"Might, by the sovereign power you have of us." Hamlet. "How all occasions do inform against me." Ibid. "For courage mounteth with occasion." K. John. "By héavén, Hubert, I'm almost asham'd." Ibid. "The sun is in the heaven; and the proud day." Ibid. "Figur'd quite o'er with burning metéórs." Ibid. "And call them meteors, progidies, and signs.” "Upon the power and puissance of the king.” Ibid. "I mean, my lord, those pówérs that the queen," &c. &c. Nor is this effect of associated vowels confined to themselves, even iron consonants, intervening, will often be amalgamated in the coalition. "Within their alabaster innocent arms." K. Rich. III. "Christian and heathen must be beleed and calm'd." Othello. "Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief." Hamlet. "Some of those branches by the destinies cut." "One flourishing branch of his most royal root." Of this licence Milton also makes abundant and happy use. "And chiefly thou, o spirit, that dost prefer." "If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge.” "In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge."- "Arraying with reflected purple and gold."—— Paradise Lost. "On all deservers, from hence to Inverness." Macbeth. "On all deservers, hence to Inverness." "So all men do, from hence to the palace gate.” Ibid. "So all men do, hence to the palace gate." "I wou'd breed from hence, occasion, and I will." "I wou'd breed hence, occasion, and I will." Let us here, once for all, condemn that practice which prevails among our most correct writers, of placing the preposition, (6 from," before the words hence, thence, whence, with their compounds, henceforth, thenceforth, whenceforth, henceforward, &c. &c. These are all adverbs, unconnected with prepositions, and, clearly, of themselves expressing from this time, place, or cause; from that time, place, or cause; from which time, place, or cause, &c. and the introduction of the ablative preposition is no less impertinent than would be that of the dative before the adverbs hither, thither, whither, were they to be set down to hither, to thither, to whither. (b) It is not improbable that the poet himself might have introduced the word which is here rejected; and that the line, at first, stood thus: ""Tis sweet and commendable in your nature." But when, upon revisal, he judged it fitting to insert "Hamlet," it was, doubtless, to follow, that the word "Nature," with the possessive termination of the pronoun, was to be expunged. C. LOFFT. "When I have told the story; can you tax me MARC. "Bless me, good Angels! "Or am I blasted? Lies so false and wicked "And falsehood to so damnable a purpose," &c. Of eighteen lines here, in succession, we find only one (admitting the offered correction) of the regular heroic struc ture *Time, probably omitted. "And age from that which bred it, good example, "Nay (wou'd ourselves were not the worst) even parents "That did destroy the hopes in their own children : "The first words we form their tongue with are licentious jests. "Can it call whore? Cry bastard? O then kiss it, "A witty child! Can't swear? The father's darling. "Give it two plums; but this is in the infancy: "When it puts on the breeches, it will put-off all this ; "Ay, it is like, when it is gone into the bone already.” Ben Jonson-Every Man in his Humour. "In all our royal master's names we tell you, "You have done injustice; broke the bond of concord, "Whole provinces; mann'd and maintain❜d these injuries, Among these diffused terminations (besides some that are entirely out of all reckoning) we find in Jonson one, and in Beaumont and Fletcher two trisyllables; which, by the way, is very frequent with these writers. (d) As, besides some instances in the preceding note, "Where he "Resolves to revel, how the lords of her, like "The tradesmen," &c. Massinger.-Picture. "To die, which is inevitable, you may urge." Ibid. "The Spartans are in arms, and like to win all. Beam. and Fletch.-Mad Lover. "You are so tender now, think where you are sweet,” Beam. and Fletch.-Hums. Lieut. "As you love heaven, love him; she's only yours, sir." "My lord the king, he will undo himself, sir.” Ibid. "Time and the wars together, make me stoop, gentlemen.” Ibid.-Loyal Subject. "This is the noblest difference; take your choice, sister." Ibid. "I hope you travel, sir, with licence; how long, sir." "My lord, will you not take your dispatch hence, yet?" Ben Jons.-Volpone. "We shou'd have a new amalgama made; O this ferret !” Ibid.-Alchemist. "For a cloake with thrice-died velvet, and a cast suite." Massinger.-Maids of Honor. "Yourselves both in and upright with a provant sword.” Ibid.-Ed. 1632. (e) In the twilight obscurity of this vast region, where vagrant opinion will often be allured by vanity, that ignis fatuus, to tread the perilous wilds of conjecture, "I pull in resolution," it will, doubtless, be objected by some, that I am here transgressing the boundaries assigned to the critic; who, though licensed, by prescription, to commend or censure, can claim no privilege to alter. Unquestionably, where the text of an author has come attested to the world, as his own unadulterated performance, any attempts at emendation are unwarrantable; and, I have always viewed with indignant astonishment, the desperate temerity of Bentley, as exercised on Milton; but if we, for a moment, contemplate the different circumstances attending that great poet and our dramatist, we must perceive that no comparison, |