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The mean time, lady,

I'll raise the preparation of a war

Shall ftain your brother.

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 3, S. 4.

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and man of honour, that he fell off, and revolted by the chance of war. The poet certainly wrote,

"But 'bides the chance of war."

i. e. He never did revolt, but abides the chance of war, as a prifoner. WARBURTON.

The plain meaning is, he came not into the enemy's power but by the chance of war. To 'bide the chance of war may well enough fignify, to ftand the hazard of a battle, but can fcarcely mean to endure the feverity of a prifon. JOHNSON. Notwithstanding the attempt of Dr. Johnson to explain the prefent reading, I cannot help thinking that the paffage is corrupt. The poet may have written,

"He never did fall off, my fovereign liege,

"But try'd the chance of war.'

The meaning will then be, that Mortimer neither revolted to the enemy, nor hung back during the fight: that he did his utmoft.

1

I'll raise the preparation of a war

A. B.

Shall ftain your brother.] Thus the printed copies. But fure, Antony, whofe bufinefs here is to mollify Octavia, does it

with a very ill grace; and 'tis a very odd way of fatisfying her,

to tell her, the war he raifes, fhall ftain, i. e. cast an odium upon her brother. I have no doubt but we must read, with the addition only of a fingle letter,

"Shall firain your brother,"

i. e. fhall lay him under constraints; thall put him to fuch shifts, that he shall neither be able to make progress against, or to prejudice me. THEOBALD,

I do not fee but ftain may be allowed to remain unaltered, meaning no more than hame or difgrace. JOHNSON.

"Stain," I think, is right, only that it fhould be printed 'ftain for fuftain, or fupport. The context will warrant this reading. Antony fays, that if he lofes his honour, he loses himfelf: ftill, adds he, to fhew you how much I am inclined to be well with Cæfar, yourself fhall go between us, and I will make preparation to fupport him, if he be fo minded as to act with me. "So your defires are yours," continues he, i. e. you bave your swishes for a perfect reconciliation: be quick, and, if poffible, effect it. To this Octavia returns him thanks, which the would certainly not have done, had he infinuated that he meant to fhame or difgrace her brother. When it appears to you, proceeds Antony, where this begins (i. c. where there is any fault),

turn

O, wither'd is the garland of the war,

I

The foldier's pole is fall'n; young boys, and girls, Are level now with men.

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 4, S. 13.

WARRIOR.

Tell the conftable,

We are but warriors for the working-day :
Our gaynefs, and our gilt, are all befmirch'd
With rainy marching in the painful field.

Henry V. A. 4, S. 3.

Thou fhalt be fortunate,

If thou receive me for thy warlike mate 2.

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

WAVE S.

Like Arion on the dolphin's back,

I faw him hold acquaintance with the waves,
So long as I could fee. Twelfth Night, A. 1, S. 2.

WE ARINES S.

Weariness

Can fnore upon the flint, when refty floth

Finds the down pillow hard. Cymbeline, A. 3, S. 6.

turn your difpleasure that way. From all which we may infer, that he was willing to affift Cæfar, if in honour he could do fo. The poet wrote 'fain on account of the metre.

A. B.

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1 The foldier's pole.]. He at whom the foldiers pointed, as at a pageant held high for observation. JOHNSON. Perhaps by foldier's pole," is meant the ftandard-the principal military enfign.

2

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A. B.

If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.] "Mate" fhould be Meet is here used as a fubftantive, and in the fenfe of equal-one who may be allowed to enter the lifts with him.

meet.

A. B.

WELCOME.

WELCOME.

Sir, you are very welcome to our houfe:
It muft appear in other ways than words,
Therefore I fcant this breathing courtesy.

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Merchant of Venice, A. 5, S. 1.

A hundred thousand welcomes: I could weep,
And I could laugh; I am light, and heavy. Wel-

come.

A curse begin at very root of's heart,

That is not glad to see thee!

Coriolanus, A. 2, S. 1.

I.

-Therefore as a stranger give it welcome.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 5.

Hermione,

How thou lov'ft us, fhew in our brother's welcome;
Next to thyfelf, and my young rover, he's

Apparent to my heart.

Winter's Tale, A. 1, S. 2.

Pray you, bid

These unknown friends to us welcome; for it is
A way to make us better friends, more known. ›

Winter's Tale, A. 4, S. 3.

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Arm, arm, you heavens, against thefe perjur'd kings!
A widow cries; be hufband to me, heavens!
Let not the hours of this ungodly day

Wear out the day in peace. King John, A. 3, S. 1.
And will the yet abafe her eyes on me,

That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a woful bed?

On me, whofe all not equals Edward's moiety?

Richard III. A. 1, S. 2.
<- See

See what now thou art.

For happy wife, a moft diftreffed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
For one being fu'd to, one that humbly fues;
For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care:
For one that fcorn'd at me, now fcorn'd of me;
For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one;
For one commanding all, obey'd of none.

Richard III. A. 4, S. 4.

A poor petitioner,

A care-craz'd mother to a many fons,
A beauty-waning and diftreffed widow,
Even in the afternoon of her best days,
Made prize and purchafe of his wanton eye,
Seduc'd the pitch and height of all his thoughts
To bafe declenfion. Richard III. A. 3, S. 7.

If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he hall live no longer in monument, than the bell rings, and the widow weeps.

Much ado about nothing, A. 5, S. 2.

W I F E.

If the come in, fhe'll fure fpeak to my wife :---
My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife:
O infupportable! O heavy hour!

Methinks, it should be now a huge eclipfe

Of fun and moon; and that the affrighted globe yawn at alteration.

Should

S..2.

Othello, A. 5, S. 2.

WIND S.

I am a feather for each wind that blows.

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds.

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

Tempeft, A. 1, S. 2.

The

The elements

Of who:n your fwords are temper'd, may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at ftabs Kill the ftill-clofing waters, as diminish

Öne dowle that's in my plume. Tempest, A. 3, S. 3. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts, and hurricanoes, fpout

Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the

cocks!

You fulphurous and thought-executing fires,

Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunder-bolts,
Singe my white head!

The fouthern wind

Lear, A. 3, S. 2.

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves,
Foretells a tempeft, and a blustering day.

Henry IV. P. 1, A. 5, S. 1.

How like a younker, or a prodigal,
The fkarfed bark puts from her native bay,
Hugg'd and embraced by the ftrumpet wind!
How like a prodigal doth fhe return;

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged fails,
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the ftrumpet wind!
Merchant of Venice, A. 2, S. 6.

To be intprifon'd in the viewlefs winds,

And blown with restless violence round about

The pendant world.

Measure for Measure, A. 3, S. 1.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have fuck'd up from the fea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made fo proud,
That they have over-borne their continents.

Midfummer Night's Dream, A. 2, S. 2.
WINE.

pelting. The meaning is pla'nly despicable, mean, forry, wretched,

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