Line 38.

ACT V. SCENE I.

-She doth stray about

By holy crosses,] So in The Merry Devil of Edmonton: "But there are crosses, wife; here's one in Waltham, "Another at the Abbey, and the third

"At Ceston, and 'tis ominous to pass

Any of these without a Pater-noster."

and this is a reason assigned for the delay of a wedding. STEEV.

Line 70. -with patines of bright gold;] A patine is the small flat plate used as a cover to the chalice, during the administration of the papal sacrament.

Line 77. wake Diana with a hymn;] Diana is the moon, who is in the next scene represented as sleeping. JOHNSON. Line 111.without respect;] Not absolutely good, but relatively, good as it is modified by circumstances. JOHNSON.

Line 148. Let me give light, &c.] There is scarcely any word with which Shakspeare delights to trifle as with light, in its various significations. JOHNSON.

Line 170. -like cutler's poetry-] In ancient times, it was a practice among the cutlers, to engrave upon knives, scissars, &c. short moral phrases, or small pieces of poetry.

Line 177. have been respective,] Respective has the same meaning as respectful. See King John, Act 1. STEEVENS. Line 228. What man-wanted the modesty

To urge the thing held as a ceremony?] This is a very licentious expression. The sense is, What man could have so little modesty or wanted modesty so much, as to urge the demand of a thing kept on an account in some sort religious? JOHNSON. Line 272. -swear by your double self,] Double means treacherous.

Line 277. -for his wealth ;] For his advantage; to obtain his happiness. Wealth was, at that time, the term opposite to adversity, or calamity. JOHNSON.

END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON THE MERCHANT OF

VENICE.

here?

ANNOTATIONS

ON

AS YOU LIKE IT.

LINE 1. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion be queathed me: By will, but, a poor thousand crowns, &c.] Dr. Warburton considers this passage as obscure, but Johnson, by the above reading, with the addition of the nominative my father, makes it perfectly intelligible.

Line 30.

what make you here?] i. c. What are you doing

-

ACT I. SCENE 1.

Line 37. be better employ'd, and be naught awhile.] In the same sense as we say-it is better to do mischief, than to do nothing. JOHNSON.

Line 58. I am no villain:] The word villain is used by the elder brother, in its present meaning, for a worthless, wicked, or bloody man; by Orlando, in its original signification, for a fellow of base extraction. JOHNSON.

Line 166. —this gamester:] Gamester means, one not addicted to the vice of gambling, but to frolic.

ACT I. SCENE II.

Line 208. -mock the good housewife, Fortune, from her wheel,] Shakspeare has confounded Fortune, whose wheel only figures uncertainty and vicissitude, with the destiny that spins the thread of life, though not indeed with a wheel. JOHNSON. Line 250. you'll be whipped for taxation,] Taxation means,

satire or accusation.

Line 254. since the little wit, that fools have, was silenced,] Shakspeare probably alludes to the use of fools or jesters, who for some ages had been allowed in all courts an unbridled liberty of censure and mockery, and about this time began to be less tolerated. JOHNSON.

Line 271. laid on with a trowel.] I suppose the meaning is, that there is too heavy a mass of big words laid upon a slight subject. JOHNSON.

Line 274. You amaze me, ladies:] To amaze, here, is not to astonish or strike with wonder, but to perplex; to confuse; as, to put out of the intended narrative. JOHNSON.

Line 289. With bills on their necks, &c.] I cannot see why Rosalind should suppose, that the competitors in a wrestling match carried bills on their shoulders; I believe the whole conceit is in the poor resemblance of presence and presents. JOHNSON.

Line 307. is there any else longs to see this broken musick in his sides ] We say every day, see if the water be hot; I will see which is the best time. In this sense see may be here used. Rosalind hints at a whimsical similitude between the series of ribs gradually shortening, and some musical instruments, and therefore calls broken ribs, broken musick. JOHNSON.

Line 342. if you saw yourself with your eyes, or knew yourself with your judgment,] If you were not blinded and intoxicated, says the princess, with the spirit of enterprise, if you could use your own eyes to see, or your own judgment to know yourself, the fear of your adventure would counsel you. JOHNSON.

Line 419. -one out of suits with fortune;] This seems an allusion to cards, where he that has no more cards to play of any particular sort is out of suit. JOHNSON.

One out of suits with fortune, I believe means turned out of her service, and stripped of her livery. STEEVENS.

Line 427. Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.] The quintaine was a stake driven into a field, upon which were hung a shield and other trophies of war, at which they shot, darted, or rode, with a lance. When the shield and the trophies were all thrown down, the quintaine remained. GUTHRIE.

Line 443. -the Duke's condition,] The word condition means character, temper, disposition. So Anthonio, the merchant of Venice, is called by his friend the best conditioned man. JOHNS.

ACT I. SCENE III.

Line 499. By this kind of chase,] That is, by this way of fol lowing the argument. Dear is used by Shakspeare in a double sense, for beloved, and for hurtful, hated, baleful. Both senses are authorised, and both drawn from etymology, but properly beloved is dear, and hateful is dere. Rosalind uses dearly in the good, and Celia in the bad sense. JOHNSON. Line 555. And thou wilt show more bright, and seem more virtuous,] When she was seen alone, she would be more noted.. JOHNSON.

Line 597. -curtle-ax-] Or cutlace, a broad sword.

JOHNSON.

600. We'll have a swashing, &c.] i. e. We'll make a good shew of valour. To swash, means to bully.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Line 14. Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head:] It was the current opinion in Shakspeare's time, that in the head of an old toad was to be found a stone, or pearl, to which great virtues were ascribed. This stone has been often sought, but nothing has been found more than accidental or perhaps morbid indurations of the skull. JOHNSON.

Line 25. with forked heads] i. e. With arrows, the points of which were barbed. STEEVENS.

Line 73.

-to cope him-] To encounter him; to engage JOHNSON.

with him.

Line 84. -98. jection.

ACT II. SCENE II.

the roynish clown,] Roynish means, paltry, scurvy. quail-] To quail, is to languish, to sink into de

ACT II. SCENE III.

-O you memory

-] Shakspeare often uses STEEVENS.

Line 103. memory for memorial.

Line 107. -so fond- -] i. e. So foolish.

-108. The bony priser] In the former editions, The bonny priser-We should read, bony priser. For this wrestler is characterised for his strength and bulk, not for his gaiety or good humour. WARBURTON.

So Milton,-" Giants of mighty bone."

JOHNSON.

Line 130. -diverted blood,] Blood turned out of the course of nature. JOHNSON. Line 136. —and he that doth the ravens feed, &c.] See Luke xii. 6. 24.

Line 155. Even with the having:] Even with the promotion gained by service, is service extinguished. JOHNSON.

ACT II. SCENE IV.

Line 181.

-yet I should bear no cross,] A cross was a piece of money stamped with a cross. On this our author is perpetually quibbling. STEEVENS.

Line 217.

-anight-] Means same as o'nights.

218. -batlet,] The instrument with which washers beat their coarse clothes.

JOHNSON. Line 221. -two cods,] For cods it would be more like sense to read peas, which having the shape of pearls, resembled the common presents of lovers. JOHNSON.

Peas-cods was the old term for peas, as they are brought to market, or, as Mr. Dance will have it, as the pea hangs upon the stalk. The ornament which was anciently worn called a peas-cod, was the resemblance of a pea half open, and rows of pearls within.

Line 224. -so is all nature in love, mortal in folly.] This expression I do not well understand. In the middle counties, mortal, from mort, a great quantity, is used as a particle of am