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exhibited on the side of the face. Some have understood these words to be only a metaphorical enlargement of the sentiment contained in the preceding line:

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blurs the grace and blush of mo→

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but as the forehead is no proper situation for a blush to be displayed in, we may have recourse to another explanation.

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It was once the custom for those who were betrothed, to wear some flower as an external and conspicuous mark of their mutual engagement.

STEEVENS.

I believe, by the rose was only meant the roseate hue. The forehead certainly appears to us an odd place for the hue of innocence to dwell on, but Shakspeare might place it there with as much propriety as a smile. In Troilus and Cressida we find these lines:

"So rich advantage of a promis'd glory, "As smiles upon the forehead of this action."

That part of the forehead which is situated between the eye-brows, seems to have been considered by our poet as the seat of innocence and modesty. So, in a subsequent scene:

" - brands the harlot,

"Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow

"Of my true mother." MALONE.

In the foregoing quotation from Troilus and Cressida, I understand that the forehead is smiled upon by advantage, and not that the forehead is itself the smiler. Thus, says Laertes in the play before us:

“Occasion smiles upon a second leave."

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But it is not the leave that smiles, but occasion that smiles upon it.

In the subsequent passage, our author had no choice; for having alluded to that part of the face which was anciently branded with a mark of shame, he was compelled to place his token of innocence in a corresponding situation. STEEVENS.

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P. 84, 1. 12. Contraction for marriage contract. WARBURTON.

P. 84, L. 14-17. Heaven's face doth glow; Yea, this solidity and compound mass,

With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.] If any sense can be found here, it is this. The sun glows [and does it not always?] and the very solid mass of earth has a tristful visage, and is thought-sick. All this is sad stuff. The old quarto reads much nearer to the poet's sense:

Heaven's face does glow,

O'er this solidity and compound mass, With heated visage, as against the doom,

Is thought-sick at the act.

From whence it appears, that Shakspeare wrote,
Heaven's face doth glow,

O'er this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage; and, as 'gainst
the doom,

Is thought-sick at the act.

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This makes a fine sense, and to this effect. The sum looks upon our globe, the scene of this der, with an angry and mournful countenance, hid in eclipse, as at the day of doom.

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WARBURTON.

The word heated, though it agrees well enough with glow, is, I think, not so striking as tristful,

which was, I suppose, chosen at the revisal. I believe the whole passage now stands at the author gave it. Dr. Warturton's reading restores two improprieties, which Shakspeare, by his alteration had removed. In the first, and in the new reading, Heaven's face glows with tristful visage and, Heaven's face is thought-sick. To the common reading there is no just objection. JoHNSON

I am strongly inclined to think that the reading of the quarto, 1604, is the true one. In Shak speare's licentious diction, the meaning may be, The face of heaven doth glow with heated visage over the earth and heaven, as against the day of judgement, is thought-sick at the act.

Had not our poet St. Luke's description of the last day in his thoughts?"And there shall be aigus in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking on those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken," &c. MALONE. P. 84, 1. 18. 19. what act,

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That roars so loud, and thunders in the index? The meaning is, What is this act, of which the discovery, or mention, cannot be made, but with this violence of clamour? JOHNSON.

Mr. Edwards observes, that the indexes of many old books were at that time inserted at the begin→ ning, instead of the end, as is now the custom. This observation I have often seen confirmed.

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So, in Othello, Act II. sc. vii: an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts." STEEVENS.

Bullokar in his Expositor, 8vo, 1616, defines

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an Index by "A table in a booke." The table was almost always prefixed to the books of our poet's age. Indexes, in the sense in which we now understand the word, were very uncommon.

MALONE.

T. 84, 1. 20. Look here, upon this picture, and on this;] It is evident from the following words,

“A station, like the herald Mercury," &c. that these pictures, which are introduced as miniatures on the stage, were meant for whole lengths, being part of the furniture of the Queen's closet. Hamlet, who, in a former scene, has censured those who gave "forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece" for his uncle's picture in little," would hardly have coudescended to carry such a thing in his pocket. Steevens.

66

The introduction of miniatures in this place appears to be a modern innovation. A print prefixed to Rowe's edition of Hamlet, published in 1709, proves this. There, the two royal portraits are exhibited as half-lengths, hanging in the Queen's closet; and either thus, or as whole-lengths, they probably were exhibited from the time of the original performance of this tragedy to the death of Betterton. To half-lengths, however, the same objection lies, as to miniatures. MALONE.

We may also learn, that from this print the trick of kicking the chair down on the appearance of the Ghost, was adopted by moderu Hamlets from the practice of their predecessors. STEEVENS. P. 84, 1. 24. Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;] It is observable that Hyperion is used by Spencer with the same error in quantity. FARMER.

P. 84, 1. 26. A station like the herald Mercury,] Station in this instance does not mean the spot where any one is placed, but the act of standing. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. sc. iii.

"Her motion and her station are

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On turning to Mr. Theobald's first edition, I find that he had made the same remark, and supported it by the same instance. The observation is necessary, for otherwise the compliment designed to the attitude of the King, would be bestowed on the place where Mercury is represented as standing. STEEVENS. P. 84, 1. 33. 34. like a mildew'd ear, Blasting his wholesome brother.] This alludes to Pharaoh's Dream, in the 41st chapter of Genesis. STEEVENS.

P. 84, last 1.

batten ] i. e. to grow fat. Bat is an ancient word for increase. Hence the adjective batful, so often used by Drayton in his Polyolbion. STEEVENS.

P. 85, 1. 7. Else, could you not have motion:] But from what philosophy our editors learnt this, I cannot tell. Since motion depends so little upon sense, that the greatest part of motion in the universe, is amongst bodies devoid of sense. We should read:

Else, could you not have notion, i. e. intellect, reason, &c. This alludes to the famous peripatetic principle of Nil fit in intellectu, quod non fuerit in sensu. Aud how fond our author was of applying, and alluding to, the principles of this philosophy, we have given several instances. The principle in particular has been since taken for the foundation of one of the noblest

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