Among the new matter, befides additional obfervations by the former Annotators, we find here the notes of Sir William Blackftone, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Meffrs. Henley, Henderfon, Monck Mafon, thofe of the author of Remarks on the laft (1778) edition of Shakspeare, and most of the criticisms which were published in Mr. Malone's Supplement to Shakfpeare: whence the Editor has also extracted Mr. Tyrwhitt's ingenious obfervations on romances of chivalry; Warburton's very curious Letter to Concanen, of which fome notice was taken in our Review, vol. lxiii. p. 255; and alfo feveral of the stories from old and scarce books, which have ferved Shakspeare as the ground-work of many of his dramas; particularly the ftory of The two lovers of Pifa, from which Falftaff's adventures in the Merry Wives of Windfor feem to have been borrowed: a declamation from an old book called, The Orator, printed at London 1596, which probably furnished the original of the incident of the bond in the Merchant of Venice: a ftory from Weftward for Smelts,' to which Shakespeare feems to have been indebted for part of the fable of Cymbeline: and the long, but curious, poem of The tragicall byftory of Romeus and Juliet.'

The prolegomena to this edition fill nearly half of a very thick volume: but, as this part of the work does not materially differ from the edition of 1778; and was largely defcribed in the 62d volume of our Review, page 12, &c. we shall take no further notice of it here, than just to exprefs our wifh, that, as Mr. Reed has judiciously borrowed many things from Mr. Malone's Supplement, he had alfo, in this part of his publication, inferted that gentleman's ingenious account of our ancient theatres. We shall therefore proceed to extract, for the entertainment and information of our Readers, fome illuftrations of difficult paffages, fubjoining, as we go along, our own remarks; in hope that, by a fuccefsful interpretation of fome places, which have been hitherto misunderstood, we may encourage future critics to try their strength upon our great Bard's remaining obfcurities.

To Profpero's inquiry, in the firft Act of the Tempeft, Are they fafe?' Ariel replies, Not a hair perifh'd; on their fuftaining garments not a blemish:' that is (fays Mr. Steevens) Their garments that bore them up and fupported them. So in King Lear, "In our fuftaining corn." Mr. Edwards, in his MSS. recommends us to read, fea-ftain'd, with which Dr. Johnson fupposes no reader will be fatisfied.' We own ourselves not satisfied with either the emendation, or the explanation. We do not think that fuftaining has the fenfe of bearing up eieither here, or in Lear. May it not mean, their garments which fuftained the violence of the tempeft-their fuffering garments? even that which was most exposed to the ftorm, and fuffered its greateft fury, has not now a blemish. So Pofthu

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mus, affuring Jachimo that he would meet with a repulfe in his attempt upon Imogen, fays: I doubt not you fuftain (i. e.. fuffer) what you're worthy of:' Cymbel. Act I. Sc. 5.

In the fame play, Act II. Anthonio fays:

Although this Lord of weak remembrance, this,
Who shall be of as little memory

When he is earth'd, hath here almoft perfuaded,
(For he's a spirit of perfuafion, only

Profeffes to perfuade) the King, his fon's alive;
'Tis as impoffible that he's undrown'd,

As he, that fleeps here, fwims.'

From the present reading of this entangled sentence,' Dr. Johnfon fays, that he can draw no sense; and therefore proposes to read:

For be a spirit of perfuafion, only

Profeffes to perfuade.

Which may mean (adds the Doctor) that he alone, who is a fpirit of perfuafion, professes to perfuade the King; or that, He only profelles to perfuade, that is, without being fo perfuaded himself, be makes a fhow of perfuading the King.' In the prefent edition the lines are judiciously put into a parenthefis, and we have the following note from Mr. Steevens: The meaning may be-He is a mere rhetorician, one who profefies the art of perfuafion, and nothing else; i. e. he profefles to perfuade another to believe that of which he himself is not convinced: he is content to be plaufible, that has no farther aim.' The fenfe of the paffage is this: He has almoft perfuaded the King, his fon's alive; and no wonder he should be thus fuccefsful, for he is a very spirit of perfuafion; the art of persuasion is his fole profeffion, his only calling. It is not quite clear whether Mr. Steevens thus underftands the words. The expreffion mere rhetorician,' and the latter part of his note, lead one to fuppofe he does not. For the parenthefis contains no declaration, as he feems to intimate, that this Lord of weak remembrance' was not himself convinced of what he endeavoured to perfuade the King; but only affigns a reafon for the fuccefs of his endeavours. Similar expreffions in our Poet's other plays will illuftrate this place. In the first Part of Henry IV. Act I. Sc. 2d. Falftaff fays to Poins; Well, may'ft thou have the Spirit of perfuafion.' And towards the end of the 3d Act of Troilus and Creffida, Therfites fays of Ajax: Why, he'll anfwer nobody; he profeffes not answering.'

