I, that am

Deform'd, unfinish'd, fent before my time
Into this breathing world, fcarce half made up,
And that fo lamely and unfashionably,
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pafs away the time;
Unless to spy my fhadow in the fun,
And defcant on mine own deformity.

Richard III. A. 1, S. 1.

This is the excellent foppery of the world! that, when we are fick in fortune (after the furfeit of our own behaviour), we make guilty of our difafters, the fun, the moon, and the ftars; as if we were villains by neceffity; fools, by heavenly compulfion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by fpherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an inforc'd obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrufting on.

Lear, A. 1, S. 2.

Thou art by no means valiant;

For thou doft fear the foft and tender fork

Of a poor worm'. Meafure for Meafure, A. 3, S. 1..

1

the foft and tender fork

Of a poor worm.] Worm is ufed for any creeping thing or ferpent. Shakespeare fuppofes falfely, but according to the vulgar notion, that a ferpent wounds with his tongue, and that his tongue is forked. He confounds reality and fiction; a ferpent's tongue is foft, but not forked nor hurtful. If it could hurt, it could not be foft. JOHNSON.

Shakespeare could never fuppofe that a ferpent wounds with his tongue, or he would not have faid, the "foft and tender "fork." He infinuates that the tongue of the ferpent is exactly the reverse of hurtful; but that men are apt to be frightened by appearance, or alarmed from vulgar prejudice. "Fork" is not forked, but ufed fimply for tongue.

A. B. WORT H.

-'Twas you incens'd the rabble:

Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth,
As I can of thofe myfteries which heaven

Will not have earth to know. Coriolanus, A. 4, S. 2.
It fo falls out,

That what we have we prize not to the worth,
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and loft,
Why, then we rack the value'.

Much ado about nothing, A. 4, S. 1.

WRON G.

The wrongs I have done thee, ftir

Afresh within me: and these thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flacknefs!

Winter's Tale, A. 5, S. 1.
I cannot forget

The wrong I did myfelf: which was fo much,
That heirlefs it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'ft companion, that e'er man
Bred his hopes out of. Winter's Tale, A. 5, S. 1.
Such is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and phyfic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand

Of stern injuftice and confufed wrong.

Do wrong to none.

I

King John, A. 5, S. 2.

Love all, trust a few,

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

we rack the value.] i. e. We exaggerate the value. The

allufion is to rack-rents.

It were better to read,

STEEVENS.

A. B.

Y.

YOUTH.

;

W all the youth of England are on fire, And filken dalliance in the wardrobe lies Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought Reigns folely in the breast of every man : They fell the pafture now to buy the horse; Following the mirror of all Chriftian kings, With winged heels, as English mercuries.

Henry V. A. 2, Chorus. By his light,

Did all the chivalry of England move

To do brave acts; he was, indeed, the glafs
Wherein the noble youth did drefs themselves.

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

There is my hand;

You fall be as a father to my youth:

My voice fhall found as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practis'd wife directions.

Henry IV. P. 2, A. 5, S. 2.

Turn two mincing steps

Into a manly ftride; and fpeak of frays,

Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,

Which I denying, they fell fick and dy'd.

Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 4.

In

In her youth

There is a prone and fpeechlefs dialect,

Such as moves men.

Meafure for Measure, A. 1, S. 3.

It is a pretty youth;-not very pretty :—

But, fure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes

him:

He'll make a proper man.

As you like it, A. 3, S. 5.

At which time would I, being but a moonifh youth, grieve, be effeminate, changeable, longing, and liking; proud, fantastical, apish, shallow, inconftant, full of tears, full of finiles; for every paffion fomething, and for no paffion truly any thing.

As you like it, A. 3, S. 2.

In my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood; Therefore my age is as a lufty winter, Frofty, but kindly.

As you like it, A. 2, S.

3.

I beseech your majefty to make it

Natural rebellion, done i' the blade of youth;
When oil and fire, too ftrong for reason's force,

O'erbears it, and burns on.

All's well that ends well, A. 5, S. 3.

Such extenuation let me beg,

As in reproof of many tales devis'd,—

I

By fmiling pick-thanks and base news-mongers, may, for fome things true, wherein my youth Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,

Find pardon on my true fubmiffion.

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

O, Harry, thou haft robb'd me of my youth:

I better brook the lofs of brittle life,

Than thofe proud titles thou haft won of me;
Hh 2

They

They wound my thoughts, worse than thy fword my

flesh,

1

But thought's the flave of life, and life time's fool.
Henry IV. P. 1, A. 5, S. 4.

Ceafe to perfuade, my loving Protheus;
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.

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

-If the muft teem,

Create her child of fpleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart' difnatur'd torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains, and benefits",
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How fharper than a ferpent's tooth it is
To have a thanklefs child!

I

Lear, A. 1, S. 4.

thwart.] Thwart, as a noun adjective, is not frequent in our language; it is however to be found in Promos and Caffandra, 1578, "Sith fortune thwarte doth cross my joys with "care!" HENDERSON.

Thwart is an adjective, and is very common with the earlier writers: it is fometimes employed as a fubftantive, "thwart" for an abortion.

2 Turn all her mother's pains, and benefits,

as "a A. B.

To laughter and contempt.] Her "mother's pains" here fignifies, not bodily fufferings, or the throes of child-birth, but maternal cares; the folicitude of a mother for her child. Mr. Roderic is mistaken in fuppofing that the fex of this child is afcertained by the word her, which clearly relates, not to Goneril's iffue, but to herself. "Her mother's pains" means, the pains fhe takes as a mother. MALONE.

Mr. Malone's obfervation is very juft. I would, however, read " "mother-pains"-the fenfe will then be clearer. It is the mark of the genitive cafe which obfcures the meaning.

A. B.

There