1 Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Take each man's cenfure, but referve thy judge ment. Coftly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: Do not make thy palm callous by shaking every man by the hand. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promiscuous conversation make thy mind infenfible to the difference of characters. JOHNSON. 9 - each man's censure,] Censure is opinion. So, in King Henry VI. P. II : "The king is old enough to give his cenfure." STEEVENS. 2 Are most felect and generous, chief in that.] I think the whole design of the precept shows we should read: Are most select, and generous chief, in that. Chief may be an adjective used adverbially, a practice common to our author: chiefly generous. Yet it must be owned that the punctuation recommended is very stiff and harsh. I would, however, more willingly read: And they in France, of the best rank and flation, Let the reader, who can discover the flightest approach towards sense, harmony, or metre, in the original line, Are of a most felect and generous chief, in that,adhere to the old copies. STEEVENS. The genuine meaning of the passage requires us to point the line thus: "Are most select and generous, chief in that." i. e. the nobility of France are select and generous above all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel; the richness and elegance of their dress. RITSON. Are of a most felect and generous chief, in that.] Thus the quarto, 1604, and the folio, except that in that copy the word chief is spelt cheff. The fubftantive chief, which fignifies in heraldry the upper part of the shield, appears to have been in common use in Shakspeare's time, being found in Minsheu's Dictionary, 1617. He defines it thus: "Est fuperior et fruti nobilior pars; tertiam partem Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: : ejus obtinet; ante Chrifti adventum dabatur in maximi honoris fignum; Jenatoribus et honoratis viris." B. Jonson has used the word in his Poetafter. The meaning then feems to be, They in France approve themselves of a most felect and generous escutcheon by their dress. Generous is used with the fignification of generofus. So, in Othello: "The generous iflanders," &c. Chief, however, may have been used as a substantive, for note or eftimation, without any allufion to heraldry, though the word was perhaps originally heraldick. So, in Bacon's Colours of Good and Evil, 16mo. 1597: "In the warmer climates the people are generally more wife, but in the northern climates the wits of chief are greater. If chief in this sense had not been familiarly understood, the editor of the folio must have confidered the line as unintelligible, and would have probably omitted the words of a in the beginning of it, or attempted fome other correction. That not having been done, I have adhered to the old copies. Our poet from various passages in his works, appears to have been accurately acquainted with all the terms of heraldry. MALONE. Of chief, in the passage quoted from Bacon, is, I believe, a bald tranflation of the old French phrafe de chef, whatever, in the prefent inftance, might be its intended meaning. STEEVENS. 3-of husbandry.] i. e. of thrift; economical prudence. See Vol. VII. P. 400, n. 4. MALONE. 4 And it must follow, as the night the day,] So, in the 145th Sonnet of Shakfpeare: 5 "Th That follow'd it as gentle day "Doth follow night," &c. STEEVENS. -my bleffing season this in thee!] Season, for infuse. WARBURTON. It is more than to infuse, it is to infix it in such a manner as that it never may wear out. JOHNSON. ار : LAER. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. POL. The time invites you; go, your servants tend.6 LAER. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well What I have faid to you. OPH. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it." [Exit LAERTES. POL. What is't, Ophelia, he hath faid to you? Hamlet. POL. Marry, well bethought: 'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late Given private time to you; and you yourself Have of your audience been most free and boun teous: If it be so, (as so 'tis put on me, And that in way of caution,) I must tell you, 66 So, in the mock tragedy represented before the king: 5 The time invites you;] So, in Macbeth: " I go, and it is done, the bell invites me." STEEVENS. Thus the folio. The quarto, 1604, reads-The time invests you: which Mr. Theobald preferred, supposing that it meant, " the time befieges, presses upon you on every fide." But to invest, in Shakspeare's time, only fignified, to clothe, or give possession. 6 MALONE. - your fervants tend.] i. e. your servants are waiting for you. JOHNSON. yourself shall keep the key of it.] The meaning is, that your counsels are as fure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if yourself carried the key of it. So, in Northward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "You shall close it up like a treafure of your own, and yourself shall keep the key of it." STEEVENS. As it behoves my daughter, and your honour: OPH. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders Of his affection to me. POL. Affection? puh! you speak like a green girl, Unfifted in such perilous circumstance.* Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? OPH. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POL. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, • Unfifted in fuch perilous circumstance.] Unfifted for untried. Untried fignifies either not tempted, or not refined; unfifted fignifies the latter only, though the sense requires the former. WARBURTON. It means, I believe, one who has not fufficiently confidered, or thoroughly fifted such matters. M. MASON. I do not think that the sense requires us to understand untempted. "Unfifted in" &c. means, I think, one who has not nicely canvaffed and examined the peril of her fituation. MALONE. 9 - Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis is closed at the wrong place; and we must have likewise a flight correction in the last verse. [Wringing it &c.] Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, till he thinks proper to correct himfelf for the licence; and then he would fay-not farther to crack the wind of the phrafe, by twisting it and contorting it, as I have done. WARBURTON. I believe the word wronging has reference, not to the phrafe, but to Ophelia; if you go on wronging it thus, that is, if you con : OPH. My lord, he hath impórtun'd me with love, In honourable fashion. 2 POL. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to. my lord, 3 POL. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul tinue to go on thus wrong. This is a mode of speaking perhaps not very grammatical, but very common; nor have the best writers refused it. "To finner it or faint it," is in Pope. And Rowe, Thus to coy it, "With one who knows you too." The folio has it-Roaming it thus. That is, letting yourself loofe to fuch improper liberty, But wronging seems to be more proper. JOHNSON. " See you do not coy it," is in Massinger's New Way to pay old Debts. STEEVENS. I have followed the punctuation of the first quarto, 1604, where the parenthesis is extended to the word thus, to which word the context in my apprehenfion clearly shews it should be carried. "Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, playing upon it, and abusing it thus,") &c. So, in The Rape of Lucrece: "To wrong the wronger, till he render right." The quarto, by the mistake of the compositor, reads-Wrong it thus. The correction was made by Mr. Pope.
Tender yourself more dearly ;) To tender is to regard with affection. So, in King Richard II: And fo betide me, "As well I tender you and all of yours." Again, in The Maydes Metamorphofis, by Lyly, 1601: 2 if you account us for the fame "That tender thee, and love Apollo's name." MALONE. fashion you may call it ;) She uses fashion for manner, and he for a tranfient practice. JOHNSON. 3-springes to catch woodcocks.) A proverbial saying, "Every woman has a Springe to catch a woodcock." STEEVENS. |