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ACT III-Sc. 3.

FORD......So now uncape.

Mr. Steevens says that Ford, at least thought, he had Falstaff secure in the house, as in a bag, and therefore speaks of him in terms applicable to a bag-fox, but in the very line preceding, Ford says, we'll unkennel the fox, a term surely not applicable to a bag-fox.

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MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I.-Sc. 3.

CLAUDIO. Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness: Glimpse, means, a sudden transitory flash.

ACT II.-Sc. 1:

ELBOW....My Wife, whom I detest.

ELBOW....I will detest myself also as well as She. Mr. Malone says that, in both these places, Detest means, Protest, but I think that Elbow uses it for Attest, that is call to witness.

ACT II.-Sc. 1.

'ESCALUS....Mafter Froth-I would not have

You acquainted with tapfters, they will draw you,
Master Froth; and you will hang them:

FROTH....For my own part,

I never come into in a tap-house, but I am drawn in.

any room

The business of a tapster is to draw liquors, and it is the interest of his employer, that he

should froth them as high as he can, so in the Merry Wives of Windsor, when the host consents to entertain Bardolph as his tapster, his instruction to him is, froth and lime.

It is to this that Escalus alludes in his Speech, and Froth in his reply, as well as to public ex

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ANGELO....Let's write good angel on the Devil's horn, 'Tis not the Devil's Crest.

My explanation of these words, is confirmed by a passage in Lilly's Midas, quoted by Malone, in his remarks on King John,

Melancholy! is melancholy a word for a Barber's mouth? Thou should'st say, heavy, dull,-melancholy is

¿ The Crest of a Courtier.

ACT III.-Sc, 1.

DUKE.. Thou art not certain,

For thy complexion shifts to strange effects
After the Moon.

When I consider the influence of the moon on the human mind, I am inclined to read with Johnson, affects, instead of effects-We cannot properly say that the mind shifts to strange effects.

ACT III.-Sc. 1.

CLAUDIO...The Princely Angelo!

ISABELLA...Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In Princely guards.

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There can be no doubt concerning the general meaning of the word guards, which is justly explained by Malone; the difficulty lies in the word Princelyana

We are told, that in both places, the old folio reads prenzie, of which all the editors make princely, except Warburton, who reads Priestly, and, in my opinion, very properly.

In Claudio's Speech, the princely Angelo! is clearly an exclamation of furprize. Had Isabella accused Angelo of any mean, or sordid action, this exclamation would be natural; but the being captivated by a lovely woman, and desiring to poffefs her, is not inconsistant with a Princely Station, though entirely repugnant to the sanc-tified demeanour of the outward-sainted deputy; as Isabella calls him. Vers of bezod

The meaning of the subsequent Speech is, that it is the cunning policy of the Devil, to invest the damnedest bodies in the most fanctified robes that is to say, in Priestly guards, which, when applied to deceitful, purposes, she calls the livery of Hell by guards, Isabella metaphorically means, outward appearances.

ACT IV.-Sc. 2. DUKE...
And say, it was the desire of the Penitent to be so bared;
You know the course is common.

Lowed dow gaidan, ol

This alludes to a practice frequent amongst Roman Catholicks, of desiring to receive the

tonsure of the Monks before they die it cannot allude to the Custom which Mr. Reid tells us was established in some parts of Germany, that of shaving Criminals previous to their Execution, as here the Penitent is supposed to be bared at his own request.

ACT IV.-Sc. 3.

DUKE......You are amaz'd;-but this shall
Absolutely resolve you

That is, shall entirely convince you.

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ACT IV. Sc. 3.

DUKE.-Ere twice the sun hath made his greeting to
The under generation.

I perfectly agree with Steevens in this reading. The Diameter of the Globe may be supposed to make the People, on each side of it, of a different generation, but the Walls of a Prison surely cannot.

ACT IV.-Sc. 3.

DUKE. By cold gradations, and weal-balanc'd form, olio We shall proceed with Angelo.

b

Weal-balanced is a pompous Expression, without any meaning; I, therefore, agree with Heath in reading well-balanced.

ACT V.Sc. 1.

ISABELLA. .But let your reason serve,

To make the truth appear where it seems hid

And hide the false, seems true.o

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I agree with Theobald, in reading,

Not hide the false seems true.

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Which requires no explanation. I cannot con ceive how the word hide can mean to plunge into eternal darkness, as Mr. Malone supposes.

COMEDY OF ERRORS.

ACT L. Sc. 1.

ÆGEON...And he great care of goods at random left, Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse,

A Parenthesis makes the present reading clear.

And he, (great care of goods at random left)
Drew me, &c.

ACT II.-Sc. 1.

LUCIANA..Why, headstrong liberty is fash'd with woe. I agree with Steevens, in reading, leash'd with

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LUCIANA..Shall Antipholus, hate,

Even in the Spring of Love thy love-springs rot,
Shall Love in building grow so ruinate.

The word bate, in the first line, is introduced by Theobald, without Authority, and certainly

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