear by the santé, i. e. health, of the Supreme Being, or by his saints. Oaths of such a turn are not unfrequent among our ancient writers. All, however, seem to have been so thoroughly convinced of the crime of prophane swearing that they were content to disguise their meaning by abbreviations which were permitted silently to terminate in irremediable corruptions. STEEV.

- "God's sonties," means, offenders against God-sinners. Sontis, Lat. Sontes punire. CIC.

We now say, as I am a sinner. B.

Gob. Your worship's friend, and Launcelot, sir.

Your worship's friend and Launcelot, sir. Dr. Farmer is of opinion we should read Gobbo instead of Launcelot. It may be inferred from the name of Gobbo that Shakspeare designed this character to be represented with a hump back. STEEV.

It is much more likely that Launcelot is called Gobbo from his continual prating, and for which he is reproved by his master in a subsequent scene. A gob, in the Northern counties, is a large open mouth. B.

Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it shall seem to signify.

-to break up this,] To break up was a term in carving. STEEV. To break up this.' To break up a letter,' is to open a letter,as one would have imagined every person must know.

Mr. Steevens, however, makes mention of the expression as if Lorenzo was to set about carving the letter, instead of breaking its seal. B.

Laun. There will come a Christian by,
Will be worth a Jewess' eye.

There will come a Christian by
Will be worth a Jewess eye.]

It's worth a Jew's eye, is a proverbial phrase. WHAL.

Worth a Jewess' eye.' This should be printed-worth a Jewes (dissyl.) Jew's. B.

Gra. How like a prodigal doth she return.

doth she return; Surely the bark ought to be of the masculine gender, otherwise the allusion wants somewhat of propriety. This indiscriminate use of the personal for the neuter, at least obscures the passage. A ship, however, is commonly spoken of in the feminine gender. STEEV.

'She return.' What are we to understand by this remark of the critic? Is it not known that, by converting nouns naturally neuter into masculine or feminine, we by such personification add considerably to the force of expression, to the beauty of style? But he seems to talk (the rule of the Philologer and the licence of the Poet set aside) as though the masculine and neuter genders were to be considered as actually one, and the same. This in some perhaps might excite to merriment : but ridicule apart, had Mr. Steevens, amid the contentions of the commentators, remained neuter,' it had been well. B.

Ser. Madam, there is alighted at your gate
A young Venetian, one that comes before
To signify the approaching of his lord;
From whom he bringeth sensible regrects.

-regreets;] i. e. salutations. So, in King John, act iii. scene i.
"Unvoke this seizure, and this kind regreet." STEEV.

'Regreets.' Regreet' 'sometimes written regrate. This word has not been properly explained. It signifies-a declaration or profession of esteem. B.

Por.

Now he goes.

With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy

To the sea-monster.

With no less presence, With the same dignity of mien. JouN.

I think it would be better to read prescience, i. e. no less confident of success.

B.

Bass. Thus ornament is but the guiled shore To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty.

--the guiled shore, i. e. the treacherous shore. I should not have thought the word wanted explanation, but that some of our modern editors have rejected it, and read gilded. Guiled is the reading of all the ancient copies. STEEV.

"Guiled shore" is deceived shore. We must read guiling shore, i. e. deceitful. B.

Por. And shuddering fear and green-eyed jealousy. O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,

In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess.

I feel too much thy blessing, make it less,

And shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealousy.' The adjective 'green-ey'd' as applied to jealousy is no way expressive of its character. It might with no greater impropriety be styled red eyed, blue-eyed, or any other color whatever. But weak and unmeaning epithets are not to be found in Shakspeare: on the contrary, they are at all times apt and striking. I am of opinion, therefore, that green-eyed' is a misprint, and that we should read green-hode. The word is used by Chaucer and other ancient writers in the sense of rawness, precipitance of youth. Now this precipitance is one of the great and marking features of Jealousy. Green-hode Jealousy,' i. e. youthful Jealousy. Not however, as meaning that Jealousy is peculiar to youth; it is rather the vice of age, but as pointing to, or speaking of a passion which is devoid of judgment, or which at least is of green judgment (immature) while it is of hasty and impetuous spirit, as we so often observe in the youthful man. This reading has not only meaning but strength. The employing of a substantive adjectively is frequent with the Poet, and such employment of it is, in many instances, extremely forcible. Green-hode might be written by a careless transcriber green hide, so that the printer would be deceived by the sound.

Cleopatra says:

"My ballad days,

When I'was green in judgment. B.

