P. 162, 1. 7. sort and suit,] Figure and rank. Not so, as I imagine, in this passage. In the feudal times all vassals were bound to hold suit and service to their over-lord; that is, to be ready at all times to attend and serve him, either when summoned to his courts, or to his standard in war. Such men of sort and suit as are to meet him, I presume, means the Duke's vassals or te nants in capite. Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. STEEVENS. P. 162, l. 11. This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant,] In the first scene the Duke says that Escalus is preg nant, i. e. ready in the forms of law. Unpreg nant therefore, in the instance before us, is unready, unprepared. STEEVENS. P. 162, 1. 16. Yet reason dares her? The old folio impressions read: dares her No, no:] Yet reason And this is right. The meaning is, the circum stances of our case are such, that she will never venture to contradict me; dares her to reply No to me, whatever I say. WARBURTON. Mr. Theobald reads: Yet reason dares her note. Tir Thomas Haumer: Mr. Upton: Yet reason dares her: No. Yet reason dares her No. which he explains thus: Were it not for her maiden modesty, how might the lady proclaim my guilt? Yet (you'll say) she has reason on her side, and that will make her dare to do sit. I think not; for my authority is of such weight, etc. I am afraid dare has no such signification, I have no hing to offer worth insertion. JOHNSON. Dr. Warburton is evidently right with respect to this reading, though wrong. in his application. The expression is a provincial one and very in telligible: But that her tender shame Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares her No. That is, reason dares her to do it, as by this means she would not only publish her,,maiden loss," but also as she would certainly suffer from the imposing credit of his station and power, which would repel with disgrace any attack on his reputation: For my authority bears a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch, But it confounds the breather. HENLEY. We think Mr. Henley rightly understands this passage, but has not sufficiently explained himself. Reason, or reflection, we conceive, personified by Shakspeare, and represented as daring or overawing Isabella, and crying No to her, when ́ever she finds herself prompted to,,tongue" Angelo. Dare is often met with in this sense in Shak speare, MONTHLY REVIEW, P. 162, l. 18. 19. Credent is creditable, inforçing credit not questionable. The old English writers often confound the active and passive adjectives. So Shakspeare, and Milton after him, use inexpressive for inexpressible. No Particular is private, a French sense. scandal from any private mouth can reach a maxi in my authority, JOHNSON. *• VOL. II. 24 P. 162, 1. 27. Here undoubtedly the act should end, and was ended by the poet; for is properly a cessation of action, and a night intervenes, and the place is changed, between the passages of this scene, and those of the next. The next act beginning with the following scene, proceeds without any interruption of time or change of place. JOHNSON. P. 162, 1. 31. These letters at fit time deliver me.] Peter never de livers the letters, but tells his story without any credentials. The poet forgot the plot which" he 330 had formed. JOHNSON. The first clause of this remark is undoubtedly just; but, respecting the second, I wish our readers to recollect that all the plays of Shakspeare, before they reached the press, had passed through a dangerous medium, and probably experienced the injudicious curtailments which too many dramatic pieces are still exposed, rance, caprice, and presumption of transcribers, players, and managers. STEEVENS. 238 HOME TO from the P. 163, 1. 3. To blench is to start off, to fly off. STEEVENS P. 165, I. 22. He says, to veil full purpose↓ Mr. Theobald alters it to, 4 He says, t'availful purposes because he has no idea off the common reading. A good reason! Yet the common reading is right. | Full is used for beneficial; and the meaning is, He says it is to hide a beneficial purpose, that must not yet be revealed. WARBURTON. To veil full purpose, may, with very little of the words, force on mean, to hide the whole extent of our design, and therefore the reading. may stand; yet I cannot but t but think Mr. Theobald's afteration either lucky or ingenious. To interpret words with such laxity, as to make full the same with beneficial, is to put an end, at once, to all necessity of emendation, for any word may then stand in the place of another. JOHNSON. his I think Theobald's explanation right, but amendment unnecessary. We need only read vailful as one word. Shakspeare, who so frequently uses cite for excite, bate for abate, force for enforce, and many other abbreviations of a similar nature, may well be supposed to use vailful for availful. M. MASON. If Dr. Johnson's explanation be right, (as I think it is,) the word should be written as it is now printed in the text. veil, That vail was the old spelling of veil, appears from a line in The Merchant of Venice, folio, 1623: „Vailing an Indian beauty for which in the modern editions veiling has been rightly substituted, MALONE, P. 163, 1. 30. Enter Friar PETER.] This play has two friars, either of whom might singly have served. I should therefore imagine, that Friar Thomas, in the first act, might be changed, with out any harm, to Friar Peter; for why should the Duke unnecessarily trust two in an affair which required only one? The name of Friar Thomas is never mentioned in the dialogue, and the refore seems arbitrarily placed at the head of the scene. JOHNSON. P. 164, 1. 4. The generous i. e. the most noble, etc. Generous is here used in its Latin sense. „Virgo generosa et nobilis,“ Cicero. 3 P. 164, 1. 5. Have hent the gates, Have seized or taken possession of the gates. JOHNSON. P. 165, 1. 10. — Vail your regard Upon a wrong'd,] That is, withdraw your thoughts from higher things, let your notice descend upon a wronged woman. To vail is to lower. JOHNSON. P. 166, 1. 7. 8. for truth is truth To the end of the reckoning,] That is, truth has no gradations: nothing which admits of encrease can be so much what it is, as truth is truth. There may be a strange thing, and a thing more strange, but if a proposition be true, there can be none more true. JOHNSON. P. 166, 1. 13. As shy; as reserved, as abstracted: as just; as nice, as exact : as absolute; as com plete all in the round of duty. JOHNSON. P. 166. l. 20. In all his dressings,] In all his semblance of virtue, in all his habiliments of office. JOHNSON. P. 166, 1. 20. characts,] i. e. characters. See Dugdale, Orig. Jurid. p. 81: ,,That he use ne hide, no charme, ne carecte.“ TYRWHITT. Charact signifies an inscription. The stat. 1 Edward VI. c. 2. directed the seals of office of every bishop to have,,certain characts under the King's arms, for the knowledge of the diocese." Characters are the letters in which the inscription is written. Charactéry is, the materials of which characters are composed. ,,Fairies use flowers for their charactery.“ P. 166, 1. 30. nor do not banish reason For inequality:] Let not the high quality of my adversary prejudice you against me. JOHNSON. Inequality appears to me to mean, in this place, apparent inconsistency; and to have no reference |