Imatges de pàgina
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And, for my foul, what can it do to that,

Being a thing immortal as itself? Hamlet, A. 1, S. 4.
O thou good Kent, how fhall I live, and work,
To match thy goodnefs? my life will be too fhort,
And every measure fail me 1. Lear, A. 4, S. 7.

This our life, exempt from publick haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in ftones, and good in every thing.

As you like it, A. 2, S. 1.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipp'd them not; and our crimes would defpair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues.

All's well that ends well, A. 4, S. 3.

At my birth,

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes;
These figns have marked me extraordinary;
And all the courfes of my life do fhew,

I am not in the roll of common men.

Henry IV. P. 1, A. 3, S. 1. My life is fpann'd already ;

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

Whose figure even this inftant cloud puts on,
By dark'ning my clear fun. Henry VIII. A. 1, S. 1.
Beaufort's red fparkling eyes blab his heart's malice,
And Suffolk's cloudy brow his ftormy hate;

I

every measure fail me.] All good which I fhall allot thee, or measure out to thee, will be fcanty. JOHNSON. A. B.

"Measure" here is effort, endeavour.

2

My life is fpann'd already.] To fpan is to gripe, or inclofe in the band; to pan is alfo to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning, therefore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life; my life is in the gripe of my enemies, or that my time is meafured, the length of my life is now determined.

JOHNSON. My life is fpann'd," i. e. my life is short. We now fay, contracted to a pan, for any fort space of time.

A. B.

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Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue
The envious load that lies upon his heart;
And dogged York, that reaches at the moon,
Whose over-weening arm I have pluck'd back,
By falfe accufe doth level at my life.

Henry VI. P. 2, A. 3, S. 1.

I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my fingle self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of fuch a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæfar; fo were you :
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.

Julius Cæfar, A. 1,

I am married to a wife,

Which is as dear to me as life itself;
But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteem'd above thy life.

S. 2.

Merchant of Venice, A. 4, S. 1.

Thou art too noble to conserve a life

In bafe appliances. Meafure for Measure, A. 3, S. 1.

Reason thus with life,

If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing,

That none but fools would keep.

Meafure for Measure, A. 3, S. 1. Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that: You take my houfe, when you do take the prop That doth fuftain my houfe; you take my life When you do take the means whereby I live.

Merchant of Venice, A. 4, S. 1. Make me to fee it; or (at least) fo prove it, That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop, To hang a doubt on: or, woe upon thy life!

Othello, A. 3.

For all, that life can rate Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate;

S. 3..

Youth,

Youth, beauty, wifdom, courage, virtue, all
That happiness and prime, can happy call.

All's well that ends well, A. 2, S. 1.

L I ON.

I met a lion,

Who glar'd upon me, and went furly by,

Without annoying me:

And, yesterday, the bird of night did fit,
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting, and fhrieking.

I do believe they are portentous things
Unto the climate, that they point upon.

I.

Julius Cæfar, A. 1, S. 3.

To whom do lions caft their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would ufurp their den.
Whofe hand is that the foreft bear doth lick?
Not his, that fpoils her young before her face.

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

Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,
Whofe arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,
Under whose shade the ramping lion flept;

Whofe top branch over-peer'd Jove's fpreading tree,
And kept low fhrubs from winter's powerful wind.
Henry VI. P. 3, A. 5, S. 2.
Methought, he bore him in the thickest troop,
As doth a lion in a herd of neat:

I prime.] Youth; the fpring or morning of life. JOHNSON. Should we not read pride? Dr. Johnfon explains prime to mean youth; and indeed I do not fee any other plaufible interpretation that can be given of it. But how does that fuit with the context? Happiness and pride, may fignify, I think, the pride of happiness, the proudeft ftate of happiness.

I think we fhould read,

TYRWHIT.

"That happiness in prime can happy call." i. c. happiness in the greatest degree.

A. B.

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Or as a bear, encompass'd round with dogs;
Who having pinch'd a few, and made them cry,
The reft ftand all aloof, and bark at him.

I

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I had rather heat my liver with drinking.",

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 1, S. 2.

LOVE, LOVER..

- Gentle lady,
When I did first impart my love to you,
I freely told you, all the wealth I had
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman;
And then I told you true.

Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 2.

Heaven, and fortune, bar me happy hours!
Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy reft;
Be oppofite all planets of good luck

To my proceeding, if, with pure heart's love,
Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,

I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!

Richard III. A. 4, S. 4.

The leifure, and the fearful time

Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love,

And ample interchange of fweet discourse,

1 I had rather heat my liver with drinking.] To know why the lady is fo averfe from heating her liver, it must be remembered, that a heated liver is supposed to make a pimpled face.

JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnson is mistaken, I believe, in fuppofing that the lady is thinking of a pimpled face. The feat of love was by ancient writers fuppofed to be in the liver. The foothfayer fays to Charmion, "You shall be more beloving than belov'd." If that is the cafe, replies fhe, I had rather heat my liver, with drinking than with love.

A. B.

Which

Which fo long fundred friends should dwell upon,
God give us leifure for these rites of love!

Richard III. A. 5, S. 3.

Perhaps, he loves you now;
And now no foil, nor cautel, doth befmirch
The virtue of his will: but, you must fear,
His greatnefs weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is fubject to his birth.

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 3.

O, Hamlet, what a falling off was there!
From me, whofe love was of that dignity,
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch, whofe natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 5.

Hafte me to know it; that I, with wings as swift
As meditation, or the thoughts of love,

May fweep to my revenge.

This is the very ecstasy of love:

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 5.

Whose violent property forędoes itself,

And leads the will to defperate undertakings,

As oft as any paffion under heaven,

That does afflict our natures. Hamlet, A. 2, S. 1. 'The inftances, that fecond marriage move,

Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.

Hamlet, A. 3, S. 2.

There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick, or fnuff, that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness ftill;
For goodness, growing to a pleurify,
Dies in his own too much.

Hamlet, A. 4, S. 7.

The inftances.] The motives.

JOHNSON.

We should rather explain "inftances" by circumftances. We cannot well fay, the motives that move.

A. B.

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