Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them

For fear and doating.

Antony and Cleop. A. 3, S. 9.

We debafe

The nature of our feats, and make the rabble
Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope
The locks o' the fenate, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles.

Coriolanus, A. 3, S. 1.

The love of wicked friends converts to fear;

That fear, to hate; and hate turns one, or both,
To worthy danger, and deferved death.

Richard II. A. 5, S. 1.

Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me,

For I am fick, and capable of fears;

Opprefs'd with wrongs, and therefore full of fears
A woman, naturally born to fears.

Things done well,

King John, A. 3, S. 1.

And with a care, exempt themselves from fear;
Things done without example, in their iffue
Are to be fear'd.

We must not rend our subjects from our laws,
And stick them in our will. Henry VIII. A. 1, S. 2.
That life is better life, paft fearing death,

Than that which lives to fear.

Meafure for Measure, A. 5, S. 1.

What, pale again?

My fear hath catch'd your fondness: Now I fee

The mystery of your loneliness, and find

Your falt tear's head. All's well that ends well, A. 1, S. 3.

Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts,
And change mifdoubt to refolution:

Be that thou hop'ft to be; or what thou art
Refign to death, it is not worth the enjoying

Let pale-fac'd fear keep with the mean-born man,
And find no harbour in a royal heart.

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

K

Why,

Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
Which art my near'ft and dearest enemy?
Thou that art like enough,-through vaffal fear,
Bafe inclination, and the start of spleen,
To fight against me under Percy's pay.

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

Inform her full of my particular fear;
And thereto add fuch reafons of your own,
As may compact it more.

Lear, A. 1, S. 4.

Do you go back difmay'd? 'tis a loft fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires;-where fhould Othello go?

Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;
Thou haft harp'd my fear aright.

Othello, A. 5, S. 2.

Macbeth, A. 4, S. 1.

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 1.

3 It harrows me with fear, and wonder.

By'r lakin, a parlous fear*.

I

Midfummer Night's Dream, A. 3, S. 1,

FEA

Compact it more.] Unite one circumftance with ano

ther, fo as to make a confiftent account. JOHNSON. "Compact" is here used in the fenfe of ftrengthen or confirm. "Compact it," is, ftrengthen the fear, that fear which fhe had juft before spoken of, If we do not read the paffage thus, it has no antecedent.

A. B.

STEEVENS.

2 Thou haft harp'd my fear aright.] To harp, is to touch on a paffion, as a harper touches a ftring. "Harp'd my fear," fhould, perhaps, be "happ'd my fear," i. e. caught or interpreted my fears aright. To happe" is to catch. Happer, Fr.

3

due.

A. B.

It harrows me, &c.] To barrow is to conquer, to fub-
STEEVENS.

"It harrows me with fear and wonder," I am loft in fear and wonder, I am astounded.

A. B.

4- A parlous fear.] Parlous, a word corrupted from perilous, i. e. dangerous. STEEVENS. "Parlous" is frequently used for perilous, but it is not employed

in

4

FEATURE.

Thou changed and felf-cover'd thing, for fhame,

Be-monfter not thy feature.

Lear, A. 4, S. 2.

FEE BL E.

Being enfranchis'd, bid him come to me :'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,

But to fupport him after. Timon of Athens, A. 1, S. 1.

in that fenfe here. We cannot well read, a perilous fear. Par lous is peerless, as well as dangerous, and will therefore fignify, in this place, very great. If, however, we read parlous feat, which I think is rather to be preferred, it will mean a dangerous undertaking. A. B.

1 Thou changed and felf-cover'd thing.] Of thefe lines there is but one copy, and the editors are forced upon conjecture. They have published this line thus:

"Thou chang'd and felf-converted thing." But I cannot but think, that by felf-cover'd the author meant, thou that haft difguifed nature by wickednefs; thou that hast hid the woman under the fiend. JOHNSON.

I think it not improbable but that the poet might write, "felfconvict," alluding to her open and violent abuse of her father.

