O thou invifible fpirit of wine, if thou haft no name to be known by, let us call thee---devil! O, that men fhould put an enemy in their mouths, to fteal away their brains! that we should, with joy, revel, pleasure, and applaufe, transform ourfelves into beafts! Othello, A. 2, S. 3.

W ISD Ó M.

Wisdom wishes to appear most bright,

When it doth tax itself.

Meafure for Measure, A. 2, S. 4.

The amity that wifdom knits not, folly may eafily

untie.

Troilus and Creffida, A. 2, S. 3.

Full oft we fee

Cold wifdom waiting on fuperfluous folly.

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

Thus do we of wisdom and of reach,

With windlaces, and with affays of bias,
By indirections find directions out;
So, by my former lecture and advice,

Shall you, my fon: you have me, have you not?

W I T.

Hamlet, A. 2, S. 1.

Sometimes I have no more wit than a Chriftian, or an ordinary man has: but I am a great eater of beef, and, I believe, that does harm to my wit.

Twelfth Night, A. 1, S. 3.

wretched, but as it is a word without any reasonable etymology, 1 fhould be glad to difinifs it for petty; yet it is undoubtedly

right.

66

JOHNSON.

Pelting" fhould be palting. See note on King Lear.

A. B.

Fat paunches have lean pates; and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bankerout the wits.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 1, S. 1.

Gentle, fweet,

Your wit makes wife things foolish: when we greet. With eyes best seeing heaven's fiery eye,

By light we lose light.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 5, S. 2.
The world's large tongue

Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks;
Full of comparisons, and wounding flouts;
Which you on all eftates will execute,
That lie within the mercy of your wit.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 5,

S. 2

None are fo furely caught, when they are catch'd, As wit turn'd fool: folly, in wisdom hatch'd,

Hath wisdom's warrant.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 5, S. 2.

This fellow picks up wit, as pigeons-peas;
And utters it again, when Jove doth pleafe:
He is wit's pedlar. Love's Labour Loft, A. 5, S. 2.
Folly in fools bears not fo ftrong a note,
As foolery in the wife, when wit doth dote ;
Since all the power thereof it doth apply,
To prove, by wit, worth, in fimplicity.

Love's Labour Loft, A. 5, S. 2.

You have a nimble wit; I think it was made of Atlanta's heels. Will you fit down with me? we two will rail against our mistress, the world, and all our mifery. As you like it, A. 3, S. 2.

A good fherris-fack hath a two-fold operation in it. It afcends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehenfive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable fhapes; which

deliver'd

deliver'd o'er to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, becomes excellent wit.

Henry IV. P. 2, A. 4, S. 3.

A good old man, fir; he will be talking; as they fay, when the age is in, the wit is out.

Much ado about nothing, A. 3, S. 5.

Difdain and fcorn ride fparkling in her eyes,
Mifprifing what they look on; and her wit
Values itself so highly, that to her

All matter elfe feems weak.

I

Much ado about nothing, A. 3, S. 1.

That I had no angry wit to be a lord.

Timon of Athens, A. 1, S. 1.

WITCH.

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold;

He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid her alight,

And her troth plight,

And, aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee?!

Gg 2

Lear, A. 3, S. 4
Aroynt

That I had no angry awit to be a lord.] This reading is abfurd and unintelligible. But as I have restored the text, that I had Jo hungry a wit to be a lord, it is fatirical enough of conscience. Viz. I would hate myself, for having no more wit than to covet fo infignificant a title. WARBURTON.

The meaning may be, I fhould hate myfelf for patiently enduring to be a lord. This is ill enough expreffed. Perhaps fome happy change may fet it right. I have tried, and can do nothing, yet I cannot heartily concur with Dr. Warburton.

JOHNSON.

Perhaps we may read, "So angry wit." Shakespeare may ufe angry in the fenfe of perverfe, untoward.

line thus:

A. B.

aroyns thee, witch, aroynt thee!] We fhould read the

"Aroynt

Aroynt thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyon 2 cries.

Macbeth, A. 1, S. 3.

Now the wafted brands do glow,

Whilft the fcritch-owl, fcritching loud,
Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,

In remembrance of a fhroud.

Midfummer Night's Dream, A. 5, S. 2.

"Aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee, right."

i. e. depart forthwith.

WARBURTON.

Aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee!" i. e. fcab take thee, witch, fcab take thee! See note on Macbeth.

There is no occafion for Dr. Warburton's reading, "aroynt "thee right, or depart forthwith. How aroynt could ever be fupposed to have the fense of depart, I have not been able to dif

cover.

I

Aroynt thee.] Aroint, or avaunt, be gone.

A. B.

POPE.

I had met with the word aroint in no other author, till looking into Heern's Collections, I found it in a very old drawing, that he has published, in which St. Patrick is reprefented vifiting hell, and putting the devils into great confufion by his prefence, of whom one, that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label iffuing out of his mouth, with these words, OUT OUT, ARONGT, of which the laft is evidently the fame with aroint, and used in the same sense as in this paffage.

JOHNSON. The commentators are agreed that aroint is the fame as avaunt; but they have totally mistaken the meaning of the word. "Royne" is fcab, a term of reproach, and frequently used as fuch by our earlier writers. We must therefore read,

i.

"Aroint the witch!"

e. fcab take, or scab catch the witch. "Aroint" is formed by the fame analogy as aroufe, aright, &c. but improperly.

"Out out, arongt," as initanced by Dr. Johnfon, means out out, fcab!

2

A. B.

ronyon cries.] i. e. A fcabby or mangy woman. Fr. Rogneux, royne, fcurf.

t

1

STEEVENS.

I do not think Mr. Steevens has rightly explained the word. Bailey fays, that ronyon means a fat, bulky woman. It seems in this place, however, to have the fenfe of fuarler, from rogonner, Fr. to faarl, to growl, to grumble.

A. B.

-I have

1

I have fed upon this woe already, And now excefs of it will make me furfeit.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 3, S. 1.

Here can I fit alone, unseen of any,
And, to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my diftreffes, and record my woes.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 5, S. 3. That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth, Blafted with ecftafy; O, woe is me!

To have seen what I have feen, fee what I fee!

Hamlet, A. 3, S. 1.

We pray you, throw to earth

This unprevailing woe; and think of us
As of a father: for, let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And, with no less nobility of love 1

Than that which deareft father bears his fon,
Do I impart toward you.

Hamlet, A. 1, S., 2.

Wife men ne'er wail their prefent woes,

But presently prevent the ways to wail,

To fear the foe, fince fear oppreffeth ftrength,
Gives, in your weakness, strength unto your foe,
And fo your follies fight against yourself.

Richard II. A. 3, S. 2.

One that was a woful looker-on,

? When as the noble duke of York was flain.

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

And with no lefs nobility of love.] Nobility for magnitude.

Nobility is rather generofity.

WARBURTON.

JOHNSON.

"Nobility of love" may mean, true and virtuous love.

2

Ah, one that was a woful looker-on,

A. B.

When as the noble duke of York was Лlain.] "When as" fhould be printed as a fingle word, whenas. It means nothing more than when: as is added for the fake of the metre. So

" whereas”