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ther' (cries the chief of the etymological department, feated on our left), take care; you'll certainly be down in the dirt. Have you forgotten what woful figures I have been obliged to hold up to public laughter? No, Mr. Philologos; but, as we do not mean to truft ourselves fo far, we are under no apprehenfion of being fo fadly bedaubed: befide, when the Public fee that we have not the confidence of your etymologift, we are perfuaded that we fhall only excite a good-humoured fmile, at the most, if we fhould get a fall.' We believe then, or, to speak more properly, we conjecture, that these terms are all derived from the Italian. Tucket-una toccata; a general name for a flourish. Levet-una levata; the morning call, perhaps, in a camp or garrifon. Sennet-una ferenata; the fignal for retiring to reft. Serenata might easily be corrupted into fennet, by a rapid pronunciation of the middle fyllable, re, and a faint found of the final a: fer'nat, fennat, fennet. And thefe different words levet, fennet, &c. though originally used to defignate particular tunes, appropriated to particular purposes, might, perhaps, in process of time, be indifcriminately employed to denote any martial mufic.

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The appellation Sir formerly prefixed to the names of fome of the clergy, was anciently' (fays Dr. Johnfon) a title affumed by graduates,' This affertion (as we find in a note upon Richard III. A& 4.) the late Mr. Guthrie difputes; and fays it was a title fold by the Pope's Legates, &c.' Dr. Farmer controverts Mr. Guthrie's opinion; and Mr. Steevens fupposes that the title might be originally derived from Sire, father. In confirmation, however, of Dr. Johnson's notion, it may be observed that a Bachelor of Arts, (as is well known) in academical language, is filed Dominus. And we are informed that it is no uncommon thing, even at this day, in one of our Univerfities at least, for fervants of a college in which there may chance to be two gentlemen of the fame name, one of whom has taken his first degree, and the other not, to tranflate the term dominus, and prefix it to the name of the former, in order to diftinguifh him from the latter. Thus, if a Mr. Jones, for inftance, be inquired for, in a college where there are two of the name, circumstanced as above, they will ask you if you want Sir Jones.

In Antony and Cleopatra, Act II. Sc. 5. Cleopatra being irritated beyond measure at the news of Antony's marriage with Octavia, and having ftruck the meffenger who brought the intelligence, for perfifting in his account, fays to him:

O that his fault fhould make a knave of thee,

Thou art not what thou'rt fure of!-Get thee hence.'

Confult our General Index for the names, Jones (Rowland), Elphinstone, &c. &c. and Rev. Vol. LXXI. for the name of Lemon. + In former editions, as well as in fome of the notes to the prefent, it is printed, That art, &c. No reafon is given for the variation. This

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This laft line, which (fays Dr. Johnfon) is not easily understood, Sir T. Hanmer thus corrects: That fayft but what thou'rt fure of.' Warburton receives the emendation. But Johnson, diffatisfied with what, though it affords fenfe, exhibits (as he truly fays) little fpirit, fuppofes the line to confift of abrupt starts: O that his fault fhould make a knave of thee;

Thou art-not what?-Thou'rt fure on't. Get thee hence.' That is, 'That his fault should make a knave of thee that art-but what shall I fay thou art not? Thou art then sure of this marriage. Get thee hence. Mr. Steevens quotes what he thinks a fimilar paffage, from Meafure for Meafure, though he fays he knows not how to apply it with fuccefs to the very difficult line before us:' Dreft in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd
His glaffy effence.'-

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Mr. Tollet interprets the line, Thou art not an honeft man, of which thou art thy felf affur'd, but thou art in my opinion a knave by thy mafter's fault alone.' Mr. Malone would read,

"O that his fault should make a knave of thee,

That art not what thou'rt fore of!'

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which he explains, Alas! is it not ftrange, that the fault of Antony fhould make thee appear to me a knave, thee that art innocent, and art not the caufe of the ill news, in confequence of which thou art yet fore with my blows!" It frikes us in a different light. Cleopatra, with a weakness natural to those who cannot bear to hear what gives them pain, is enraged because the meffenger did not deceive her, but perfevered in his declaration of Antony's marriage: The gods confound thee!' (fays fhe) doft thou hold there ftill? Meffeng. Should I lye, Madam?' Cleop. O, I would thou didft.' She then, with much heat and vehemence, twice more repeats, He is married?' And finding that he ftill honeftly adhered to the truth, exclaims: that his fault, &c. We think the word that is here the demonftrative pronoun; and not, as the commentators feem all to have imagined, the conjunction. The fenfe of the whole we conceive to be: O, that fault of his ought to make a knave, a liar, of thee, that art not that knave, which, by thy repeated affertions of his marriage, thou fhew'ft thyself fure of his being.' Cleopatra means to infinuate that the meffenger's pofitive affurance of Antony's marriage, was, in her mind, equivalent to a pofitive affurance of his being a villain.

