Milton likewife has followed this learned mean

ing, in a paffage imitated from Homer [Il. '. 441. II. . 514]

"Now let us PLAY

"As meet is, after fuch delicious fare."

IX, 1027.

He ufes SHADOW, as the Latins ufe UMBRA, In the fecond part of K. Henry IV. A& II.

Poius. "I am your SHADOW, my Lord, I'll "follow you."

So Horace, fpeaking of those who attended Mæcenas as unbidden guests,

Quos Mecenas adduxerat UMBRAS. L. 2.8.

Again, L. 1. Ep. 5.

Locus eft et pluribus UMBRIS.

'Tis a pretty allufion of conftant attendants, in the sunshine of fortune, and who then cannot eafily be shaken off. The fame allufion Milton has,

Thou, my SHADE "Infeparable, muft with me along." X, 249.

In a Midfummer Night's Dream, A&t III. He uses not a word form'd from the Latin, but the Latin word itself. Lyfander speaks to Hernia, "Get

"Get you gone, you dwarf,

"You Minimus.

"This is (fays Mr. Theobald) no term of art, "that I can find; and I can scarce be willing to think, that Shakespeare would use the maf"culine of an adjective to a woman. He was "not fo deficient in grammar. I have not ven"tur'd to disturb the text; but the author, perhaps, might have wrote,

"You, Minim, you.

"i. e. You diminutive of the creation, you c reptile. In this fenfe, to use a more recent "authority, Milton uses the word in the 7th "book of Paradife Loft.

"These as a Line their long dimensions drew, Streaking the ground with finuous trace; not " all

"Minims of nature."

Mr. Theobald, who was no bad scholar, might have remembered that the masculine gender is often used, where the perfon is considered more than the fex; as here 'tis by Shakespeare. Milton's expreffion feems to be from Prov. xxx. 24. according to the vulgate, Quatuor ifta funt minima terræ. MINIMS are an order of Friars, Minimi

X 3

Minimi; fo named thro' affected himility. From this adjective Spencer form'd his fubftantive, MINIMENTS, trifles, toys; res minimi pretii. B. 4. c. 8. ft. 6.

"Upon a day as fhe him fate befide,

By chance he certaine miniments forth drew."

Minim in mufic is half a femibreve: to which he alludes, in B. 6. c. 10. ft. 28.

"Pardon thy fhepherd mongst so many lays "As he hath fung of thee in all his days, "To make one minime of thy poor handmaid."

In Othello, Ac III.

"Now by yond Marble Heav'n,"

So in Timon, A& IV,

"The marbled manfion all above."

And Milton, B. III. 564.

"The pure Marble air."

Virgil, Equor Marmoreum, Aen. VI, 729. which Phaer renders

"The marblefacid feas."

And Douglas,

"Under the flekit fe of marbil hew."

Homer

Homer led the way, Il. ξ'. 275. ἅλα μαρμαρέην, which the scholiaft interprets by Auxйv. The fea, as well as the fky, is called Marble, from its being refplendent, and fhining like marble. And 'tis to be remembered that the poets predicate the fame things reciprocally both of the sky and waters. In the first In the first part of K. Henry IV. fpeaking of the Severn, he says, "His

crifped head." And in the Tempest, Act IV. he has, " Crifp channels." Crifp, or crifped, is curled. Lat. Crifpus, crispatus. So of the Clouds, in the Tempest, A& I.

"All hail, great mafter! grave Sir, hail!

"I come

"To answer thy beft pleasure: be't to fly, "To fwim, to dive into the fire; to ride "On the CURL'D clouds."

And fo in Timon, Act IV.

"With all abhorred births below 5 CRISP heav'n, "Whereon Hyperion's quickning fire doth shine.

5" Crifp heav'n.] We fhould read CRIPT, i e. vaulted, "from the Latin Cripta, a vault." Mr. W.-But that we should read, as the poet red, Crifp, is plain from the above citations.-One may afk, too where is Cript to be found? Add to that Cripta is a vault under ground, ảπò Txgúlaw, hence the Italians have formed Grotta, a grotto.

In Othello, Act III.

"But in a man that's just,

"They're cold dilations, working from the heart, "That paffion cannot rule."

Dilations, à Lat. dilationes, delayings, pauses, à differendo. But in Act I. That I would all my pilgrimage dilate. i. e. à dilatando, enlarge upon, exfpatiate, &c."

In K. Lear, A& II.

I tax not you, you elements"You owe me no fubscription.”

Subfcriptio, is a writing underneath, a registering our names fo as to take part in any cause, suit or fervice. Hence it fignifies, allegiance, fubmiffion, &c. And the verb fubfcribere is not only to write under, but to aid and help, to abet and approve, &c.

Ovid Trift. L. I. El. 11.

"Dii maris et caeli (quid enim nifi vota fuper« funt)

"Solvere quaffatae parcite membra ratis : "Neve precor magni fubfcribite Caefaris irae.