2

ribald .] A luxurious fquanderer.

A. B.

POPE.

The word is, in the old edition, ribaudred, which I do not understand, but mention it, in hopes others may raise some happy Conjecture. JOHNSON.

A ribald is a lewd fellow. Ribaudred, the old reading, is, I believe, no more than a corruption. Shakespeare, who is not always very nice about his verfification, might have written:

STEEVENS.

"Yon ribald-rid nag of Egypt." Ribaudred is, I am perfuaded, the true reading. Ribaude, in the French language, is a whore, a ftrumpet. I would likewise read hag. Ribaudred hag, i. e. a woman who has been the property of feveral men; as was the cafe with Cleopatra. Had our author written firumpeted hag, he would, I prefume, have been generally understood: ribaudred bag is exactly the fame. The affectation of employing French words was extremely common in Shakespeare's time.. A. B.

Whom leprofy o'ertake i' the midft o' the fight,
When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd,
Both as the fame, or rather ours the elder,--
The brize upon her, like a cow in June,

Hoifts fails, and flies. Antony and Cleopatra, A. 3, S. 8.

To fee thee fight, to fee thee foin, to fee thee traverse, to see thee here, to see thee there; to see thee pass thy punto, thy ftock, thy reverfe, thy dif tance, thy montant.

Merry Wives of Windsor, A. 2, S. 3.

When he reads

Thy perfonal venture in the rebels fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend2,

Which should be thine, or his : filenc'd with that,
In viewing o'er the reft o' the self-fame day,

He finds thee in the ftout Norweyan ranks.

She once being looft,

Macbeth, A. 1, S. 3.

To fee thee foin.] To foin, I believe, was the ancient term for making a thruft in fencing or tilting.

STEEVENS.

I rather think that foil is the proper word here—i. e. to see thee overcome or conquer thine enemy. The foining, or fencing, of Caius, is afterwards fpoken of.

2 His wonders and his praifes do contend,

A. B.

Which should be thine, or bis: filenc'd with that.] This is

fomewhat obfcure. We may regulate the paffage thus:

3

wind.

And when he reads

Thy perfonal valor in the rebel's fight,
His wonder and his praifes do contend.--

Silenced with that which fhould be thine, not his.

A. B.

being looft.] To loof, is to bring a ship close to the STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens obferves, that to loof is to bring a fhip close to the wind---very true; but that is not the poet's particular meaning here. Cleopatra might loof, or luff her veffel, as well for the purpose of meeting the enemy, as for flying from him. To fay, therefore, that the looft, is faying nothing. Looft, in this place, is aloof, or at a distance. Cleopatra having run away, fays Scarus, Antony quickly followed her.

A. B.

1

The

The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,

Claps on his fea-wing, and, like a doating mallard, Leaving the fight in height, flies after her.

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 3, S. 8.

FIGURE.

One

• To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted, and within his
To leave the figure, or disfigure it.

power

Midfummer Night's Dream, A. 1, S. 1.

FIRE.

I would not marry her, though the were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he tranfgrefs'd: she would have made Hercules have turn'd fpit; yea, and have cleft his club to make the fire too.

Much ado about nothing, A. 2, S. I. Where two raging fires meet together, They do confume the thing that feeds their fury: Though little fire grows great with little wind, Yet extreme gufts will blow out fire and all.

Taming of the Shrew, A. 2, S. 1. Thus have I fhunn'd the fire, for fear of burning; And drench'd me in the sea, where I am drown'd. Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 1, S.

To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By bim imprinted, and within his power

To leave the figure, or disfigure it.] We should read,
To leve the figure, &c.

3.

i. e. releve, to heighten or to add to the beauty of the figure, which is faid to be imprinted by him. "Tis from the French, relever. WARBURTON.

I know not why fo harsh a word fhould be admitted with fo little need; a word that, fpoken, could not be understood, and of which no example can be fhewn. JOHNSON. "Lave" is the proper word. To lave is a term of art in painting, and fignifies to embellish, to beautify.

A. B.