The diftinctions between the different forts of Erica, are either-vulgaris, tenuifolia or Brabantica. There is no WARNER. So in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, b. iii. c. 5. ft. 36. "Nor goddess I, nor angel, but the maid "And daughter of a woody nymph." TOLLET. THREAD (p. 71) (6 a thread of mine own life." The old folios read third, which is reftored by Johnson, who fuppofes" Profpero alludes to fome logical diftinction of caufes making her the final caufe." Though this conjecture be very ingenious, I cannot think the poet had any fuch idea in his mind. The word thread was formerly fpelt third; as ap`pears from the following paffage : Long maift thou live, and when the fifters fhall decree Then let him die, &c. See comedy of Mucedorus, 1619. Signat. c. 3. (P. 75.) Inftead of bed-right read bed-rite. COTSALE (p. 197) "How does your fallow greyhound, "fir? I heard fay he was out-run on Gotfale." He means Cotswold in Gloucestershire. In the beginning of the reign of James the First, by permiffion of the king, one Dover, a public-fpirited attorney of Barton on the Heath in Warwickfhire inftituted on the hills of Cotfold an annual celebration of games, confifting of rural fports and exercifes. Thefe he conftantly conducted in perfon, well-mounted, and accoutred in a fuit of his majefty's old cloaths; and they were frequented above forty years by the nobility and gentry for fixty miles round, till the grand rebellion abolished every liberal establishment. I have feen a very fcarce book, entitled, "Annalia Dubrenfia. Upon the yearly celebration of Mr. "Robert Dover's Olympick games upon Cotfwold hills, &c." Lond. 1636. 4to. There are recommendatory verses prefixed, written by Drayton, Jonfon, Randolph, and many others, the moft eminent wits of the times. The games, as appears by a curious frontifpiece, were, chiefly, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, handling the pike, dancing of women, various kinds of hunting, and particularly courfing the hare with greyhounds. Hence alfo we fee the meaning of another paffage, where Falftaff, or Shallow, calls a ftout fellow L13 fellow a Cotswold man. But from what is here faid, an inference of another kind may be drawn, refpecting the age of the play. A meager and imperfect sketch of this comedy was printed in 1602. Afterwards Shakespeare new-wrote it entirely. This allufion therefore to the Cotswold games, not founded till the reign of James the Firft, afcertains a period of time beyond which our author must have made the additions to his original rough draught, or, in other words, compofed the pre ent comedy. James the First came to the crown in the year 1603. And we will fuppofe that two or three more years at least must have paffed before these games could have been effectually established. I would therefore, at the earliest, date this play about the year 1607. It is not generally known, at leaft it has not been obferved by the modern editors, that the firft edition of the Merry Wives in its present state, is in the valuable folio, printed 1623. From whence the quarto of the fame play, dated 1630, was evidently copied. The two earlier quartos, 1602, and 1619, only exhibit this comedy as it was originally written: and are fo far curious, as they contain Shakespeare's first conceptions in forming a drama, which is the most complete fpecimen of his comick powers. Mr WARTON. MEPHOSTOPHILUS (p. 199.) the name of a fpirit or familiar, in the old story book of Sir John Fauftus, or John Fauft: to whom our author afterwards alludes, p. 279. That it was a cant phrafe of abuse, appears from the old comedy cited above, called A pleasant comedy of the gentle craft, Signat. H 3. "Away you flington whitepot, hence you hopper"arfe, you barley-pudding full of maggots, you broiled car"bonado, avaunt, avaunt, Mephoftophilus." In the fame vein, Bardolph here alfo calls Slender, you Banbury cheese." (P. 202.) and being fah, Sir, &c. Mr. WARTON. I know not the exact meaning of this cant word, neither have I met with it in any of our old dramatic pieces, which have often proved the beft comments on Shakespeare's Vulgarifms. STEEVENS (P. 202.) and fo conclufions paffed the careires. So in Harrington's tranflation of Arioflo, Book 38, Stanza 15. To ftop, to start, to pafs carier, to bound. STEEVENS. (P. 214.) (P. 214.) as tall a man of his hands. Perhaps this is an allufion to the jocky mcafure, fo many hands high, ufed by grooms when fpeaking of horses. Tall, in our author's time, fignified not only height of ftature, but floutnefs of body. The ambiguity of the phrafe seems intended. PERCY. FAN. handle of (p. 232.) "When Mrs. Bridget loft the "handle of her fan, I took't upon mine honour, thou hadft "it not." Why was this fuch a prize? In our author's age, the handle of the fan was often made of coftly materials, and elegantly wrought. Thus Marfton, in the Scourge of Villainie, Lib. III. Sat. 8. Another he Her filver-handled fan would gladly be. And in other places. And Bishop Hall, in his Satires, published 1597, Lib. V. Sat. 4. Whiles one piece pays her idle waiting-manne, Or buys a hoode, or filver-handled fanne. In the Sidney papers, published by Collins, a fan is prefented to queen Elizabeth for a new year's gift, the handle of which was ftudded with diamonds. Mr. WARTON, PICKT-HATCH (p. 233.) Falfaff tells Piftol to go to his manor of Picht-hatch." This was a cant name of fome part of the town noted for bawdy-houfes; as appears from the following paffage in Marfton's Scourge for Villainie, Lib. III. Sat. II. Looke, who yon doth go? The meager letcher lewd Luxurio.