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494.

in his circumstance, -] In the detail or

circumduction of his argument.

JOHNSON. 505. The unknown Ajax,] Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or use.

510.

Now we shall see to-morrow,

JOHNSON.

An act that very chance doth throw upon him,
Ajax renown'd.] I would read,

Ajax renown.

The passage, as it stands in the folio, is hardly sense. If renown'd be right, we ought to read,

By an act, &c.

MALONE.

By placing a break after him, the construction will be :-Now we shall see to-morrow an act that very chance doth throw upon him-[we shall see] Ajax renown'd. HENLEY.

514. How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall,] To creep is to keep out of sight, from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the hall of fortune, while others, though they but play the ideot, are always in her eye, in the way of distinction. JOHNSON. feasting-] Folio. The quarto has fasting. Either word may bear a good sense.

517.

525.

JOHNSON.

Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,] This speech is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor.

JOHNSON.

All

-to the abject rear,] So Hanmer.

542.

the editors before him read,

-to the abject, near.

JOHNSON.

543. O'er run, &c.] The quarto wholly omits the simile of the horse, and reads thus :

And leave your hindmost, then what they do at present. The folio seems to have some omission, for the simile begins,

Or, like a gallant horse

JOHNSON. 558. More laud than gilt o'er-dusted.] Shakspere has omitted the article to; he should have written, More laud than to gilt o'er-dusted.

563.

has,

JOHNSON.

-The cry went once on thee,] The folio

-out on thee.

MALONE.

568. Made emulous missions—] Missions for divisions, i. e. goings out, on one side and the other.

WARBURTON.

The meaning of mission seems to be dispatches of the gods from heaven about mortal business, such as often happened at the siege of Troy. JOHNSON.

It means the descent of deities to combat on either side; an idea which Shakspere very probably adopted from Chapman's translation of Homer. In the fifth book Diomed wounds Mars, who on his return to heaven is rated by Jupiter for having interfered in the battle. This disobedience is the faction which I suppose Ulysses would describe. STEEVENS.

575.

——one of Priam's daughters.] Polyxena, in the act of marrying whom, he was afterwards killed by Paris.

STEEVENS.

579. Knows almost, &c.] For this elegant line the

quarto has only,

Knows almost every thing.

JOHNSON,

I think we should read, of Plutus' gold. So, Beau mont and Fletcher's Philaster, act iv:

“'Tis not the wealth of Plutus, nor the gold

"Lock'd in the heart of earth."

It should be remembered, however, that mines of gold were anciently supposed to be guarded by demons.

STEEVENS.

581. Keeps place with thought ;——] i. e. there is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. WARBURTON,

Is there not here an allusion to that sublime description of the divine omnipresence in the 139th Psalm ? HENLEY.

583. [with whom relation

Durst never meddle)-] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever

able to discover.

607.

JOHNSON. to dir.] So the quarto. The folio,

to airy air.

JOHNSON. 614. Omission to do, &c.] By neglecting our duty, we commission or enable that danger of dishonour, which could not reach us before, to lay hold upon us. JOHNSON,

638. with a politick regard,-] With a sly look.

688.

JOHNSON.

to make catlings on,] It has been already observed,

observed, that a catling signifies a small lute-string made of catgut. One of the musicians in Romeo and Juliet is called Simon Catling.

STEEVENS.

ACT IV.

Line 13.

DURING all question of the gentle truce :]

I think question means intercourse, interchange of con

versation.

38. His purpose meets you;meaning and his orders.

JOHNSON.

I bring you his JOHNSON. 67. --a flat tamed piece ;] i. e. a piece of wine

out of which the spirit is all flown.

WARBURTON.

70. Both merits pois'd, each weighs nor less nor more;

But he as he, the heavier for a whore.] I read,

But he as he, each heavier for a whore.

Heavy is taken both for weighty, and for sad or miserable. I know not whether the thought is not that of a wager. It must then be read thus:

But he as he. Which heavier for a whore ? That is, for a whore staked down, which is the heavier. JOHNSON.

As the quarto reads,

-the heavier for a whore.

I think all new pointing or alteration unnecessary. The sense appears to be this: the merits of either are

sunk

sunk in value, because the contest between them is STEEVENS.

only for a strumpet.

83. We'll not commend what we intend to sell.] Ibelieve the meaning is only this: though you practise the buyer's art, we will not practise the seller's. We intend to sell Helen dear, yet will not commend her. JOHNSON. The sense, I think, requires we should read condemn. TYRWHITT. 97. And dreaming night will hide our joys] The folio reads,

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102. With wings more momentary-swift than thought.] The second folio reads,

With wings more momentary, swifter than

thought.

MALONE.

109. Enter Pandarus.] The hint for the following short conversation between Pandarus and Cressida, is taken from Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, Book III. v. 1561:

“Pandare, a morowe which that commin was
"Unto his necè gan her faire to grete,

"And saied all this night so rained it alas!
"That all my drede is, that ye, necè swete,

"Have little leisir had to slepe and inete,
"All night (quod he) hath rain so do me
wake,

"That some of us I trowe ther heddis ake.

"Cresseide

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