For, sure he had more address than to content himself with wishing a thing to be, which his complaisance must suppose actually was, namely, the worth of the owner. WARBURTON, Line 154. In emerald-tufts, flowers, PURPLE, blue, and white; Like saphire, pearl, AND rich embroidery,] The lines were wrote thus by the poet: In emrald-tuffs, flowers PURPLED, blue, and white; i. e. Let there be blue and white flowers worked on the green- make letters. Line 165. of middle earth.] Spirits are supposed to in habit the ethereal regions, and fairies to dwell under ground; men therefore are in a middle station. JOHNSON, Line 170. With trial-fire, &c.] So Beaumont and Fletcher, in. The Faithful Shepherdess : "In this flame his finger thrust, "Which will burn him if he lust; "But if not, away will turn, "As loth unspotted flesh to burn. STEEVENS. Line 180. Evans. It is right, indeed, &c.] This short speech, which is very much in character for Sir Hugh, I have inserted from the old quartos. THEOBALD. Line 183. and luxury!] Luxury here means, enslaved to pleasure. Line 184. Lust is but a bloody fire,] A bloody fire, means a fire in the blood. In The Second Part of Henry IV. Act 4. the same expression occurs: "Led on by bloody youth," &c. i. e. sanguine youth, STEEVENS. Line 199. Sce you these, husband? do not these fair yokes Become the forest better than the town?] Mrs. Page's meaning is this. She speaks to her own, and Mrs. Ford's husband, and asks them, if they see the horns in Falstaff's hand; and then, alluding to them as the types of cuckoldom, puts the question, whether those yokes are not more proper in the forest than in the town, i. e. than in their families, as a reproach to them? THEOBALD. Line 219. how wit may be made a Jack-a-Lent,] A Jack *a'Lent appears to have been some puppet which was thrown at in Lent, like Shrove-tide cocks. So in Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub: " -on an Ash-wednesday, "Where thou didst stand six weeks the Jack o' Lent, Line 256. STEEVENS. ignorance itself is a plummet o'er me:-] Though this be perhaps not unintelligible, yet it is an odd way of confessing his dejection. I should wish to read: ignorance itself has a plume o' me; That is, I am so depressed, that ignorance itself plucks me, and decks itself with the spoils of my weakness. Of the present reading, which is probably right, the meaning may be, I am so enfeebled, that ignorance itself weighs me down and oppresses me. JOHNSON. Line 263. Mrs. Ford. Nay, husband, ] This and the following little speech I have inserted from the old quartos. The retrenchment, I presume, was by the players. Sir John Falstaff is sufficiently punished, in being disappointed and exposed. The expectation of his being prosecuted for the twenty pounds, gives the conclusion too tragical a turn. Besides, it is poetical justice that Ford should sustain this loss, as a fine for his unreasonable jealousy. THEOBALD. Line 269. laugh at my wife, -) The two plots are excellently connected, and the transition very artfully made in this speech. JOHNSON. Line 321. amaze ] i. e. Confuse with terror. -337. Page. Well, what remedy?] In the first sketch of this play, which, as Mr. Pope observes, is much inferior to the latter performance, the only sentiment of which I regret the omission occurs at this critical time, when Fenton brings in his wife, there is this dialogue. Mrs. Ford. Come, mistress Page, I must be bold with you, 'Tis pity to part love that is so true. Mrs. Page. [Aside.] Although that I have miss'd in my intent, Yet I am glad my husband's match is cross'd. -Here Fenton, take her. Eva. Come, master Page, you must needs agree. Ford. I faith, Sir, come, you see your wife is pleas'd. Page. I cannot tell, and yet my heart is eas'd; And yet it doth me good the Doctor miss'd. Come hither, Fenton, and come hither, daughter. JOHNSON. END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. ΑΝΝΟΤΑTIONS ON TWELFTH-NIGHT: OR, WHAT YOU WILL. ACT I. SCENE I. LINE 2. Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, &c.] So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. "And now excess of it will make me " surfeit." Line 4. That strain again; it had a dying fall; Amongst the beauties of this charming similitude, its exact propriety is not the least. For, as a south wind, while blowing over a violet-bank, wafts away the odour of the flowers, it, at the same time, communicates its own sweetness to it; so the soft affecting music, here described, though it takes away the natural, and sweet tranquillity of the mind, yet, at the same time, it communicates a new pleasure to it. WARBURTON. Line 7. Stealing and giving odour.] So Milton, P. L. B. 4. and whisper whence they stole Their balmy odours. Line 12. validity] i. e. Value. 15. STEEVENS. STEEVENS. That it alone is high fantastical.] High fantastical means, fantastical to the height. Line 22. That instant I was turn'd into a hart, &c.] This image evidently alludes to the story of Acteon, by which Shakspeare seems to think men cautioned against too great familiarity with forbidden beauty. Acteon, who saw Diana naked, and was torn in pieces by his hounds, represents a man, who indulging his eyes, or his imagination, with the view of a woman that he cannot gain, has his heart torn with incessant longing. An interpretation far more elegant and natural than that of Sir Francis Bacon, who, in his Wisdom of the Antients, supposes this story to warn us against enquiring into the secrets of princes, by shewing, that those who knew that which for reasons of state is to be concealed, will be detected and destroyed by their own servants. JOHNSON. Line 40. THESE sovereign thrones,) We should read, THREE sov'reign thrones. This is exactly in the manner of Shakspeare. So afterwards, in this play, Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, do give thee fivefold blazon. WARBURTON. Line 42. (HER sweet perfections, Liver, brain, and heart, are admitted in poetry as the residence of passions, judgment, and sentiments. These are what Shakspeare calls, her sweet perfections, though he has not very clearly expressed what he might design to have said. STEEVENS. ACT I. SCENE II. Line 73. A noble Duke in nature, as in his name.] I know not whether the nobility of the name is comprised in Duke, or in Orsino, which is, I think, the name of a great Italian family. JOHNSON. Line 92. And might not be delivered to the world,] I wish I |