Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee. ment. Coftly thy habit as thy purfe can buy, But not exprefs'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: And they in France, of the best rank and station, Do not make thy palm callous by shaking every man by the hand. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promiscuous conversation make thy mind infenfible to the difference of characters. JOHNSON. 9 each man's cenfure,] Cenfure is opinion. So, in King Henry VI. P. II : "The king is old enough to give his cenfure." STEEVENS. 2 Are most felect and generous, chief in that.] I think the whole defign of the precept fhows we should read: Are moft felet, and generous chief, in that. Chief may be an adjective used adverbially, a practice common to our author: chiefly generous. Yet it must be owned that the punctuation recommended is very ftiff and harsh. I would, however, more willingly read: And they in France, of the best rank and flation, Select and generous, are moft choice in that. Let the reader, who can discover the flightest approach towards fense, harmony, or metre, in the original line, Are of a moft felect and generous chief, in that, adhere to the old copies. STEEVENS. The genuine meaning of the paffage requires us to point the line thus: “Are most select and generous, chief in that." i. e. the nobility of France are felect and generous above all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel; the richness and ele gance of their drefs. RITSON. Are of a moft felect and generous chief, in that.] Thus the quarto, 1604, and the folio, except that in that copy the word chief is fpelt cheff. The fubftantive chief, which fignifies in heraldry the upper part of the fhield, appears to have been in common ufe in Shakfpeare's time, being found in Minfheu's Dictionary, 1617. He defines it thus: " Eft fuperior et fcuti nobilior pars; tertiam partem Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: ejus obtinet; ante Chrifti adventum dabatur in maximi honoris fignum; Jenatoribus et honoratis viris." B. Jonfon has used the word in his Poetafter. The meaning then feems to be, They in France approve themselves of a most felett and generous efcutcheon by their drefs. Generous is used with the fignification of generofus. So, in Othello: "The generous islanders," &c. Chief, however, may have been used as a fubftantive, for note or efimation, without any allufion to heraldry, though the word was perhaps originally heraldick. So, in Bacon's Colours of Good and Evil, 16mo. 1597: "In the warmer climates the people are generally more wife, but in the northern climates the wits of chief are greater. If chief in this fenfe had not been familiarly understood, the editor of the folio must have confidered the line as unintelligible, and would have probably omitted the words of a in the beginning of it, or attempted fome other correction. That not having been done, I have adhered to the old copies. Our poet from various paffages in his works, appears to have been accurately acquainted with all the terms of heraldry. MALONE. Of chief, in the paffage quoted from Bacon, is, I believe, a bald tranflation of the old French phrafe-de chef, whatever, in the prefent inftance, might be its intended meaning. STEEVENS. 3 of husbandry.] i. e. of thrift; œconomical prudence. See Vol. VII. p. 400, n. 4. MALONE. • And it must follow, as the night the day,] So, in the 145th Sonnet of Shakspeare: "That follow'd it as gentle day "Doth follow night," &c. STEEVENS. s—my blessing season this in thee!] Seafon, for infufe. WARBURTON. It is more than to infufe, it is to infix it in such a manner as that it never may wear out. JOHNSON. LAER. Moft humbly do I take my leave, my lord. POL. The time invites you; go, your fervants tend." LAER. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well What I have said to you. OPH. And you yourself fhall keep the key of it." LAER. Farewell. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, [Exit LAERTES. POL. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? OPH. So please you, fomething touching the lord Hamlet. POL. Marry, well bethought: 'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late Given private time to you; and you yourself Have of your audience been moft free and boun teous: If it be fo, (as fo 'tis put on me, And that in way of caution,) I must tell you, 66 So, in the mock tragedy represented before the king: "I go, and it is done, the bell invites me." STEEVENS. Thus the folio. The quarto, 1604, reads-The time invefts you which Mr. Theobald preferred, fuppofing that it meant, "the time befieges, preffes upon you on every fide." But to inveft, in Shakspeare's time, only fignified, to clothe, or give poffeffion. MALONE. 6 your fervants tend.] i. e. your fervants are waiting for you. JOHNSON. 7 -yourself fhall keep the key of it.] The meaning is, that your counfels are as fure of remaining locked up in my memory, as if yourself carried the key of it. So, in Northward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "You fhall close it up like a treafure of your own, and yourself shall keep the key of it." STEEVENS. As it behoves my daughter, and your honour: Of his affection to me. POL. Affection? puh! you fpeak like a green girl, Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? OPH. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POL. Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Unfifted in fuch perilous circumftance.] Unfifted for untried. Untried fignifies either not tempted, or not refined; unfifted fignifies the latter only, though the fenfe requires the former. WARBURTON. It means, I believe, one who has not fufficiently confidered, or thoroughly fifted such matters. M. MASON. I do not think that the fenfe requires us to understand untempted. "Unfifted in" &c. means, I think, one who has not nicely canvassed and examined the peril of her fituation. MALONE. 9 Tender yourself more dearly; Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, Wronging it thus,) you'll tender me a fool.] The parenthesis is closed at the wrong place; and we must have likewife a flight correction in the laft verfe. [Wringing it &c.] Polonius is racking and playing on the word tender, till he thinks proper to correct himfelf for the licence; and then he would fay-not farther to crack the wind of the phrase, by twifting it and contorting it, as I have done. WARBURTON. I believe the word wronging has reference, not to the phrase, but to Ophelia; if you go on wronging it thus, that is, if you con OPH. My lord, he hath impórtun'd me with love, In honourable fashion. 2 POL. Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to. OPH. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven. POL. Ay, fpringes to catch woodcocks.' I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul tinue to go on thus wrong. This is a mode of speaking perhaps not very grammatical, but very common; nor have the beft writers refufed it. "With one who knows you too." The folio has it-Roaming it thus. That is, letting yourself loofe to fuch improper liberty, But wronging feems to be more proper. JOHNSON. "See you do not coy it," is in Maffinger's New Way to pay old Debts. STEEVENS. I have followed the punctuation of the first quarto, 1604, where the parenthesis is extended to the word thus, to which word the context in my apprehenfion clearly fhews it fhould be carried. "Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrafe, playing upon it, and abufing it thus,") &c. So, in The Rape of Lucrece: till he render right." wrong the wronger, "To The quarto, by the mistake of the compofitor, reads-Wrong it thus. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. -Tender yourself more dearly;] affection. So, in King Richard II: 66 To tender is to regard with And fo betide me, "As well I tender you and all of yours." Again, in The Maydes Metamorphofis, by Lyly, 1601: 2 if you account us for the fame "That tender thee, and love Apollo's name." MALONE. fafhion you may call it ;] She ufes fashion for manner, and he for a tranfient practice. JOHNSON. 3 woman has a springe to catch a woodcock." STEEVENS. Springes to catch woodcocks.] A proverbial faying, "Every |