-"whose judgments are

"Mere fathers of their garments, whofe conftancies
"Expire before their fathions."-

We have the following ingenious conjecture, from Mr. Tyrwhytt. I have a fufpicion that Shakspeare wrote-" mere feathers of their garments:" i. e. whofe judgments are merely parts (and infignificant parts) of their dress, worn and laid afide as feathers are, from the mere love of novelty and change." The whole paffage confirms this emendation.

In the fame comedy we meet with the following very crabbed and almoft unintelligible paffage :

King.
Hel.

"What dar't thou venture?

"Tax of impudence

"A ftrumpet's boldness, a divulged shame,

"Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name
"Sear'd otherwife; no worfe of worst extended,

"With vileft torture let my life be ended."

Dr. Johnfon obferves, that this paffage is apparently corrupt, and he entertained fmall hopes of rectifying it. The ingenious Mr. Malone hath remarked that the old copy readsnot fear'd but fear'd.' The impreffion (fays he) in my book, is very faint, but I think that is the word. In the fame line it reads, not no, but ne-probably an error for the. I would with to read and point the paffage thus:

a divulged fhame.

"Traduc'd, by odious ballads, my maiden's name;-
"Scar'd otherwife; the worst of worst, extended

"With vileft torture, let my life be ended."

i. e. Let my maiden reputation become the fubject of ballads-let it be otherwife mangled; and (what is the worst of worst-the confummation of mifery) my body extended on the rack by the moft cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my prefumption.'

Dr. Johnfon obferved, in a former Edition of our Author, that a clown, in his dramas, is commonly taken for a licenfed jefter or domestic fool. This circumftance is confirmed by Mr. Steevens in a note on the 3d Scene, A&t I. of the forementioned comedy, where the perfons introduced are the Countefs, Steward, and Clown.

This dialogue (fays the Editor) or that in Twelfth Night, between Olivia and the Clown, feems to have been particularly cenfured by Cartwright in one of the copies of verfes prefixed to the works of Beaumont and Fletcher:

"Shakespeare to thee was dull, whofe beft jeft lies

'ch' Lady's questions and the Fool's replies.

"Old fashion'd wit, which walk'd from town to town, "In trunk hofe, which our father's call'd the Clown."

In the MS. register of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treafurer of the chamber to King James I. from 1613 to 1616, are the following entries: "Tom Derry, his Majefty's fool, at 2 s. per diem, 1615. Paid John Mawe for the diet and lodging of Thomas Derrie, her Majefty's jefter, for thirteen weeks, 101. 18 s. 6d. 1616.

Malvolio in Twelfth Night, fays-" the Lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe."

Dr. Warburton, according to cuftom, alters the word, in order, if poffible, to extract fome meaning out of it. He proposes to read Trachy, i. e. Thrace. This alteration, in the opi nion of Dr. Johnson, added little to the credit of the text, whatever honour might accrue from it to the fagacity of the critic. He honeftly confeffed his ignorance of the circumstance or ftory to which the expreffion alluded. Mr. Smith conjectures that the word Strachy is derived from the Italian word Straccio, and fignifies clouts or tatters. Mr. Steevens sports an hypothefis, for which he makes fo ingenuous an apology, that we should be difpofed to indulge him even if it were lefs probable than it is. He would alter, by a very easy transposition of a letter, Strachy to Starchy; i. e. the room in which linen underwent the once moft complicated operation of farching. The alteration (fays he) was fuggefted to me by a typogra phical error in The World tofs'd at Tennis, 1620, by Middleton and Rowley, where ftraches is printed for ftarches. I cannot fairly be accused of having dealt much in conjectural emendation, and therefore feel the lefs reluctance to hazard a guess on this defperate paffage! Mr. Steevens indeed hath a right with the first critics on Shakspeare to amuse himself with the play of conjecture. His abilities entitle him to this indulgence in common with other commentators. But it is very feldom that he hath availed himself of the privilege. He adheres to the fimple text as long as he finds any thing in it to fupport him: and when he departs from it, it is always with diffidence and reluctance.

