I suppose that Shakspere wrote-" Every-living wether," &c. the only profit that arises from sheep, while they are living, being their fleeces. The other error seems to have arisen from our author's not having made the proper calculation. In his" sallad days," (his father being a dealer in wool) he was perhaps not unacquainted with this subject; but having at a subsequent period discharged such matters from his mind, he probably left blanks in his MS. intending to fill them up, when he should have gained the necessary information; and afterwards forgot them. The whole passage therefore should, I think, be printed thus: "Every-living wethertods; every tod yields-pound and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn," &c. MALONE. 119. tods;] A tod is twenty-eight pounds of wool. 129. -three-man-song-men all PERCY. -] i. e. singers of catches in three parts. A six-man song occurs in the Tournament of Tottenham. See The Rel. of Poetry, Vol. II. p. 24. PERCY. So, in Heywood's King Edward IV. 1626: "-call Dudgeon and his fellows, we'll have a three-man song." Before the comedy of the Gentle Craft, or the Shoemaker's Holiday, 1600, some of these three-man songs are printed. STEEVENS. 130. —means, and bases :-] Means are tenors. STEEVENS. 183. warden-pies ;- -] Wardens are a species of large pears. I believe the name is disused at pre sent : sent: it however afforded Ben Jonson room for a quibble in his masque of Gypsies Metamorphosed: "A deputy tart, a church-warden pye.” It appears from a passage in Cupid's Revenge, by Beaumont and Fletcher, that these pears were usually eaten roasted : "I would have had him roasted like a warden, The French call this pear the poire de garde. STEEVENS, 138. 'the name of me- -] This is a vulgar invocation, which I have often heard used. So, Sir Andrew Ague-cheek ;-" Before me, she's a good wench." 174. -with trol-my-dames : French. STEEVENS. -] Trou-madame, WARBURTON. In Dr. Jones's old treatise on Buckstone bathes, he says: "The ladyes, gentle woomen, wyves, maydes, if the weather be not agreeable, may have in the ende of a benche, eleven holes made, intoo the which to troule pummits, either wyolent or softe, after their own discretion, the pastyme troule in madame is termed." FARMER. The old English title of this game was pigeon-holes; as the arches in the machine through which the balls are rolled, resemble the cavities made for pigeons in a dove-house. So, in The Antipodes, 1638: "Three-pence I lost at nine-pins; but I got Again, in A Woman never vex'd, 1632; "What "What quicksands he finds out, as dice, cards, pigeon-holes." STEEVENS. 180. abide.] To abide, here, must signify, to sojourn, to live for a time without a settled habitation. JOHNSON. 183. -motion of the prodigal son, -] i. e. the puppet shews, then called motions. A term frequently occurring in our author. WARBURTON. 188. prig! for my life, Prig!--] In the canting language Prig is a thief or pick-pocket; and therefore in the Beggar's Bush, by Beaumont and Fletcher, Prig is the name of a knavish beggar. 210. WHALLEY. —let me be unroll'd, and my name put into the book of virtue!] Begging gypsies, in the time of our author, were in gangs and companies, that had something of the shew of an incorporated body. From this noble society he wishes he may be unrolled, if he does not so and so. WARBURTON. 212. Jog on, jog on, &c.] These lines, as Mr. Reed informs us, are a part of a catch printed in “An Antidote against Melancholy, made up in Pills compounded of witty Ballads, jovial Songs, and merry Catches, 1661," 4to. p. 69, EDITOR. 213. And merrily hend the stile-a:] To hent the stile, is to take hold of it. To hent comes from the Saxon hentan. So, in the old romance of Guy Earl of Warwick, bl. let. no date: "So by the armes hent good Guy." Again : « And "And some by the brydle him hent." Again, in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. III. ch. 7. "Great labour fondly hast thou hent in hand.” 222. -your extremes, STEEVENS. -] That is, your excesses, the extravagance of your praises. JOHNSON. 224. The gracious mark o' the land,] The object of all men's notice and expectation, JOHNSON. 226. prank'd up.- -] To prank is to dress with ostentation. So, in Coriolanus: "For they do prank them in authority." Again, in Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1598: "I pray you go prank you.” 229. -sworn, I think, STEEVENS. To shew myself a glass.] i. e. one would think that in putting on this habit of a shepherd, you had sworn to put me out of countenance; for in this, as in a glass, you shew me how much below yourself you must descend, before you can get upon a level with me. The sentiment is fine, and expresses all the delicacy, as well as humble modesty, of the character. WARBURTON. 239. -his work, so noble, &c.] It is impossible for any man to rid his mind of his profession. The authorship of Shakspere has supplied him with a metaphor, which, rather than he would lose it, he has put with no great propriety into the mouth of a country maid. Thinking of his own works, his mind passed naturally to the binder. I am glad that he has no hint at an editor. JOHNSON. This allusion occurs more than once in Romeo and Juliet: "This precious book of love, this unbound lover, "To beautify him only lacks a cover.” Again: "That book in many eyes doth share the glory, "That in gold clasps locks in the golden story." 244. -The gods themselves, STEEVENS. Humbling their deities, &c.] This is taken almost literally from the novel: "And yet, Dorastus, shame not thy shepherd's weed.—The heavenly gods have some time earthly thought; Neptune became a ram; Jupiter, a bull; Apollo, a shepherd : they gods, and yet in love-thou a man, appointed to love." Green's Dorastus and Faunia, 1592. MALONE. 252. Nor in a way] i. e. Nor any way. REMARKS. 255. O, but, dear sir,] Dear is an arbitrary and unnecessary interpolation, made by the editor of the second folio. Perdita, in the former part of this scene, addresses Florizel in the same manner as here: "Sir, my gracious lord," &c. We have only to regulate the lines thus, to complete the metre: --O but, sir, your Resolution cannot hold, when 'tis, &c. tion in resolution, perfection, and many similar words, is used by our author as a dissyllable. So, in the preceding speech, transformation. For the separation of |