Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Omiffion to do what is neceffary
Seals a commiffion to a blank of danger;
And danger, like an ague, fubtly taints
Even then when we fit idly in the fun.

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

The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger
And lack of other means, in defperate manner
Daring the event to the teeth, are all in
uproar,
And danger ferves among them.

Henry VIII. A. 1, S. 2.

It was your pre-furmife, your fon might drop :
You were advis'd his flesh was capable

Of wounds, and fcars, and that his forward fpirit
Would lift him where moft trade of danger rang'd:
Yet did you fay,-Go forth.

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

The

poor

condemned English,

Like facrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gefture fad,
Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,
Prefenteth them unto the gazing moon

So many horrid ghofts.

Henry V. A. 4, Chorus.

Danger knows full well,

That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions, litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible.

J. Cafar, A. 2, S. 2.

We must not think, the Turk is fo unskilful,
To leave that lateft, which concerns him first;
Neglecting an attempt of eafe, and gain,
To wake, and wage, a danger profitlefs.'

Othello, A. 1, S. 3.

To wake, and wage, a danger profitlefs.] To wage here, as in many other places of Shakespeare, fignifies to fight, to combat.

STEEVENS.

This

Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are fhallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden,
And choak the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care, I bear unto my lord,
Made me collect thefe dangers in the duke.

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

DARKNESS.

If I must die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in my arms. Meaf. for Meaf. A. 3. S. 1.

DAY.

This day is call'd-the feast of Crifpian:
He that out-lives this day, and comes fafe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And roufe him at the name of Crifpian.
He, that shall live this day, and fee old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends,
And fay-to morrow is Saint Crifpian.

Hen. V. A. 4, S. 3.

Look, the gentle day,

Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about

Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey.

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

Like an unfeasonable ftormy day,

Which makes the filver rivers drown their fhores,

As if the world were all diffolv'd to tears!

So high above his limits fwells the rage

Of Bolingbroke.

Richard II. A. 3, S. 2.

This line, I think, fhould be pointed thus:

To "wage war" is to engage in war.

"To wake, and wage a danger profitless."

will therefore fignify to engage in an hazardous exploit. A. B.

To " wage danger"

The

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day into the bofom of the fea;

Is crept

And now loud howling wolves aroufe the jades
That drag the tragic melancholy night;

Who with their drowfy, flow, and flagging wings
Clip dead men's graves, and from their misty jaws
Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.

Henry VI. P. 2, A. 4, S. 1.

O, fuch a day,

So fought, fo follow'd, and fo fairly won,
Came not, till now, to dignify the times,

Since Cæfar's fortunes! Henry IV. P. 2, A. 1, S. 1.
O, that a man might know

The end of this day's bufinefs, ere it come!
But it fufficeth, that the day will end,

And then the end is known.-J. Cæfar, A. 5,
So I were out of prifon, and kept sheep,
I should be merry as the day is long;
And fo I would be here, but that I doubt
My uncle practises more harm to me.

S. I

K. John, A. 4, S. 1.

No fcape of nature, no diftemper'd day,
No common wind, no cuftomed event,
But they will pluck away his natural cause,
And call them meteors, prodigies, and figns,
Abortives, prefages, and tongues of heaven.

K. John, A. 3, S. 4.

The fun is in the heaven; and the proud day,
Attended with the pleasures of the world,
Is all too wanton, and too full of gawds,
To give me audience.-

K. John, A. 3, S. 3.

On this day, let feamen fear no wreck,
No bargains break, that are not this day made.
This day, all things begun come to ill end;
Yea, faith itself to hollow falfehood change.

K. John, A. 3. S. 1.

Oh,

Oh, how this fpring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!

[ocr errors]

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

If it be a hot day, and I brandifh any thing but my bottle, I would I might never spit white again." Henry IV. P. 2, A. 1, S. 2.

[blocks in formation]

Now boast thee, death! in thy poffeffion lies
A lafs unparallel'd.-Downy windows, close;
And golden Phoebus never be beheld

[ocr errors]

Of eyes again fo royal! Ant. & Cleop. A. 5, S. 2.
If he be flain, say so:
The tongue offends not, that reports his death.

Oh, how this Spring of love refembleth.] At the end of this verse there is wanting a fyllable, for the speech apparently ends in a quatrain. I find nothing that will rhyme to fun, and therefore I fhall leave it to fome happier critic. I fufpect that the author might write thus:

66

O, how this fpring of love resembleth right,
The uncertain glory of an April day;

Which now fhews all the glory of the light,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!"

Light was either by negligence or affectation changed to fun, which, confidered without the rhyme, is indeed better. The next tranfcriber, finding that the word right did not rhyme to sun, fuppofed it incorrectly written, and left it out. · JOHNSON.

I think we may read

"Oh, how love's spring resembleth in its run,
The uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!"

A. B.

2 Would I might never fpit white again.] i. e. May I never have my ftomach inflamed with liquor, for to Spit white is the confequence of inward heat. STEEVENS. May I never pit white again" is a vulgarifm. The meaning fimply is, may I never spit again-may I die. For it should be remembered, that if a man fpits at all, he muft pit white. A. B

66

And

And he doth fin, that doth belie the dead;
Not he, which fays the dead is not alive.

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

In few, his death (whofe fpirit lent a fire
Even to the dulleft peafant in his camp)
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the best temper'd courage in his troops.

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

I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meeteft for death; the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground, and fo let me.

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

Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men,
At their death, have good infpirations.

Merch. of Venice, A. 1, S. 2.

Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths, And when they talk of him, they shake their heads, And whisper one another in the ear;

And he, that fpeaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrift; Whilft he, that hears, makes fearful action

With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes. King John, A. 4, S. 2.

Without this match,

The fea enraged is not half fo deaf,

Lions more confident, mountains and rocks

More free from motion; no, not Death himself

In mortal fury half fo peremptory,

As we to keep this city.

King John, A. 2, S. 2.

Oh amiable lovely death!

Thou odoriferous ftench! found rottennefs!
Arife forth from the couch of lafting night,
Thou hate and terror to profperity,

And I will kifs thy deteftable bones.

King John, A. 3, S. 4.

If

« AnteriorContinua »