The following note upon the words, master of fence,' in the Merry Wives of Windfor, will give our Readers an idea of the high eftimation in which the Duello and its laws were held in the days of Shakspeare; and will ferve to fhew the justice and neceffity of that ridicule upon it, which is fo frequent in our old comedies:

—a mafter of fence.] Mafter of defence, on this occafion, does not fimply mean a profeffor of the art of fencing, but a person who had taken his master's degree in it. I learn from one of the Sloanian MSS. (now in the British Mufeum, No. 2530, xxvi. D.), which feems to be the fragment of a regifter formerly belonging to fome of our fchools where the "Noble Science of Defence" was taught from the year 1568 to 1583, that in this art there were three degrees, viz. a mafter's, a provolt's, and a fcholar's. For each of thefe a prize was played, as exercises are kept in univerfities for fimilar purposes. The weapons they used were the axe, the pike, rapier, and target, rapier and cloke, two fwords, the two-hand fword, the bastard fword, the dagger and staff, the fword and buckler, the rapier and dagger, &c. The places where they exercifed were commonly theatres, halls, or other enclosures fufficient to contain a number of fpectators, as Ely-Place, in Holborn; the Bell Savage, Ludgate-Hill; the Curtain in Hollywell; the Gray Friars, within Newgate; Hampton Court; the Ball in Bishopfgate-Street; the Clink, Duke's Place, Salisbury Court; Bridewell; the Artillery Garden, &c. &c. &c. -Among thofe who diftinguished themselves in this fcience, I find Tarlton the Comedian, who " was allowed a mafter" the 23d of October 1587 [I fuppofe, either as grand compounder, or by mandamus], he being "ordinary grome of her Majefties chamber," and Robert Greene, who " plaide his maifter's prize at Leadenhall with The book from which thefe extracts are made three weapons, &c." is a fingular curiofity, as it contains the oaths, cuftoms, regulations, prizes, fummonfes, &c. of this once fafhionable fociety. King Hen. VIII. K. Edward VI. Philip and Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, were frequent fpectators of their skill and activity. STEEVENS.'

Mr. Tyrwhitt has well illuftrated this paffage in Measure for Measure, A& III. Sc. 2. Elbow, Blefs you, good father friar. Duke. And you, good brother father.'

father:] This word fhould be expunged. JoHNSON.

If father be retained, we may read:

Duke. And you, good brother,

Elb. Father

Duke. What offence, &c. STEEVENS.

frere.

I am neither for expunging the word father, nor for feparating it from its prefent connexions. In return to Elbow's blundering addrefs of good father friar, i. e. good father brother, the Duke humoroufly calls him, in his own ftyle, good brother father. This would ftill clearer in French. Dieu vous beniffe, mon pere appear Et vous auffi, mon frere pere. There is no doubt that our friar is a corruption of the French frere. TYRWHITT' In the Provoft's defcription of the hardened, unfeeling ftate of Barnardine, previous to his execution, the words, infenfible of mortality, and defperately mortal,' fays Dr. Johnson, are obfcure. He objects to Hanmer's reading, mortally defperate,' and

is inclined to believe that defperately mortal means desperately mischievous. Or,' adds the Doctor, defperately mortal may mean a man likely to die in a defperate ftate, without reflection or repentance.' We think the Provoft means to fay: He has no

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fense of his approaching fate, and yet that fate is so certain as to be beyond all hope of pardon; he has no chance or expectation of a reprieve; he is defperately mortal.'

In the fame play Angelo fays of Isabella:
But that her tender fhame

Will not proclaim against her maiden lofs,

How might the tongue me? Yet reafon dares her No:
For my authority,' &c.