Commentators may fometimes miss the sense of their author by fearching too deeply for it t. Learning and penetration, which

Mifprinted, this, in the original.

will

This remark may be applied to Dr. Johnfon's explanation of understood relations' in Macbeth, A&t III. Sc. 4. In our Review,

.9

Vol.

will always have advantage of common understanding, in ex-
ploring what lies at the bottom, will fometimes be furpaffed
by the fuperficial obferver, in inveftigating that which fwims
He who is accustomed to see more than is
upon the furface.
generally perceived, will fometimes fee more than is intended;
and the criticifm which weighs every word of a loose and po-
pular writer, will often feek, in vain, for a meaning in the parts,
Hence arifes, we
that is only to be found in the whole.

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think, the embarraffment which our critics meet with from a paffage of Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Sc. 2. What fhall we do, Enobarbus?" fays Cleopatra. To which that plain and blunt foldier replies, Think and die.' Here Sir T. Hanmer would read, Drink and die,' which is approved by Warburton and Upton. Johnson explains think and die' to mean, Reflect on your own folly, and leave the world. But Mr. Tyrwhitt, though he allows that this would be a proper answer from a moralift or divine, thinks it not adapted to the character of Enobarbus. He therefore proposes to read, ink and die.' Mr. Steevens and Mr. Tollet would adhere to the old reading; and produce fome quotations, to fhew that taking thought' is equivalent to being anxious or folicitous, or laying a thing much to heart. And in a fecond note, Mr. Tyrwhitt tells us, that he believes the old reading right, but then we muft underftand think and die' to mean, die of thought or melancholy; and he refers to fome places where thought is fo ufed. We believe that by the expreffion think and die' Shakspeare intended nothing more than is con

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Vol. LXII. p. 268, we supposed relations to mean accounts, narra- ·
tions. The following paffage confirms our opinion:

There is a mystery (with whom relation
Durst never meddle) in the foul of itate.'

Troilus and Creffida, A& III. Sc. 3. In the fame volume, p. 260, after giving the fubftance of the notes, with fome additional conjectures, upon the words delighted spirit' in Measure for Meafure, A& III. Sc. 1, we declared our perfuafion that delighted was the original reading. We will take this opportunity to obferve that we think delighted' is used for delighted in: the prepofition in being omitted euphonia gratia. So in Cymbeline, Aa V. Sc. 4.

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Whom I beft love, I crofs; to make my gift
The more delay'd, delighted:'

• If virtue no

that is delighted in.' So alfo in Othello, A&t I. Sc. 3.
delighted beauty lack.' Many fimilar inftances of the omiffion of the
prepofition might, we think, be produced from our bard. Thus, in
Julius Cæfar, A&t I. Sc. 2. But ere we could arrive the point pro-
posed;' i. e. arrive at. See alfo vol. vi. p. 564, and vol. vii. p. 412,
of the prefent edition. Delighted fpirit,' therefore, may mean, the
fpirit in which we delight-in which we fo much pride ourselves as
our noblest part.

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veyed

veyed by the fingle word, die. In the colloquial and familiar language of the prefent time, we ufe the word think in the fame redundant manner. It is not uncommon to hear a perfon, after fpending the morning in an undrefs, fay, Well, 'tis almost dinner time, I must think and dress myfelf: or, I muft fee and drefs my felf. Prior has the fame expreffion in fome elegant verfes written at Paris in 1700, in the beginning of Robe's Geography:

And as health fails, and years increase,

Sit down and think and die in peace."

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In the laft fcene of Cymbeline, Belarius fays to the King, "Your pleasure was my near offence.' Dr. Johnson would here read, dear offence.' And Mr. Tyrwhitt, because in the old folio the word is printed neere, thinks the true reading to be, 'meere offence. But we fee no neceffity for alteration. The prefent text is confirmed by an expreffion of Leontes in the fecond Act of the Winter's Tale: He who fhall fpeak for her, is afar off guilty, but that he speaks.'