The true reading of a moft obfcure paffage in Act IV. Sc. III. of Twelfth Night, is, we think, reftored by Mr. Tyrwhytt, and its meaning, with much probability, conjectured by the help of Sir John Hawkins's explanation of a term which occurs in it.

Sir Toby (drunk himfelf) fays of Dick the furgeon (who, as the Clown informs him, had been "drunk above an hour agone")

"Then he's a rogue, and a pay-measure pavin:
"I hate a drunken rogue."-

Paffy-meafure is a corruption of the Italian word passamezzo: it was a favourite air in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The

pavan, from pavo, a peacock, is a grave and majeftic dance. The method of dancing it was anciently by gentlemen dressed with a cap and fword-by thofe of the long robe in their gowns-by princes in their mantles-and by ladies in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof in the dance resembled that of a peacock's tail.

་

By the affiftance of the above explanation, given by Sir John Hawkins, I think (fays Mr. Tyrwhytt) I now fee the meaning of this paffage. The fecond folio reads

"after a paffy measure pavin

So that I should imagine the following regulation of the whole speech would not be far from the truth:

"Then he's a rogue :-after a paffy-meafure or a pavin

"I hate a drunken rogue.'

i. e. next to a paffy-measure or a pavin I hate a drunkard. It is in character that Sir Toby Belch fhould express a strong diflike of ferious dances, &c. fuch as the passamezzo and the pavan are described to be.'

Mr. Steevens hath reftored the true reading of a corrupted paffage in Act I. Sc. II. of the tragedy of Macbeth :

"Till he difburfed at St. Colmes' kill ifle."

This is very erroneous, though adopted by all the modern ediThe folio reads

tors.

at Saint Colmes' ynch.

i. e. Colmes Inch, or as it is now called Inchcomb, a small island lying in the Firth of Edinburgh, with an abbey upon it, dedicated to St. Columb, called by Cambden Inch Colum, or the Ifle of Columba. Colum kill is quite a different ifland. This lat ter was the very celebrated Iona, that was anciently the refidence of an abbot, and afterwards an epifcopal fee. It was noted for being the burial-place of the kings of Ireland, Scotland, and Norway. It was the feat of learning to the inhabitants of the northern countries: and the illuftrious fchool from whence iffued fome of the greatest ornaments of the church in the middle ages. This famous ifland is fituated among the Hebrides, in the western feas, at a small distance from the ifle of Mull. It was vifited a few years fince by Dr. Johnson; whofe reflections on its ancient and present state are equally pious and rational, and every way worthy of the philofopher and the Chriftian.

With respect to the island fituated in the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh, called Colmes' Inch, Mr. Steevens produces the following paffage from Hollinfhed, to illuftrate the circumftance which this tragedy refers to in the line quoted above. "The Danes that escaped and got once to their fhips obtained of Macbeth for a great fum of gold, that fuch of their friends as were flaine might be buried in Saint Colmes' Inch. In memory whereof many old fepultures are yet in the faid Inch graven with the

arms

arms of the Danes." Inch or Infhe, in the Irifh and Erfe languages, fignifies an ifland. Vid. Lhynd's Arch.

In the concluding Scene of the firit Act of this inimitable drama, Macbeth is reprefented as faying in a foliloquy if the affaffination

"Could trammel up the confequence, and catch,
"With his farceafe, fuccefs:".

Dr. Johnfon pleads for a tranfpofition, and would give fuccefs the precedence of furceafe, and, moreover, would fubftitute its for his. With this alteration he understands the paffage thusif its fuccefs would enfure its furceafe-if being once done fuccessfully, without detection, it could fix a period to all vengeance and enquiry-I would then venture on the deed, &c.

