In Henry VIII. A&t I. "He is equal rav'nous, as he is fubtle." In Hamlet, A&t III. "I am myself indifferent honeft." In Henry IV. Act V. P. Henry fpeaking of Percy, "I do not know a braver gentleman, "More active valiant, or 9 more valiant young." i. e. more actively valiant, or more valiantly young: or, one more valiant with activity, and young with valour. He plainly imitates Sir Philip Sydney, who in his Aftrophel and Stella thus fpeaks of Edward IV. "Nor that he could young-wife, wife-valiant " frame glorified him not as God-and changed the glory of the "uncorruptible God into an image-who changed the truth « of God into a LIE”—τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῇ Θεῦ ἐν τῷ ψέυδει Which Theodoret thus interprets very elegantly, 'And τι θες καλεῖ, τὸ, Θεὸς, ὄνομα· ψεῦδος δὲ τὸ χειροποίηλον εἴδωSo Amos II, 4. Their LIES caufed them to err." Jeremiah XVI. 19. "Surely our fathers have inherited λου. 66 &c." LIES, Dr. Bentley seems to have forgot himself when he thus corrected this place, "How are Falfities diftinguish'd here from LIES? From the Author it might "come thus, By Falfities and WILES." 9 In the two laft editions 'tis corrected, more valued young. "His Sire's revenge joyn'd with a kingdom's "gaine." In Macbeth, A&t I. "Your highness' part "Is to receive our duties; and our duties "Are to your throne and state, children and " fervants; "Which do but what they should, by doing every thing ' "10 Safe toward your love and honour." Safe, i. e. with fafety, fecurity and furetiship. RULE V. He uses the active participle palvely. So Cicero, ufing a poetical diction, fays, ' Qualis ille maritumus Triton pingitur natantibus invehens belluis. i. e. invebens fefe; invectus. In the Tempeft, A&t I. "Had I been any God of power, I would "Have funk the fea within the earth; or ere "It should the good ship so have swallow'd, ❝ and "The fraighting fouls within." i. e. fraigted; or fraighting themselves. 10 'Tis corrected, Fiefs. 1 Cic. De Nat. Deor. I, 28. Critical Obfervations Book III. "Is nought but bitterness." i. e. of the time which I fhall despise and hate : or rather, which will caufe me to be despised; my daughter having run away with a black moor. In K. Richard II. A& II. Why have they dar'd to march So many miles upon her peaceful bofom, 2 i. e. of arms defpifing the places they march through; or the laws of England. RULE VI. In his ule of verbs there is sometimes to be under food intention, willingness, and defire. The Greek language has many inftances fully to our purpose. Euripides in Jo. . 1326. Ἤκεσας ὡς μ ̓ ἔκλεινεν. Audivifti quomodo me interfecit. i. e. interficere voluit. Euripides in Andromache. . 810. Η καθάνῃ, ΚΤΕΙΝΟΥΣΑ τὰς ἐ χρὴ θανεῖν. 2 See the note in the foregoing page. Aut Aut moriatur, QUÒD VOLUERIT OCCIDERE quos non oportebat mori. In Hamlet, A& III. "Try what repentance can: what can it not? "Yet what can it, when one cannot repent? i. e. cannot willingly and from the heart repent; in oppofition to a forc'd and feigned, and halfway refolution of repentance. In Measure for Measure, Act III. "Reason thus with life ; "If I do love thee, I do love a thing "That none but fools would keep.” i. e. would be defirous and eager to keep. Befide the auxiliary verb, would, claims here fuch an interpretation. In the fame manner Milton IV. 175. "The undergrowth "Of fhrubs, and tangling bufhes, had perplex'd "All path of man, or beaft, that pass'd that ""way." 66 1 They print, would reck. 2 "Here our poet's attention was wanting. There was no MAN yet to endeavour to pass that way, &c." Dr. Bentley. N. B. Many of the paffages which I have above cited from Milton, tho' not taken notice of in the notes, have been altered or misunderstood. i. e. that should now or hereafter endeavour to pass that way. RULE VII. He often adds to adjectives in their comparative and fuperlative degrees, the figns marking the degrees. In King Lear, A& II. Corn." These kind of knaves I know, which " in this plainness "Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends "Than twenty filly, &c." In Henry VIII. A& I. "There is no English foul "More stronger to direct you than yourself." Nor is this kind of pleonafm unusual among the Latins and Grecians. Virgil in Ciris. Quis magis optato queat effe beatior aevo?" "Ita mollior fum magis, quàm ullus cinaedus." Euripides in Hecuba, . 377. 기 Θανών δ ̓ ἂν εἴη ΜΑΛΛΟΝ ΕΥΤΥΧΕΣΤΕΡΟΣ Η ζῶν. RULE |