δόνες αυτές, οι ἐπιδόντες τὸ πλοῖον τῷ ἀνέμῳ. when the ship could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive: Μὴ δυναμένο [πλοία] ανοφθαλμεῖν τῷ ἀνέμῳ, imidóvles ¿Pegóμeda. Our failors now fay, to fail in the wind's eye, literally translating the Greek phrafe, αποφθαλμεῖν τῷ ἀνέμῳ. And the adjective paffive actively, In the Twelfth-Night, Act I. I "Viol. Hollow your name to the reverberate "hills "And make the babling goffip of the air "Cry out, Olivia! reverberate, i e. caufing it to be stricken back again. In Macbeth, A& I. "Or we have eaten of the insane root, "That takes the reafon prisoner ?" Infane, i. e. caufing madness. ab effectu, as the grammarians fay. In Othello, A& I. "Brab, Gone fhe is; 2 "And what's to come of my defpifed time, I 'Tis corrected, reverberant. 2 Both these paffages the late editor alters, in one place he reads, defpited: in the other, difpofed. But these and many other alterations and mifinterpretations are owing, to omit other causes, in a great measure to the critic's not comparing Shakespeare with himself. "Is nought but bitterness." i. e. of the time which I fhall despise and hate : or rather, which will cause 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 use of verbs there is sometimes to be underwood intention, willingness, and defire. The Greek language has many inftances fully to our purpose. Euripides in Jo. y. 1326. Ἤκεσας ὡς μ' ἔκλεινεν. Audivifti quomodo me interfecit. i. e. interficere voluit. Euripides in Andromache. y. 810. Η καθάνη, ΚΤΕΙΝΟΥΣΑ τὰς ἐ χρὴ θανεῖν. 2 See the note in the foregoing page. 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 beast, that pass'd that "way." 1 They print, would reck. 2 "Here our poet's attention was wanting. There was "no MAN yet to endeavour to pafs 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 fhould now or hereafter endeavour to pafs that way. RULE VII. He often adds to adjectives in their comparative and superlative degrees, the signs 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 ftronger 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?" Plautus in Aulul. "Ita mollior fum magis, quàm ullus cinaedus,' Euripides in Hecuba, . 377. Θανών δ' ἂν εἴη ΜΑΛΛΟΝ ΕΥΤΥΧΕΣΤΕΡΟΣ Η ζών. RULE He frequently omits the auxiliary verb, am, is, are ec. and likewise several particles, as to, that, a, as et. In Macbeth, A& I. "King. Is execution done on Cawdor yet? "Or not those in commiffion yet return'd ?" i. e. Or are not, &c. In Hamlet, A& III. "But 'tis not fo above, "There is no fhuffling, there the action lies "In his true nature; and we ourselves compelled "Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults "To give in evidence." In Macbeth, A& IV. Malc. I'm young, but fomething "You may difcern of him through me: and "wisdom "To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb, "T'appease an angry God." i. e. and 'tis wildom." The particle that is omitted, in Macbeth, Act II. You may fee fomething to your advantage by betraying me. Mr. Theobald reads, inftead of discern, deserve. " Go |