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500. Not whatnify not only.

-] In this place not seems to sigJOHNSON.

509. when thoroughly ripe, drops from the tree.

-humble as the ripest mulberry,] This fruit,

STEEVENS.

Eschylus (as appears from a fragment of his ΦΡΥΓΕΣ * ΕΚΤΟΡΟΣ ΛΥΤΡΑ, preserved by Athenæus, lib. ii) says of Hector, that he was softer than mulberries. ̓Ανὴρ δ ̓ ἐκεῖν© ἦν πεπαίτερΘ- μόρων. MUSGRAVE.

511. and being bred in broils,

Hast not that soft way] So, in Othello

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-Rude am I in my speech,

"And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace; "And little of this great world can I speak, "More than pertains to feats of broils and battles." Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

'Tis a worthy deed,

"And shall become you well, to entreat your

captain

"To-soft and gentle speech."

MALONE.

533. --my unbarb'd sconce ?- -] The suppliants of the people used to present themselves to them in sordid and neglected dresses. JOHNSON. Unbarbed sconce, is untrimm'd or unshaven head. To barb a man, was to shave him. So, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578:

"Grim. -you are so clean a young man.
"Row. And who barbes you, Grimball ?

"Grim. A dapper knave, one Rosco.

"Row. I know him not, is he a deaft barber ?"

To barbe the field was to cut the corn.

So, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song XIII.

"The lab'ring hunter tufts the thick unbarbed grounds."

Again, in the Malcontent, by Marston:

536.

The stooping scytheman that doth barbe the field."

STEEVENS.

single plot] i. e. piece, portion; applied to a piece of earth, and here elegantly transferred

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Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear

Thy dangerous stoutness :- -] This is obscure. Perhaps, she means, Go, do thy worst; let me rather feel the utmost extremity that thy pride can bring upon us, than live thus in fear of thy dangerous obstinacy. JOHNSON. -i' the truth o' the cause.] This is not very

607.

easily understood. We might read:

-o'er the truth o' the cause.

JOHNSON.

618. -and to have his worth

-] The modern editors sub

Of contradiction:

3

A&t II. substituted word; but the old copy reads not word, but worth, which I apprehend, is right.-He has been used to have his worth, or (as we should now say) his pennyworth of contradiction; his full quota or proportion.

The phrase occurs in Romeo and Juliet:

"You take your pennyworth [of sleep] now."

MALONE.

620. Be rein'd again to temperance ;-] Our poet seems to have taken several of his images from the old pageants. In the new edition of Leland's Collećtanea, vol. iv. p. 190, the virtue temperance is repre-, sented "holdyng in hyr haund a bitt of an horse."

TOLLET. Mr. Tollet might have added, that both in painting and sculpture the bit is the established symbol of this HENLEY,

virtue.

621.

-which looks

With us to break his neck.]

To look is to wait What he has in his heart is waiting there to help us to break his neck.

or expect. The sense I believe is,

JOHNSON. 626. Will bear the knave by the volume.] i. e. would bear being called a knave as often as would fill out a volume. STEEVENS.

653. His rougher accents.] The old copy reads― actions. Theobald made the change. STEEVENS. 655. Rather than envy you.] Envy is here taken at large for malignity or ill intention. JOHNSON. 664. -season'd office,] All office established

and

and settled by time, and made familiar to the people by

long use.

702. Envy'd against the people, with signs of hatred to the people.

703.

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-as now at last] Read rather:

-has now at last.

I am not certain but that as, in this instance, has
The same mode of expres-

the power of as well as.
sion I have met with among our ancient writers.

704.

not only.

STEEVENS.

-not in the presence] Not stands again for

JOHNSON. It is thus used in the New Testament, 1 Thess. iv. 8.

"He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man

but God," &c.

722. My dear wife's estimate,

STEEVENS.

-] I love my coun

try beyond the rate at which I value my dear wife.

JOHNSON. 730. You common cry of curs! -] Cry here signifies a troop or pack. So, in a subsequent scene in this play: -You have made good work,

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* You and your cry.”

Again, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1634:

"I could have kept a hawk, and well have hallo'd "To a deep cry of dogs.”

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MALONE.

To banish your defenders: 'till, at length,
Your ignorance (which finds not, 'till it feels, &c.)

Still retain the power of banishing your defenders, till your

un

undiscerning folly, which can foresee no consequences, leave none in the city but yourselves, who are always labouring your own destruction.

It is remarkable that, among the political maxims of the speculative Harrington, there is one which he might have borrowed from this speech: The people, says he, cannot see, but they can feel. It is not much to the honour of the people, that they have the same character of stupidity from their enemy and their friend. Such was the power of our author's mind, that he looked through life in all its relations private and civil. JOHNSON.

742. Abated captives, dued, depressed in spirit. Lord Sterline:

-] Abated is dejected, subSo, in Cræsus, 1604, by

"To advance the humble, and abate the proud." i. e. Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. STEEVENS.

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When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves A noble cunning:- -] This is the ancient reading: The sense is, When Fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wounded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy. He calls this calmness cunning, because it is the effect of reflection and philosophy.

Perhaps

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