Warburton explains this; dares her to reply No to me, whatever I fay.' Theobald corrects the paffage, and reads: 'dares her note. Hanmer alters the pointing: dares her: No.' So does Upton: dares her-No.' Which he explains thus: Were it not for her modefty, how might she proclaim my guilt? Yet (you'll fay) he has reafon on her fide, and that will dare her to do it. I think not; for my authority, &c. Johnson fays, he has nothing to offer worth infertion. Mr. Steevens would read: yet reafon dares her not' which he expounds, reafon does not challenge or incite her to appear against me.' Mr. Henley fays, the expreffion is a provincial one, and means, reafon dares her [by which we fuppofe he understands, defies her] to do it, as by this means fhe would not only publish her "maiden lofs," but also as the would fuffer from the impofing credit of his station and power.' We think Mr. Henley rightly understands the paffage, but has not fufficiently explained himself. Reafon, or reflection, is, we conceive, perfonified by Shakspeare, and represented as daring or over-awing Ifabella, and crying No, to her, whenever she finds herself prompted to tongue' Angelo. Dare is often met with, in this fenfe, in Shakspeare. Beaumont and Fletcher have used the word No in a fimilar way in the Chances, Act III. Sc. 4. vol. v. page 53, edit. 1778.

that the, or he,

Or any of that family are tainted,

Suffer difgrace, or ruin, by my pleasures,

I wear a fword to fatisfy the world no.'

Again, in A Wife for a Month,' Act IV. vol. v. page 331. 'I'm fure he did not, for I charg'd him no.'

Upon the word characts in A& V. Sc. 1. of this play, we meet with the following philological remark of the late Judge Blackftone :

• Charact fignifies an infcription. The ftat. 1 Edw. VI. c. 2. directed the feals of office of every Bishop to have "certain characts under the King's arms, for the knowledge of the diocefe." Characters are the letters in which the infcription is written. Charactery is the materials of which characters are compofed.

Faries ufe flowers for their charactery."

Merry Wives of Windfor. BLACKSTONE.' In Much ado about Nothing, Act. II. Sc. 1. Benedick fays of Beatrice, fhe huddled jeft upon jeft, with fuch impoffible con

veyance,

veyance, upon me, that I ftood like a man at a mark, with a whole army fhooting at me.' The principal conjectures upon this place are thus fummed up by Mr. Reed:

• fuch impoffible conveyance.] Dr, Warburton reads impassable: Sir Tho. Hanmer impetuous, and Dr. Johnfon importable, which, fays he, is used by Spenfer, in a fenfe very congruous to this paffage for infupportable, or not to be fuftained. Alfo by the laft tranflators of the Apocrypha, and therefore fuch a word as Shakspeare may be fuppofed to have written. EDITOR.'

Mr. Steevens obferves, that importable is often used by Lidgate, and by Holinfhed; but adds, that impoffible may be licen tiously put for unaccountable; and quotes a paffage, where it is fo ufed, from Beaumont and Fletcher, and another from Maffinger. Mr. Malone believes the meaning to be- with a ra pidity equal to that of jugglers who appear to perform impossibilities.' The old reading, impoffible conveyance,' is right, and means only exceffive dexterity. This hyperbolical expreffion is fomewhat analogous to what the grammarians call double fuperlatives, fuch as mest highest, chiefeft, most universal, &c. which warm and animated writers, who abound more in fancy than in judgment, are apt to fall into, especially if they chance to compole in an age, a nation, or at a time of life when correctnefs is not much fought after. And indeed fimilar modes of expreffion are not wanting in the beft writers. When Demofthenes foys, I have performed all, even with an induftry beyond my power,' what is the induftry he speaks of, but an impoffible induftry? To the example quoted by Mr. Steevens from Beaumont and Fletcher, may be added this other from the fame authors:

Defign me labours most impoffible,

I'll do them.'

Love's Cure, A& III. Sc. 2. vol. vii. p. 440. edit. 1778. This language feems uncouth to an Englith ear, because we fober iflanders, who are contented with tame common fenfe, have long fince discarded it; but our more fublime and lefs accurate neighbours on the continent, who love a little rant as well as reafon, have retained it to the prefent day. The Prefident Henault, fpeaking of the offer, made to the Elector Palatine, of the crown of Bohemia, fays: La fage Louife Julianne få mere avoit prevue tous fes malheurs, et avoit fait l'impoffible pour le diffuader d'accepter cette couronne.' Abregé de l'Hilt. de France, Pann. 1620. And the phrafe is common to most of his countrymen.

In a note upon the expreffion human mortals,' in the Midfummer Night's Dream, A&t II. Sc. 2. Mr. Steevens had afferted, that the epithet human, was employed to mark the difference be tween men and fairies: the latter, though not human, being yet fubject to mortality. This affertion, that these imaginary beings were believed to be mortal, has been controverted, especially by

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