ACT III.-Sc. 3. FORD......So now uncape. Mr. Steevens says that Ford, at least thought, he had Falstaff secure in the house, as in a bag, and therefore speaks of him in terms applicable to a bag-fox, but in the very line preceding, Ford says, we'll unkennel the fox, a term surely not applicable to a bag-fox. MEASURE FOR MEASURE. ACT I.-Sc. 3. CLAUDIO. Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness: Glimpse, means a sudden transitory flash. ACT II.-Sc. 1: ELBOW....My Wife, whom I detest. ELBOW....I will detest myself also as well as She. Mr. Malone says that, in both these places, Detest means, Protest, but I think that Elbow uses it for Attest, that is call to witness. ACT II.-Sc. 1. ESCALUS....Mafter Froth-I would not have You acquainted with tapfters, they will draw you, FROTH....For my own part, I never come into any room in a tap-house, but I am drawn in. The business of a tapster is to draw liquors, and it is the interest of his employer, that he should froth them as high as he can, so in the Merry Wives of Windsor, when the host consents to entertain Bardolph as his tapster, his instruction to him is, froth and lime. It is to this that Escalus alludes in his Speech, and Froth in his reply, as well as to public executions. ACT II.-Sc. 4. ANGELO....Let's write good angel on the Devil's horn, 'Tis not the Devil's Crest. My explanation of these words, is confirmed by a passage in Lilly's Midas, quoted. by Malone, in his remarks on King John, Melancholy! is melancholy a word for a Barber's mouth? Thou should'st say, heavy, dull,-melancholy is The Crest of a Courtier. ACT III.-Sc. 1. DUKE....Thou art not certain, For thy complexion shifts to strange effects When I consider the influence of the moon on the human mind, I am inclined to read with Johnson, affects, instead of effects-We cannot properly say that the mind shifts to strange effects. ACT III.-Sc. 1. CLAUDIO....The Princely Angelo ! ISABELLA....Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, In Princely guards. There can be no doubt concerning the gene ral meaning of the word guards, which is justly explained by Malone; the difficulty lies in the word Princely. We are told, that in both places, the old folio reads prenzie, of which all the editors make princely, except Warburton, who reads Priestly, and, in my opinion, very properly. In Claudio's Speech, the princely Angelo! is clearly an exclamation of furprize. Had Isabella accused Angelo of any mean, or sordid action, this exclamation would be natural; but the being captivated by a lovely woman, and desiring to poffefs her, is not inconsistant with a Princely Station, though entirely repugnant to the sanctified demeanour of the outward-sainted deputy; as Isabella calls him. The meaning of the subsequent Speech is, that it is the cunning policy of the Devil, to invest the damnedest bodies in the most fanctified robes; that is to say, in Priestly guards, which, when applied to deceitful purposes, she calls the livery of Hell: by guards, Isabella metaphorically means, outward appearances..! ACT IV.-Sc. 2. DUKE..... And say, it was the desire of the Penitent to be so bared; You know the course is common. This alludes to a practice frequent amongst Roman Catholicks, of desiring to receive the tonsure of the Monks before they die:-it cannot allude to the Custom which Mr. Reid tells us was established in some parts of Germany, that of shaving Criminals previous to their Execution, as here the Penitent is supposed to be bared at his own request. ACT IV.-Sc. 3. DUKE......You are amaz'd;-but this shall That is, shall entirely convince you. ACT IV.-Sc. 3. DUKE..Ere twice the sun hath made his greeting to I perfectly agree with Steevens in this reading. The Diameter of the Globe be may sup. posed to make the People, on each side of it, of a different generation, but the Walls of a Prison surely cannot. ACT IV. Sc. 3 DUKE. By cold gradations, and weal-balanc'd form, Weal-balanced is a pompous Expression, with out any meaning; I, therefore, agree with Heath in reading well-balanced. ACT V. Sc. 1. ISABELLA....But let your reason serve, To make the truth appear where it seems hid; I agree with Theobald, in reading, Not hide the false seems true. Which requires no explanation. I cannot con ceive how the word hide can mean to plunge into eternal darkness, as Mr. Malone supposes. COMEDY OF ERRORS. ACT I.-Sc. 1. ÆGEON...And he great care of goods at random left, And he, (great care of goods at random left) ACT H.-Sc. 1. LUCIANA. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe. I woe. agree. with Steevens, in reading, leash'd with "ACT III.-Sc. 1. LUCIANA..Shall Antipholus, hate, Even in the Spring of Love thy love-springs rot, The word hate, in the first line, is introduced by Theobald, without Authority, and certainly |