RARE NE S S.

Thus did I keep my perfon fresh, and new;
My prefence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne'er feen but wonder'd at: and fo my state,
Seldom, but fumptuous, fhewed like a feast ;
And won, by rareness, fuch folemnity.

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

If all the year were playing holidays,

To fport would be as tedious as to work;

But, when they feldom come, they wish'd-for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

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

R A SHNESS.

If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deferv'd of rashness .

Antony and Cleopatra, A. 2, S. 2.

REASON.

Though with their high wrongs I am ftruck to the

quick,

Yet, with my nobler reafon, 'gain't my fury

Do I take part.

Tempest, A.

"Holds on" here means, refts on, relies on; and the words unaffailable and unfhaken, fufficiently prove that fuch is the fenfe.

I

your reproof

Were well deferv'd of rashness.] In the old edition,

A. B.

Which Mr. Theobald, with his ufual triumph, changes to approof, which he explains allowance.

JOHNSON.

I think "approof" is right. Approof, with the writers of Shakespeare's time, is commendation. Your commendation of Octavia (fays Cæfar) would, if Cleopatra heard you, be conftrued into folly; rafhness here is folly.

A. B.

Who

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Would not infect his reafon?

Tempest, A. 1, S. 2.

Their understanding

Begins to fwell; and the approaching tide

Will fhortly fill the reasonable shore,

That now lies foul and muddy. Tempest, A. 5, S. 1. I perceive, these lords

At this encounter do fo much admire,

That they devour their reafon; and scarce think, Their eyes do offices of truth. Tempeft, A. 5, S. 1. Reason, my fon

Should choose himself a wife; but as good reason, The father (all whofe joy is nothing else

But fair pofterity) fhould hold fome counfel

In fuch a business.

Winter's Tale, A. 4, S. 3.'

Is not your father grown incapable

Of reafonable affairs? Is he not stupid

With age, and altering rheums? Can he fpeak, hear? Know man from man? difpute his own estate?

I'll yet follow

Winter's Tale, A. 4, S. 3.

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reafon Sits in the wind against me.

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

Reason thus with reason fetter:

Love fought is good, but given unfought, is better.

Twelfth Night, A. 3, S. L

I, of ladies moft deject and wretched,

That fuck'd the honey of his mufick vows,

The wounded chance of Antony.] I know not whether the author, who loves to draw his images from the sports of the field, might not have written

"The wounded chafe of Antony."

The allufion is to a deer wounded and chafed, whom all other deer avoid. I will, fays Enobarbus, follow Antony, though chafed and wounded.

Wounded chance," i. e. fallen fortunes.

JOHNSON.
A. B.
Now

• Now fee the noble and most fovereign reason, Like fweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh. Hamlet, A. 3, S. 1.

How ftand I then,

That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason, and my blood,
And let all fleep? while, to my fhame, I fee
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy, and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds.

Hamlet, A. 4, S. 4.

Sure, he, that made us with fuch large difcourfe,
Looking before, and after, gave us not

That capability and god-like reafon

To fuft in us unus'd.

Hamlet, A. 4, S. 4.

Do not banish reason

For inequality: but let your reafon serve
To make the truth appear, where it seems hid.
Meafure for Meafure, A. 5,
If Cæfar hide himself, fhall they not whisper,

Lo, Cæfar is afraid?

Pardon me, Cæfar; for my dear, dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this;
And reafon to my love is liable 1.

S. í.

i

Julius Cafar, A. 2, S. 2.

She hath profperous art

When she will play with reafon and discourse,

And well the can perfuade.

Meafure for Meafure, A. 1, S. 3.

What, upon compulfion? No, were I at the strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would not téll you on compulfion. Give you a reason on com

JOHNSON. love has

And reafon to my love is liable.] And reafon, or propriety of conduct and language, is fubordinate to my love. Rather-Reafon falls in with, or agrees, to what fuggefted.

I

my

A. B.

pulfion!

pulfion! if reasons were as plenty as black-berries, I would give no man a reafon upon compulfion, I.

Henry IV. P. 1, A. 2, S. 4

REBELLION.

Their weapons only

Seem'd on our fide, but, for their spirits and fouls, This word rebellion, it had froze them up.

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

For the mutable, rank-fcented many, let them
Regard me as I do not flatter, and

Therein behold themselves: I fay again,

In foothing them, we nourish 'gainst our fenate
The cockle of rebellion. Coriolanus, A. 3, S. 1.
Your fon had only but the corps,

But fhadows, and the fhews of men, to fight:

For that fame word, rebellion, did divide
The action of their bodies from their fouls;
And they did fight with queafiness, constrain'd,
As men drink potions. Henry IV. P. 2, A. 1,
If that rebellion

Came like itself, in bafe and abject routs,
Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage,
And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary;
I fay, if damn'd commotion fo appear'd,
In his true, native, and most proper shape,
You, reverend father, and these noble lords,
Had not been here, to drefs the ugly form

Of bafe and bloody infurrection

S. I

With your fair honours. Henry IV. P.2, A. 4, S. 1.

Fly, noble English, you are bought and fold; .
Unthread the rude eye of rebellion',

And welcome home again discarded faith.

King John, A. 5, S. 4.

REMEM

* Unthread the rude eye of rebellion.] Though all the copies

concur

REMEMBRANCE.

Praifing what is loft,

Makes the remembrance dear.

All's well that ends well, A. 5, S. 3..

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there is panfies, that's Hamlet, A. 4, S. 5.

for thoughts.

REPENTANCE.

Well, I'll repent, and that fuddenly, while I am in fome liking; I fhall be out of heart fhortly, and

concur in this reading, how poor is the metaphor of unthreading the eye of a needle! And befides, as there is no mention made of a needle, how remote and obfcure is the allufion without it! We fhould read,

"Untread the rude way of rebellion." THEOBALD. The metaphor is certainly harfh, but I do not think the passage corrupted. JOHNSON. "Unthread the rude eye of rebellion," is particularly harfh indeed; but Shakespeare certainly wrote tie. Unthread, has no allufion to a needle, but means loofen. The word is used in that fenfe by Milton. We must read,

"Unthread the tie of rude rebellion."

i. e. loofen the knot of rebellion.

66

Mr. Steevens, indeed, obferves in fupport of the ordinary reading, that "Shakespeare elfewhere uses the expreffion, threading dark-ey'd night." But this is nothing to the purpose: threading dark-cy'd night, is traverfing or going about during the night. To thread is to pafs through, to unthread is to loofen. A fimilar expreffion is to be found in Henry IV. this churlish knot of war."

"Unknit

A. B.

* There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; and there's panfies, that's for thoughts.] There is probably fome mythology in the choice of thefe herbs, but I cannot explain it. Panfies is for thoughts, becaufe of its name, penfées; but why rosemary indicates remembrance, except that it is an evergreen, and carried at funerals, I have not discovered. JOHNSON.

Rofemary has always been confidered as an excellent cephalic. The reason why rofemary indicates remembrance, is, because it is fuppofed to ftrengthen the brain. It is well known that in inveterate head-achs, the memory is frequently loft. A. B.

2.

then