Por. Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed Unto the tranect, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice:

Unto the tranect.] The old copies concur in reading, unto the tranect, which appears to be derived from tranare, and was probably a word cur

rent in the time of our author, though I can produce no example of it. STEEV.

"Unto the tranect." Read, "Unto the common ferry, to the tranect," or rather traineau, “which trades to Venice.” Traineau, from the French, trainer, to draw, and eau, water; a tow boat. B.

Duke. Thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
Uncapable of pity, void and empty
From any dram of mercy.

"From any dram of mercy." This should be drame, (dream) as employed by Chaucer, Spenser, and other the earlier writers. "He never even dreamt of mercy: he never had a shadow of it in his thought." This will be much the more forcible reading. B.

Shy. Some men there are, love not a gaping pig;
Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine; for affections,
Masters of passion, sway- it to the mood
Of what it likes, or loaths: now, for your answer :
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force.
Must yield to such inevitable shame,
As to offend himself, being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate, and a certain loathing,
I bear Anthonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him.

Cannot contain their urine, &c.] Mr. Rowe reads:
Cannot contain their urine for affection.

Masterless passion sways it to the mood

Of what it likes, or loaths.

Masterless passion Mr. Pope has since copied. I don't know what word there is to which this relative it is to be referred. Dr. Thirlby would thus adjust the passage:

Cannot contain their urine; for affection,

Master of passion, sways it, &c.

And then it is governed of passion: and the two old quartos and folios read-Masters of passion, &c. THEOB.

Masterless possion sways it to the mood.] The two old quartos and folio read: MASTERS OF passion. And this is certainly right. He is speaking of the power of sound over the human affections, and concludes, very naturally, that the masters of passion (for so he finely calls the musicians) sway the passions or affections as they please. Alluding to what the

ancients tell us of the feats that Timotheus and other musicians worked by the power of music. Can any thing be more natural? WARB.

Does not the verb sway, which governs the two nominative cases, affection and masters, require that both should be plural, and consequently direct us to read thus ?

For affections, masters of passion sway it, &c. Sir JoHN HAWK. That affections and passions anciently had different significations, may be known from the following instance in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: "His heart was fuller of passions than his eyes of affections." Affections, as used by Shylock, seem to signify imaginations, or prejudices. In Othello, act i. is a passage somewhat similar. "And though we have bere a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safe voice on you." STEEV.

As for affection, those that know how to operate upon the passions of men, rule it by making it operate in obedience to the notes which please or disgust it. JOHN.

"And others when the bag-pipe sings," &c. All the old editions read;

"And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose,

"Cannot contain their urine for affection.

"Masters of passion sways it to the mood

“Of what it likes or loaths.”

There is therefore nothing wrong in the old copies but the pointing. I regulate the passage thus" Masters" is not a noun but a verb. "And others, when the bag-pipe sings i'th' nose, "Cannot contain their urine.-For affection "Masters of passion: sways it to the mood "Of what it likes or loaths."

The passage must be understood as follows: "Affection, i. e. sensation (as we may be differently affected) masters or conquers by passion (by force or violence): sways it (rules, orders, or regulates) according to fancy." "It," in the first instance, "sways it," is not a relative, but used emphatically and agreeably with the present mode of speech, as, "such an one lords it finely," i. e. carries himself proudly or imperiously: "of" is frequently by with the old writers. In the second instance, "what it likes or loathes,” it is employed as a relative. The antecedent which we may suppose to be mind is not set down, but must be supplied by the reader. "What it (the mind) likes or loathes." B.

Why he, a woollen bag-pipe ;-] This incident Shakspeare seems to have taken from J. C. Scaliger's Exot. Exercit. against Cardan. A book that our author was well read in, and much indebted to for a great deal of his physics: it being then much in vogue, and indeed is excellent, though now long since forgot. In his 344 Exercit. sect. 6. he has these words: "Narrabo nunc tibi jocusam Sympathiam Reguli Vasconis equitis. Is dum viveret, audito phermingis sono, urinam illico facere cogebatur."And to make this jocular story still more ridiculous, Shakspeare, I suppose, translated phorming by bag-pipes. But what I would chiefly observe from hence is this, that as Scaliger uses the word Sympathiam, which signifies, and so he interprets it, communem AFFECTIONEM duabus rebus, so Shakspeare translates it by AFFECTION:

Cannot contain their urine for AFFECTION.

Which shows the truth of the preceding emendation of the text accord