— No newe edition of drabbes come out, Did ever any man ere hear him talke But of Pick-hatch, or of fome Shoreditch balke, Sir T. H. fays, that this was a noted harbour for thieves and pickpockets," who certainly were proper companions for a man of Piftol's profeffion. But Falstaff here more immediately means to ridicule another of his friend's vices; and there is fome humour in calling Piftol's favourite brothel, his manor of Pickt-hatch. Marlton has another allufion to Pickt-hatch or Pick-hatch, which confirms this illuftration: His old cynicke dad Hath forc't them cleane for fake his Pick-hatch drab. 1 Lib. I. Sat. 3. (P. 270.) be fet quick i' the earth, And bowl'd to death with turnips. This is a common proverb in the fouthern counties. (P. 293.) — fince I forefwore myself at Primero. COLLINS. Primero was in Shakefpeare's time the fafhionable game, In the Earl of Northumberland's letters about the powder plot, Jofc. Dorcy was playing at Primero on Sunday, when his uncle, the confpirator called on him at Essex House. This game is again mentioned in our author's Henry VIII. (P. 56.) VOL. II. as these black masks Proclaim an enfield beauty, &c. PERCY. This fhould be written en-fbell'd or in-fhe'd as it is in Coriolanus, Vol. VII. p. 411. Thrufts forth his horns again into the world That were in-fbell'd when Marcius ftood for Rome. THESE Maks muft mean, I think the Mafks of the audience; however improperly a compliment to them is put into the mouth of Angelo. As Shakespeare would hardly have been guilty of fuch an indecorum to flatter a common audience, I think this paffage affords ground for supposing that the play was written to be acted at court. Some ftrokes of particular flattery to the king have been pointed out in the Obfervations and Conjectures printed at Oxford, 1766; and there are feveral other general reflections, in the Character of the duke especially, which feem calculated for the royal ear. T.T. CARKANET (p. 172.) " To fee the making of her car"canet." A Necklace, from the old French word Carcan, whofe diminutive was Carcanet. It is falsely written Caf kinet, in Cartwright's Love's Convert, Act II. S. 6. edit. 1651. The filkworm fhall fpin only to thy wardrobe; Read Carcanet. Mr. WARTON, A MOME (p. 174.) a dull stupid blockhead, a stock, a post. This owes its original to the French word Momon, which fig. nifies the gaming at dice in masquerade, the custom and rule of which is, that a ftrict filence is to be observed: whatever fum one ftakes, another covers, but not a word is to be spoken: from hence alfo comes our word Mum! for Lilence. RABATO (p. 288.) an ornament for the neck, a collarband or kind of ruff. Fr. Rabat. Menage faith it comes from rabattre to put back, because it was at firft nothing but the collar of the shirt or shift turn'd back towards the fhoulders. WAIVE (p. 313.) "And forrow waive, &c." This is Sir T. Hanmer's reading, which has been adopted by Dr. Warburton. Put away, fhift of, &c. Johníon conjectures, Cry, forrow, wag! and hem when he should groan. The reading of the quarto 1600, and of the two elder folios, is And forrowe, wagge, cry hem, &c. Here is a manifeft corruption. The tenour of the context is undoubtedly this: "If a man in fuch melancholy circum"ftances will fmile, ftroke his beard with great compla "cency, and in the very depth of affliction cheerfully cry "hem when he should groan, &c." I therefore, with the leaft departure from the old copies, and in entire conformity to the acknowledged and obvious fenfe of the paffage, venture to correct thus: If fuch a one will smile and stroke his beard, And forrowing cry hem, when he should groan. Sorrowing, to fay no more, was a participle extremely common in our author's age. Rowe's emendation of this place is equally without meaning and without authority. Sorrowing was here, perhaps, originally written Sorrowinge, according to the old manner of fpelling; which brings the correction I have propofed ftill nearer to the letters of the text in early editions. Mr. WARTON. (P. 380.) I will do it, Sir, in print. So Ben Jonfon, Vol. IV. p. 140, Whalley's edit. fits my ruff well? Lin. In print. Again Vol. I. Every man out of his humour. (P. 195.) O, you are a gallant in print now, brother. HAIR, ftrung with his hair. (p. 420.) As fweet and mufical As bright Apollo's lute ftrung with his hair. T. T. The author of the Revifal supposes this expreffion to be allegorical, p. 138. "Apollo's lute ftrung with funbeams, |