.

Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And fails upon the bofom of the air.

Romeo, A. 2, S. 2.
Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,

Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust;
Such is the lightness of you common men.

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

You leaden meffengers,

That ride upon the violent speed of fire,

Fly with false aim; move the ftill-piercing air,

That fings with piercing.'

All's well that ends well, A. 3,

All those which were his fellows but of late,
Follow his ftrides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
Rain facrificial whisperings in his ear,

Make facred even his ftirrup, and through him
Drink the free air.

I

S. 2.

Timon, A. 1, S. 1.

move the fill-piercing air,

That fings with piercing.]

The words are here oddly fhuffled into nonsense. We should

read,

pierce the ftill-moving air, "This fings with piercing.'

i. e. pierce the air, which is in perpetual motion, and fuffers no injury by piercing. WARBURTON.

Perhaps we might better read, "The ftill-piecing_air," i. e. the air that clofes immediately. STEEVENS.

"Still-piecing air" is very harfh. The old copy reads, "Still peering air.". -Peering, I think, may have been printed in mistake for fleering, and the words which immediately follow ("that fings with piercing") fomewhat ftrengthens my conjecture. "Pierce," fays Helena, "the air, that regards not your "attack---that fleers, that mocks, that laughs, in fhort, at your 66 power, but do not touch Bertram."

A. B. What,

What, think'ft

That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,
Will put thy fhirt on warm? Will these moist trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle, page thy heels,
And skip when thou point'ft out? Will the cold brook,
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste

To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit ? Timon, A. 4, S. 3.
The bleffed gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilft you

Do climate here!

Winter's Tale, A. 5, S. 1.

The air

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself.

Unto our gentle fenfes'.

Macbeth, A. 1, S. 6.

AMBITION.

As Cæfar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him but, as he was ambitious, I flew him: There are tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honour, for his valour; and death, for his ambition. Julius Cæfar, A. 3, S. 2. He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Unto our gentle fenfes] How odd a character is this of the air, that it recommends itself to all the fenfes, not excepting the fight and hearing. Without doubt we should read " Unto our general "sense," meaning the touch or feeling, which not being confined to one part, like the rest of the fenfes, but extended over the whole body, the poet, by a fine periphrafis, calls the general fenfe. WARBURTON. Gentle fenfe is and intimates JOHNSON.

Senfes are nothing more than each man's fenfe. very elegant, as it means placid, calm, compofed, the peaceable delight of a fine day.

There is no neceffity for Dr. Warburton's alteration. As to Dr. Johnfon's explanation of the prefent reading, it is no way fatisfactory. I read,

The air

Nimbly and fweetly recommends itself :--

Gentle unto our fenfe.

i. e. Soft, bland, pleafing to the fenfe.

A. B. Whofe

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Cæfar feem ambitious?

When that the poor have cry'd, Cæfar hath wept ;
Ambition fhould be made of fterner ftuff:

Yet Brutus fays, he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man!

Julius Cæfar, A. 3,. S. 2,

I 'Tis a common proof,

That lowlinefs is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upwards turns his face :
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back;
Looks in the clouds, fcorning the bafe degrees
By which he did afcend. Julius Cæfar, A. 2. S. 1.
Ah! gracious lord, these days are dangerous!
Virtue is choak'd with foul ambition,

And charity chas'd hence by rancour's hand;
Foul fubornation is predominant,

And equity exil'd your highness' land.

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

Fare thee well, great heart!

Ill weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk !
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound;
But now, two paces of the vileft earth

Is room enough.

Henry IV. P. 1. A.

You all did fee, that, on the lupercal,

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

A. 5,

S. 4.

Which he did thrice refufe. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus fays, he was ambitious;
And, fure he is an honourable man.

I fpeak not to difprove what Brutus fpoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.

Julius Cafar, A. 3, S. 2.

1 Common proof] Common experiment.

JOHNSON.

Rather, continually feen or found. The fubftantive for the verb.

A. B.

Urge

Urge them, while their fouls

Are capable of this ambition;

Left zeal, now melted, by the windy breath
Of foft petitions, pity, and remorse,

Cool and congeal again to what it was.

King John, A. 2, S. 2.

Love, and meeknefs, lord,

Become a churchman better than ambition;

I could fay more,

But reverence to your calling makes me modeft.

Henry VIII. A. 5, S. 2.

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition;
By that fin fell the angels, how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyfelf laft: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.

Henry VIII. A. 3, S. 21

2.

AMIT Y.

Madam, although I fpeak it in your presence,
You have a noble and a true conceit

Of god-like amity, Merchant of Venice, A. 3, S. 4.

ANG E R.

To climb fteep hills,

Requires flow pace at firft: Anger is like

A full-hot horfe; who being allow'd his way,

Self-mettle tires him.

Henry VIII. A, 1, S. 1.

Anger's my meat; I fup upon myself,

And fo fhall starve with feeding-Come, let's go :
Leave this faint puling, and lament as I do,

In anger, Juno-like.

Coriolanus, A. 4, S. 2.

It engenders choler, planteth anger; And better 'twere, that both of us did fast,Since, of ourselves, ourselves are cholerick,

4

Than

Than feed it with fuch over-roafted flesh.

Taming of the Shrew, A. 4, S. 2.
Touch me with noble anger!

O, let not women's weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man's cheeks!

ANGLING.

Lear, A. 2, S. 4.

The pleasant'ft angling is to fee the fish
Cut with her golden oars the filver stream,
And greedily devour the treacherous bait.

Much ado about nothing, A. 3, S. 1.

ANSWER.

The answer is as ready as a borrow'd cap'.

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

APPLAUSE.

O, thou fond many! with what loud applause
Did'st thou beat heaven with bleffing Bolingbroke,
Before he was what thou would'ft have him be!
And being now trimm'd in thine own defires,
Thou beastly feeder, art fo full of him,
That thou provok'ft thyfelf to caft him up.

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

The answer is as ready as a borrow'd cap.] But how is a borrow'd cap fo ready? read a borrower's cap, and then there is fome humour in it; for a man that goes to borrow money is of all others the moft complaifant; his cap is always at hand.

WARBURTON.

Perhaps the old reading, a borrow'd cap, might be right. Falstaff's followers, when they stole any thing, called it a purchase. A borrowed cap might be a ftolen one; which is fufficiently ready, being, as Falstaff fays, to be found on every hedge. MALONE. Perhaps we should read, as ready as borrow'd crap. Crap, in vulgar language, is money. The expreffion is fuch as may well be expected from Poins.

The meaning will be, that borrowed money, as it is eafily gotten, fo it is frequently fquandered with little thought; or, according to the proverb, "lightly come, lightly go.' A. B.

No