to the strict preservation of the character of Time personified. He thought nothing about Time's being every where alike. LORD CHEDWORTH. SCENE I. 316. "I have, missingly, noted, he is of late much retired from court." Missingly, says Mr. Steevens, is at intervals; but I rather think it refers to the blank or vacuity in the court assemblies occasioned by the prince's absence. My aunt, or one of my aunts, is, at this day, in Ireland, a common expression for a prostitute. 327. Prig," Which, as Mr. Whalley remarks, signified, in our author's time, a thief or pickpocket, implies, in modern cant, a formal awkward coxcomb. 338. SCENE III. -Daffodils "That come before the swallow dares, and take "The winds of March with beauty," The rudeness of March being subdued or softened by the beauty of the daffodil is a thought highly poetical and elegant, as are also the lines succeeding it. B. STRUTT. 342. I think, you have Dr. Warburton need not have been without examples to justify his exposition of this passage, and to satisfy Mr. M. Mason that "skill" here. means cause, reason, efficient motive; as in The Taming of the Shrew, Act 3. "Whate'er he be, it skills not." And in K. Henry VI. Part 2nd. "It skills not greatly who empugns our doom." Upon his own report, and I believe it." Perhaps this should be, "I but have it Upon his own report," &c. 361. "Handed love." i. e. Kept fair terms with it, bore it in hand, If your lass Interpretation should abuse." i. e. Should misconceive your conduct. 363. "By the pattern of mine own thoughts I out "The purity of his." A similar thought and expression occurs in Hamlet: "By the image of my cause, I see $67. This dream of mine, Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch farther, "But milk my eyes, and weep." This is a broken sentence: this dream of mine had created (perhaps she would have said) ambitious and inordinate expectations; but, breaking off passionately, she takes up the succeeding thought. '368. "To die upon the bed my father died." This is not an admissible mode of speech: the necessary particle on should be annexed to the word "died." If I might die within this hour, I have liv'd "To die when I desire." The same reflection exultingly delivered occurs in Othello: If it were now to die ""Twere now to be most happy; for I fear 373. "Sent by the king," &c. It is not very suitable to the character of either the good Camillo, or the princely Florizel to propose or adopt an imposition like this. 374. She is as forward of her breeding, as "I'the rear of birth." i. e. Her accomplishments are as conspicuous as her birth is obscure, 380. "If I thought it were not a piece of honesty I would do't.” This language, as a soliloquy, is humorous and in character: a modern dramatist of wonderful skill, taste, and ingenuity, has introduced a simi lar incident, but applied it without a due regard to nature or probability: an unprincipled lawyer, who, through the whole play, had been practising fraud, and at length is induced to betray his perfidious patrons, entreats his new employers not to disclose this last action, because, being an equitable one, it would be injurious to his fame, as a consistent villain. This, indeed, is admirable satire, but, I fear, not truly dramatic; for no villain, I believe, ever openly spoke thus of himself. Sir Thomas Hanmer's emendation of the text, as it stands adopted by Mr. Steevens, must, I think, be acknowledged to be right. 395. ACT V. SCENE I. Make proselytes Of who she did but follow." Who for whom; but them would be more correct. 397. "A king, at friend." As there appears to be no kind of authority for this phrase, I am inclined to read— "A king at friends." To be friends or at friends with one another is an expression still in use. To clip is to clasp, to cling about, as, "Here I clip the anvil of my sword." Coriolanus, "No grave upon the earth shall clip in it "A pair so famous." Anthony and Cleop. O let me clip thee "In arms as sound as when I woo'd," &c. 406. "One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes (caught the water, though not the fish.) i. e. What most claimed my observation; but which bedimming with tears my sight, prevented my beholding it, "caught the water, not the fish.” This seems to be an ancient jeer upon unsuccessful anglers. B. STRUTT. SCENE III. 413. "Hermione was not so much wrinkled; nothing," &c. The word much, here, is a burthen on the metre; but still more injurious to the sense. The lady, at the time of her supposed death, was not wrinkled at all: it should doubtless be, "Hermione was not so wrinkled; nothing "So aged, as this seems." 419. “And from your sacred vials.” This expression seems to be taken from the custom of pouring a vial of oil on the head of a person anointed king.” LORD CHEDWORTH, |