In King Lear, A& II. Sc. 2, Kent fays to the Duke of Cornwall, He that beguil'd you, in a plain accent, was a plain. knave; which for my part, I will not be, though I should win your displeasure to intreat me to it: i. e. fays Dr. Johnfon, though I fhould win you, difpleas'd as you now are, to like me fo well as to intreat me to be a knave.' Your displeasure' is, we apprehend, a title given to the angry Cornwall, in the fame manner as we now fay, your highness; your excellence; your grace, &c. Thefe titles were much more frequent formerly, than they are at prefent. Thus in our author, vol. vi. page 169, we find your wifdoms.' In vol, x. p. 501, their amities.' So alfo, in Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. iii. p. 219, edit. 1778, his valour." Again, in the fame volume, p. 377, your beauties and in p. 469, your modefly. Vol. v. p. 128, his rhetoric. Vol. vii. p. 19, his learning; and many others. An attention to this will often ferve to explain many difficulties in our old writers. May not this give the true interpretation of a paffage in Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 4. Horatia, advifing Hamlet not to follow the Ghost, fays, It inay affume fome other horrible form, which might deprive your fovereignty of reason.'

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In the clofet fcene in the third Act, as the Ghoft is retiring, Hamlet having afked his mother if fhe faw or heard nothing, points to the phantom, and exclaims:

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Why, look you there! look, how it fleals away!
My father, in his habit as he liv'd!'

Mr. Steevens here obferves, that if the poet meant that Hamlet's father appeared in his own familiar habit, he must have forgotten, that he originally introduced him in armour; or else he must have intended to vary his drefs in this his laft appearance. The

difficulty

difficulty' (he adds) might be a little obviated by pointing the
line thus: "My father-in his habit-as he liv'd."
We ap-
prove of this change of the punctuation, but think the ingenious
commentator has not fufficiently explained the sense. The
words, as he liv'd,' do not mean, in the manner in which he
liv'd: but, as though he were alive. See,' fays Hamlet, it is my
father himself-it is his very drefs-the reprefentation is as vivid
as if he were actually alive and prefent. A fimilar mode of ex-
preffion occurs in The Taming of the Shrew: Induction, Sc. 2d. :
We'll fhew thee Io, as fhe was a maid;

And how fhe was beguiled and furpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed were done.'

that is, as if the deed were now actually performing.

In the last Act of this tragedy, Scene 2d, Hamlet having informed Horatio of the commiffion which he was to have carried to the King of England, requiring that monarch to put the bearer to death, proceeds to mention fome of the earneft conjurations' by which his English majefty was exhorted to comply with the Dane's request; viz.

As love between them like a palm might flourish,
As peace fhould ftill her wheaten garland wear,
And ftand a comma 'tween their amities;

And many fuch like as's of great charge.'

This, Warburton, as ufual, alters to and a commere;' i. e. a goffip. Hanmer reads, ftand a cement.' Dr. Johnson says, The comma is the note of connection, and continuity of fentences; the period is the note of abruption and disjunction. Shakfpeare had it in his mind to write, that unleis England complied with the mandate, war fhould put a period to their amity; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an oppofite fenfe, he might put, that Peace fhould ftand a comma between their amities. This is not an eafy ftyle; but is it not the style of Shakspeare?'-We think the Doctor's explication too far-fetched. The meaning of the paffage we take to be this: Comma, which is the shorteft paufe, and which, according to the grammarians, only directs us to reft while we can count one, is, we conceive, here used to denote the fmalleft portion or duration of time. The Dane therefore conjures England to put Hamlet to immediate death, otherwife peace fhould not ftand an infant between them. A little after, in the fame fcene, Hamlet fays, A man's life's no more than to Jay, one.' Their amities' is (as we obferved above) a title fimilar to, his highness, &c.

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The account given by Mr. Malone, Mr. Steevens, and the author of the Remarks, of the ancient pageants, in their notes upon the Tempeft, and Love's Labour loft: Mr. Reed's defeription of the ancient dances called measures, rounds or roundels, galliards and lavoltas: his note upon the word curtfies in Twelfth Night: his obfervations upon Falstaff's favourite liquor, fack;

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upon

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