SERPENT.

Who 'fcapes the lurking ferpent's mortal fting?
Not he, that fets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on;
And doves will peck, in fafeguard of their brood.
Who hath not seen them (even with those wings
Which fometime they have us'd in fearful flight)
Make war with him that climb'd unto their neft,
Offering their own lives in their young's defence?

Henry VI. P. 3, A. 2, S. 2.

'Tis given out, that, fleeping in my orchard, A ferpent ftung me; fo the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,

The ferpent that did fting thy father's life,

Now wears his crown.

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 5.

She hath abated me of half my train;

Look'd back upon me; ftruck me with her tongue, Moft ferpent-like, upon the very heart:

All the ftor'd vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful top! strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lamenefs!

Lear, A. 2, S. 4.

SERVICE.

'Tis the curfe of service;

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,

Not by the old gradation, where each fecond

Stood heir to the first.

Othello, A. 1, S. 1.

Nym, and Bardolph, are fworn brothers in filch

66 Impoffible be strange attempts, to those

"Who weigh their pain in fenfe; nor do fuppofe
"What hath been, can be."

A. B.

ing;

ing; and in Calais they ftole a fire-fhovel: I knew, by that piece of fervice, the men would carry coals'. Henry V. A. 3, S. 2.

SHADOW S.
'Tis fuch as you,

That creep like fhadows by him, and do figh
At each his needlefs heavings; fuch as you

Nourish the caufe of his awaking.

Winter's Tale, A. 2, S. 3.

By the apostle Paul, fhadows to-night
Have ftruck more terror to the foul of Richard,
Than can the fubftance of ten thousand foldiers
Armed in proof, and led by fhallow Richmond.
Richard III. A. 5, S. 3.

SHA M E.

O fhame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canft mutiny in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,

And melt in her own fire. Hamlet, A. 3, S. 4.
Bring me

To the dead bodies of my queen, and fon:

One grave fhall be for both; upon them shall
The caufes of their death appear, unto

Our shame perpetual.

Winter's Tale, A. 3, S. 2.

I knew by that piece of fervice the men would carry coals.] It appears, that in Shakespeare's age, to carry coals was, I know not why, to endure affronts.

JOHNSON. Cant phrafes are the ephemerons of literature. In the quartos the paffage ftands thus:

"I knew by that they meant to carry coles."

STEEVENS. "Carry coals"-there is a quibble here on the English word coal, and the French word colle, which fignifies fham, bamboozle, or cheat.

"I knew by that they meant to carry coles," i. e. I faw plainly that they were bamboozlers, or tricksters. A. B.

O Cæfar,

O Cæfar, what a wounding fhame is this;
That thou, vouchfafing here to vifit me,
Doing the honour of thy lordliness

To one fo meek, that mine own fervant should
Parcel the fum of my difgraces 2 by

Addition of his envy!

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 5, S. 2.

I have mark'd

A thousand blushing apparitions

Toftart into her face; a thousand innocent shames In angel whiteness bear away those blushes.

Much ado about nothing, A. 4, S. 1.

Thought I, thy fpirits were stronger than thy fhames,
Myfelf would, on the rearward of reproaches,
Strike at thy life. Much ado about nothing, A. 4, S. 1.
I dare affure thee, that no enemy

Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus :
The gods defend him from so great a shame!
When you do find him, or alive, or dead,
He will be found like Brutus, like himself.

Julius Cæfar, A. 5, S. 4.

For my part, I may speak it to my shame,
I have a truant been to chivalry;

And fo, I hear, he doth account me too :
Yet this before my father's majesty,-
I am content, that he fhall take the odds
Of his great name and eftimation;

To one fo meek.] Meek, I fuppofe, means here, tame, fubdued by adverfity. Cleopatra, in any other fenfe, was not eminent for meekness. MALONE.

Weak, I think, would be a better word in the mouth of Cleopatra. One fo weakened or reduced by adverfity, that my fervant takes advantage of it.

A. B.

2 Parcel the fum of my difgraces.] To parcel her difgraces, might be expreffed in vulgar language, to bundle up her cala

mities.

JOHNSON.

I do not fee any thing inelegant here. Parcel is augment.

I

A. B.

And

And will, to fave the blood on either fide,
Try fortune with him in a fingle fight.

Henry IV. P. 1, A. 5, S. 1.
I'll not chide thee;

Let Thame come when it will, I do not call it :
I do not bid the thunder-bearer fhoot,

Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove :
Mend, when thou canft; be better, at thy leifure.
Lear, A. 2, S. 4.

How you ftorm!

you,

I would be friends with and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have ftain'd me with,
Supply your prefent wants, and take no doit
Of ufance for my monies.

Merchant of Venice, A. 1, S. 3.

Hadft thou but fhook thy head, or made a pause,
When I fpake darkly what I purposed:
Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face;
Or bid me tell my tale in exprefs words;
Deep fhame had ftruck me dumb.

King John, A. 4, S. 2.

I do not shame

converfion

To tell you what I was, fince my
So fweetly taftes, being the thing I am.

As you like it, A. 4, S. 3.

His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's fhames, Draw thofe heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven fhall take in nature of a fee;

Ay, with thefe cryftal beads heaven shall be brib'd To do him juftice and revenge on you.

The God of foldiers,

King John, A. 2, S. 1.

With the confent of fupreme Jove, inform

Thy thoughts with noblenefs; that thou may'st

prove

To fhame invulnerable, and stick i' the wars

I

Like a great fea-mark, ftanding every flaw,
And faving thofe that eye thee!

Coriolanus, A. 5, S. 3.

If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,

And not these bastard Brittains; whom our fathers Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd, And, on record, left them the heirs of shame.

Richard III. A. 5, S. 3.

What a flave art thou, to hack thy fword as thou haft done; and then fay, it was in fight! What trick, what device, what ftarting hole, canft thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent fhame? Henry IV. P. 1, A. 2, S. 4. A divulged fhame,'

I

Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name

I

A divulged fhame,

Sear'd

Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name
Sear'd otherwife; no worse of worst extended,

With vileft torture let my life be ended.] This paffage is apparently corrupt, and how fhall it be rectified? I have no great hope of fuccefs, but fomething must be tried. I read the whole thus:

‹‹ ———————————— A divulged theme,

"Traduc'd by odious ballads my maiden name;
"Sear'd otherwife, to worst of worst extended,

"With vileft torture let my life be ended."

Firfi, I venture what is dearest to me, my maiden reputation; but if your diftruft extends my character to the worst of the worst, and fuppofes me feared against the fense of infamy, I will add to the ftake of infamy the itake of life. Yet we may try another experiment.

"Fear otherwife to worst of worst extended."

That is, let me act under the greatest terrour poffible.

Yet once again we will try to find the right way, by the glim mer of Hanmer's emendation:

"Sear'd; otherwife the worft of worst extended," &c.

JOHNSON,

The great difficulty feems to lie in, "No worse of worst ex"tended," and the paffage is evidently corrupt. I therefore

read,