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Line 575.

ACT IV. SCENE IV.

-but I be deceived,] But here signifies (as in a

late instance) unless.

Line 620. And pass my daughter, &c.] To pass has the same

meaning as the note in Act iv. Sc. ii. of this play.

Line 625. We be affied;] i. e. affianced, betrothed.

630. And, happily, we might be interrupted.] Happily for

haply (as is now used) or accidentally.

ACT V. SCENE I.

Line 5. and then come back to my master as soon as I can.] The editions all agree in the reading mistress: but what mistress was Biondello to come back to? he must certainly mean; "Nay, faith, "sir, I must see you in the church; and then for fear I should be "wanted, I'll run back to wait on Tranio, who at present per"sonates you, and whom therefore I at present acknowledge for "my master." THEOBALD.

Line 63. -a copatain hat,] Is, I believe, a hat with a conical crown, such as was anciently worn by well dressed men. JOHNSON.

Line 74. a sail-maker in Bergamo.] Chapman has a parallel passage in his Widow's Tears, a comedy, 1612.

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-he draws the thread of his descent from Leda's distaff, "when 'tis well known his grandsire cried coney-skins in Sparta."

Line 95.

coney-catched-] i. e. defrauded.

118. Here's packing,] i. e. confederacy.

STEEVENS.

142. My cake is dough.] This is a proverbial expression which I meet with in the old interlude of Tom Tyler and his

Wife, 1598.

"Alas

poor Tom, his cake is dough.”

ACT V. SCENE II.

STEEVENS.

Line 165. My banquet-] A banquet was the same as our dessert, and not a feast.

Line 221.swift,] besides the original sense of speedy in motion, signified witty, quick-witted. So in As You Like It, the

Duke says of the Clown, He is very swift and sententious. Quick is now used in almost the same sense as nimble was in the age after that of our author. Heylin says of Hales, that he had known Laud for a nimble disputant. JOHNSON.

Line 361. Then vail your stomachs,] i. e. lower your resentSTEEVENS.

ments.

Line 374. though you hit the white;] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery: the mark was commonly white. Here it alludes to the name Bianca, or white.

JOHNSON.

END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON THE TAMING of the

SHREW.

ANNOTATIONS

ON

THE WINTER'S TALE.

ACT I. SCENE I.

LINE 18.

-our entertainment, &c.] Though we cannot give

you equal entertainment, yet the consciousness of our good-will

shall justify us.

Line 28.

JOHNSON. royally attornied,] Nobly supplied by substitu

tion of embassies, &c.

JOHNSON.

Line 40. -physicks the subject,] Affords a cordial to the state; has the power of assuaging the sense of misery.

JOHNSON.

ACT I. SCENE II.

Line 63. · 90.

-sneaping winds] i. e. nipping.

—this satisfaction] We had satisfactory acJOHNSON.

counts yesterday of the state of Bohemia.

Line 102. -behind the gest-] In the time of royal progresses, the king's stages, as we may see by the journals of them in the herald's office, were called his gests; from the old French word giste, diversorium. WARBURTON.

Line 103. -yet good deed,] signifies indeed, in very deed, as Shakspeare in another place expresses it.

Line 130.

144.

lordings-] A lording is a little lord.

-the imposition clear'd,

STEEVENS.

Hereditary ours:] i. e. setting aside original sin;

bating the imposition from the offence of our first parents, we might have boldly protested our innocence to heaven.

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WARB.

Of this make no conclusion; lest you say, &c.] To each part of this observation the queen answers in order. To that of temptations she replies, Grace to boot! i. e. though temptations have grown up, yet I hope grace too has kept pace with them. Grace to boot, was a proverbial expression on these occasions.

WARBURTON.

Line 185. And clap thyself my love;] She open'd her hand, to clap the palm of it into his, as people do when they confirm a bargain. Hence the phrase-to clap up a bargain, i. e. make one with no other ceremony than the junction of hands. STEEVENS. Line 202. The mort o' the deer;] A lesson upon the horn at the death of the deer. THEOBALD.

Line 206. I'fecks!] Now pronounced I'fegs-in faith.

207.

-bawcock.] Bawcock is a fine fellow.

210. We must be neat ;] Leontes, seeing his son's nose smutched, cries we must be neat, then recollecting that neat is the term for horned cattle, he says, not neat, but cleanly. JOHNSON. Line 212. still virginalling-] Still playing with her fingers, as a girl playing on the virginals. JOHNSON.

A virginal, as I am informed, is a very small kind of spinnet. Queen Elizabeth's virginal book is yet in being, and many of the lessons in it have proved so difficult, as to baffle our most expert players on the harpsichord. STEEVENS.

Line 216.

—a rough pash,] i. e. a rough face. 221. As o'er-died blacks,] Sir T. Hanmer understands,

blacks died too much, and therefore rotten.

JOHNSON.

It is common with tradesmen to dye their faded or damaged stuff's black. O'er-dyed blacks may mean those which have received a dye over their former colour.

Line 223. No bourn-] Bourn is limit, boundary.

STEEVENS.

Line 225. -welkin-eye:] Blue eye; an eye of the same colour with the welkin, or sky. JOHNSON.

Line 229. Thou dost make possible things not so held,] i. e. thou dost make those things possible, which are conceived to be impossible. JOHNSON.

Line 254. This squash,] A squash is the peapod in its early

state.

Line 255. proverbial expression, used when a man sees himself wronged and makes no resistance. Its original, or precise meaning, I cannot find, but I believe it means, will you be a cuckold for hire. The cuckow is reported to lay her eggs in another bird's nest; he therefore that has eggs laid in his nest, is said to be cucullatus, cuckow'd, or cuckold. JOHNSON.

Will you take eggs for money?] This seems to be a

Line 275. Apparent-] That is, heir apparent, or the next claimant.

Line 283. -the neb,] or nib, i. e. the mouth.

JOHNSON.

286. -a fork'd one,] That is, a horned one; a cuckold.

-318.

JOHNSON.

-it still came home.] This is a sea-faring expression, used of the anchor, and meaning, it would not take hold.

STEEVENS. Line 321. -more material.] i. e. of still greater urgency. 323. They're here with me already;] Not Polixenes and Hermione, but casual observers, people accidentally present.

THIRLBY.

Line 323.whispering, rounding,] To round in the ear, is to whisper, or to tell secretly. The expression is very copiously explained by M. Causaubon, in his book de Ling. Sax. Line 326. -gust it-] To gust, is to taste.

-336.

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JOHNS.

lower messes,] I believe lower messes is only used as an expression to signify the lowest degrees. about the court. At every great man's table the visitants were anciently, as at present, placed according to their consequence or dignity, but with an additional mark of inferiority, viz. that of having coarser provisions set before them. STEEVENS.

Line 357.

cut the hamstrings.

hoxes honesty behind,] To hox, is to hough, to

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