"We drove a-field, and both together heard."

i. e. Listened, had our ears open.

12.

That former fabulous story,

Being now seen possible enough, got
credit,

"That Bevis was believ'd."

That," in the last line, I believe, ought to be and.

13. One, certes, that promises no element.'

"That" might be omitted elliptically to save the metre:

14. "And keep it from the earth."

Surely, sir."

A word is wanting to the measure. We might read-now, surely, sir.

Prone is naturally or intuitively inclined, as in Measure for Measure:

In her youth

"There is a prone and speechless dialect."

23. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning

cardinal."

"Sir" might well be omitted, to render the metre tolerable, and then should read:

Pray give me favour. This cunning cardinal.''

24. "I do pronounce him in that very shape, "He shall appear in proof.”

This is carelessly expressed. It was not meant to say he should appear a shape, but the construction requires the repetition of the preposition in :-I do pronounce him in that very shape, in which he shall appear in proof.

26. "

Nicholas Hopkins.”

"Henton," which stood in the place of Hopkins, from confounding the name of the convent with that of the monk, is, says Mr. Steevens, "a mistake that must have been Shakspeare's; as it would be doing too much honour to the players, to suppose them capable of being the authors of it."

The honour of being capable of making such a mistake, the players (of whom the critic seems to forget that our poet was one) would have been as little disposed to covet, as would Shakspeare himself to deprecate the disgrace of it. The truth is, there is little of disgrace, and still less of honour, at all belonging to the question; but if the honour, thus magnified, be the praise due to knowledge, howsoever misapplied, many of those players were as much above Shakspeare, in correct and systematic acquirements, as Shakspeare himself is superior in genius to the most elaborate of his commentators.

"I am the shadow of poor Buckingham; "Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear sun.”

I am but Buckingham's shadow; and my substance is become only a mark or emblem to dis

tinguish or characterise the cloud of disgrace that overwhelms me. If this be not satisfactory, I must leave the sense to be developed by some one more discerning and perspicuous than myself, and more lucky than have been heretofore the efforts of any of the ingenious commentators.

"I am the shadow," &c.

It occurs to me now, that Buckingham's allusion is to the accidental appearance of a dark cloud, while he is speaking, which he compares with the cloud of disgrace that obscures his honour,

28.

SCENE II.

Let be called before us
"That gentleman of Buckingham's."

Passages of similar construction to this are frequently pointed at, both by Mr. Steevens and Mr. Malone, as censurable, on account of grammar, or as requiring indulgence, for being the language of our poet's time. But the fact is, as I think I have shewn in another place, it is the language not only of the former, but of the present, and all intermediate times, and is so far from being improper or ungrammatical, that the corrections which the remarks of those gentlemen suggest, would alter and pervert the meaning. "That gentleman of Buckingham" could not be otherwise interpreted, than that gentleman of the town or county of Bucks; whereas the person intended here is that particular gentleman of or among the gentlemen attending on the duke.

30.

There have been commissions

"Sent down among them, which hath flaw'd the heart

Of all their loyalties."

Perhaps this seeming false concord may thus be reconciled, by taking "hath," as the verb agreeing not with " commissions," but with the implied noun, the act of framing those commissions.

You frame

"Things, that are known alike.”—

I would read, for the sake of the argument and propriety, according to a common ellipsis.

"The things, are known alike," &c.

They say,

"They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer

"Too hard an exclamation."

"Or else" does not refer to what was "" said," but to the act itself of Wolsey, and instead of the words " or else," to make sense of the passage, we should read "if not."

66

33. Tongues spit their duties out."

i. e. I suppose, disclaim their accustomed duties with indignation and contempt.

"There is no primer business.”

I think Dr. Warburton's correction here is right. Mr. Steevens has produced an authority from Othello for an acknowledged sense of the word "prime :" had he cited an instance to prove that baseness ever means mischief, I should have

been more ready to concur with him in retaining
that word.
LORD CHEDWORTH.

34. By sick interpreters, once weak ones."

"Once," as Mr. Steevens remarks, is undoubtedly often used for at some time, or at any time, but in that sense it cannot be understood here, and I know not any other way to obtain the meaning than by adopting the emendation or weak

ones.

35. "For our best act. If we shall stand still." Mr. Steevens, I think, might have carried his necessary emendation, action for "act," into the

text.

36. "The gentleman is learn'd, and a most rare speaker."

37.

The metre might be preserved by reading-
"The gentleman is learned; a rare speaker."

And never seek for aid out of himself.
"Yet see."

This line might be reformed with ease

"And ne'er seek aid out of himself; yet see."

When we,

"Almost with ravish'd list'ning," &c.

This, surely, should be "almost with list'ning ravish'd."

-Practices; whereof

"We cannot feel too little, hear too much.” We cannot sufficiently suppress the emotions of regret at his fall, nor accumulate too many in