Mr. Steevens appears to be fatisfied with this explanation of the paffage, and gives his fanction to the alteration of his into its, by informing his readers that they are convertible terms. For our part, we fee no difficulty in the paffage as it ftands at prefent, and are utterly averfe to all tranfpofitions and alterations, unless abfolutely neceffary to clear up fome obfcurity, otherwise infcrutable or warranted by good authority, or very clear analogy. "With his furceafe"appears to us to mean fimply and literally the death of Duncan-which event Macbeth was at that moment meditating. He and his are used in the fame foliloquy, without any mention of the royal name: and in the abruptnefs with which it begins, and the manner in which Macbeth fpeaks of his gueft, the poet difcovers his vast knowledge of the moft fecret workings of the human heart, when it is full of fome great but mifchievous conceptions to which it wishes, and yet hefitates to give expreffion even in fecret.

In a note on the word Waffel, made ufe of by Lady Macbeth in this laft fcene, Mr. Steevens obferves, that it was anciently called was-haile, and was an annual cuftom, according to Selden, obferved in the country on the vigil of the new year, and had its beginning, as fome fay, from the words which Ronix, daughter of Hengift, ufed, when the drank to Vortigernloverd king, was haile. He answered her by direction of an interpreter-Drinc-heile.'-Waffel is a note of health-wishing, and is fuppofed to be a corruption of wish-heil.

On this word we beg leave to remark, that in the weftern counties, the custom of waffel is ftill preferved amongst the country people, with fome particular ceremonies: not indeed on the

I-Colme-kill (called by Bede Hy, and by other writers Iona) is mentioned alfo in this tragedy. Vid. A& II. Sc. ult. The body of Duncan is reported to be

66

carried to Colmes' kill,
"The facred ftorehoufe of his predeceffors,
"And guardian of their bones."

eve of the new year, but on the eve of Twelfth-day. The waf fel-bowl, as it is ftill called, is filled with ale or cyder, into which is thrown a toaft with spice and sugar, and the first libation is made to the apple-trees. They are fprinkled with the liquor while a fong is fung by the fuperftitious ruftics, expreffive of their wishes and hopes of a plentiful feafon. In towns the boys parade the streets on the eve of Twelfth day, and fing the waffel-fong. It may be obferved that they make use of the old Saxon word, was-heil, without any alteration, either of its original meaning or manner of pronunciation. It begins, "Was heil, was heil all o'er the town," &c. i. e. we wish health to all the inhabitants.

In the Archaeologia there is a particular account of an ancient chimney-piece, on which the waffel-bowl is carved, ornamented with leaves of the apple-tree. The gentleman who communicated his remarks on this remain of antiquity, conjectures that the leaves were emblematical of the good cyder which generally filled the bowl. We rather think they referred to the custom of carrying the bowl into the orchards to fprinkle the trees with the liquor it contained, whether it were cyder or ale. Macbeth fays to the Ghoft

"If trembling I inhabit, then protest me

"The baby of a girl.".

Mr. Pope alters the word to inhibit, and Dr. Warburton adopts the alteration. Dr. Johnfon difapproves of this correction, and propofes to read

"I evade it.".

Mr. Steevens prefers Mr. Pope's emendation, and reads the line thus:

"If trembling I inhibit thee, proteft me."

To inhibit is to forbid. It is more than once made ufe of by Shakspeare.

Perhaps there is, after all, no neceffity for any alteration. We know the licence of our Author with refpect to his ufe of words. Scarcely a page but affords fome initance or other of his giving a turn to words very different from that to which they had been accustomed by writers more attentive to the rules of grammatical phrafeology. May not inhabit mean the fame as harbour or give habitation to? If so, the fenfe is obvious at firft fight, and trembling is not to be understood as a participle, but as a fubftantive.

"Augurs, and understood relations, have

"By magot-pies, and choughs and rooks brought forth "The fecret'it man of blood."

By relation Dr. Johnfon understands the connection of effects with caufes.

The old copy has the paffage thus:

66 Augures, and understood relations," &c.

• Perhaps