"-though we never lead any other company than a sort of quart pots." STEEVENS. 228. And, at our stamp,-] This seems to be a vicious reading. Fairies are never represented stamping, or of a size that should give force to a stamp; nor could they have distinguished the stamps of Puck from those of their own companions. I read : And at a stump here o'er and o'er one falls. So Drayton : "A pain he in his head-piece feels, 66 Against a stubbed tree he reels, "At length upon his feet he gets, "And through the bushes scrambles, 66 Among the briers and brambles." JOHNSON. I adhere to the old reading. The stamp of a fairy might be efficacious though not loud; neither is it necessary to suppose, when supernatural beings are spoken of, that the size of the agent determines the force of the action. That fairies stamped to some purpose, may be known from the following psssage in Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus." Vero saltem adeo profundè in terram impresserant, ut locus insigni insigni ardore orbiculariter peresus, non parit arenti redivivum cespite gramen." Shakspere's own authority, however, is most decisive. See the conclusion of the first scene of the fourth act: "Come, my queen, take hand with me, "And rock the ground whereon these sleepers STEEVENS. : be." Honest Reginald Scott, says "Our grandams maides were wont to set a boll of milke before Incubus and his cousine Robin Good fellow, for grinding of malt or mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight and that he would chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good wife of the house, having compassion of his nakedness, laid aside clothes for him, besides his messe of white bread and milk, which was his standing fee. For in that case he saith; What have we here? Hemton, hamten, here will I never more tread nor stampen.” Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584, REMARKS. p. 85. 233. Some, sleeves; some, hats: -] There is the like image in Drayton of queen Mab and her fairies flying from Hobgoblin: "Some tore a ruff, and some a gown, “ 'Gainst one another justling ; "They flew about like chaff i'th' wind, "There never was such bustling." JOHNSON. 239. -latch'd- -] Or letch'd, lick'd over, techer, to lick, French. HANMER, STEEVENS. 251. Being o'er shoes in blood, -] An allusion to the proverb, Over shoes, over boots. JOHNSON. 258. -noon-tide with the Antipodes.] So, in The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601: "And dwell one month with the Antipodes." Again, in K. Richard II. "While we were wand'ring with the Antipodes." STEEVENS. 260. so dead,] So, in the Second Part of Henry IV. act i. sc. 3. "Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, "So dull, so dead, in look, so woe-begone." STEEVENS. A 273.-0 brave touch!] Touch in Shakspere's time was the same with our exploit, or rather stroke. brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. "Mason was very merry, pleasantly playing both the shrewd touches of many curst boys, and the small discretion of many lewd school-masters." Ascham. JOHNSON. A touch anciently signified a trick. In the old black letter story of Howleglas, it is always used in that sense: - for at all times he did some mad touch." STEEVENS. 277. mispris'd-] Mistaken; so below misprision is mistake. JOHNSON. 283. And from thy hated presence part 1 so:] So has been supplied by some of the modern editors. MALONE. 288. For debt that bankrupt sleep] The first and second second folio read-slip. The same error has, perhaps, happened in Measure for Measure: "Which for these nineteen years we have let slip." MALONE. 306. Hit with Cupid's archery,] This alludes to what was said before: the bolt of Cupid fell, It fell upon a little western flower Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound. 344 STEEVENS. Taurus' snow,] Taurus is the name of a range of mountains in Asia. JOHNSON. 347. This princess of pure white,-] Thus all the editions to Sir T. H.'s. He reads: This pureness of pure white; and Dr. Warburton follows him. The old reading may be justified from a passage in Sir Walter Raleigh's Discovery of Guiana, where the pine-apple is called The princess of Fruits. Again, in Wyatt's Poems, "Of beauty princesse chief." STEEVENS. In the Winter's Tale we meet with a similar expression: good sooth, she is "The Queen of curds and cream.” MALONE. -seal of bliss!] He has in Measure for Measure, the same image: "But my kisses bring again, "Seals of love, but seal'd in vain.". JOHNSON. 353.join, in souls,-]i. e. join heartily, unite in the same mind. Shakspere Shakspere in Henry V. uses an expression not unlike this: "For we will hear, note, and believe in heart;” i.e. heartily believe: and in Measure for Measure, he talks of electing with special soul. In Troilus and Cressida, Ulysses, relating the character of Hector as given him by Æneas, says: "Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me," And, in All Fools, by Chapman, 1605, is the same expression as that for which I contend: "Happy, in soul, only by winning her." Again, in a Masque called Luminalia, or The Festival of Light, 1637: "You that are chief in souls, as in your blood." Again, in Pierce Pennyless his Supplication to the Devil, 1595: -whose subversion in soul they have vow'd.” Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602. B. XII. ch. 75. "Could all, in soul, of very God say as an Eth. nick said "To one that preached Hercules ?" Sir T. Hanmer would read-in flouts; Dr. Warburton insolents. STEEVENS. I rather believe the line should be read thus: But you must join, ILL souls, to mock me too? Ill is often used for bad, wicked. So, in the Sea Voyage of Beaumont and Fletcher, act iv. sc. 1. 66 They did begin to quarrel like ill men ; |