Is't meet, that he

Should leave the helm, and, like a fearful lad,
With tearful eyes add water to the fea,

And give more ftrength to that which hath too much,
Whiles, in his moan, the fhip fplits on the rock,
Which industry and courage might have fav'd?

Henry VI. P. 3, A. 5,

The fea being smooth,

How many shallow bauble boats dare fail

Upon her patient breaft, making their way
With those of nobler bulk ?

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis, and, anon, behold

S. 4.

The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between the two moist elements,
Like Perfeus' horfe. Troilus and Creffida, A. 1, S. 3.
Great floods have flow'd

From fimple fources; and great seas have dry'd,
When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd.

All's well that ends well, A. 2, S. 1.

Was I, for this, nigh wreck'd upon the fea;
And twice by aukward wind from England's bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well fore-warning wind
Did seem to fay,-Seek not a fcorpion's neft,
Nor fet no footing on this unkind fhore?

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

I have seen two fuch fights, by fea, and by land; but I am not to fay, it is a fea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point. Winter's Tale, A. 3, S. 3.

Thou didft fmile,

Infufed with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the fea' with drops full falt.

I

Tempeft, A. 1, S. 2.
SEASON.

deck'd the fea.] To deck the fea, if explained, to honour,

SEASON.

He is noble, wife, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the feafon '.

Macbeth, A. 4, S. 2.

SELF-SLAUGHTER.

I muft die;

And if I do not by thy hand, thou art

No fervant of thy mafter's: against felf-flaughter
There is a prohibition so divine,

2

That cravens my weak hand. Cymbeline, A. 3, S. 4.

SENSE.

* I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense, And he grows angry.

Othello, A. 5, S. 1.

Impoffible

honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous, but the original import of the verb deck is, to cover; fo in fome parts they yet fay deck the table. This fenfe may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is still used in ruftic language of drops falling upon water. Dr. Warburton reads mock'd, the Oxford edition brack'd. JOHNSON.

I

I have little doubt but that the poet wrote "beck'd the sea,” added rivers to the fea. Beck, in early writers, is a river. "have beck'd the fea," for, I have added rivers to the fea, is not indeed a very eafy language, but it is certainly the language of Shakespeare.

A. B.

1 The fits o' the feafon.] The fits of the feafon fhould appear to be, from the following paffage in Coriolanus, the violent disorders of the season, its convulfions:

"The violent fit o' th' times craves it as phyfick."

STEEVENS.

"He is noble, wife, judicious, and best knows
"The fits o' the feafon."

The meaning is,-He is wife and judicious, and knows how to conduct himself according to the temper of the times.

A. B.

2 I've rubb'd this young quat almoft to the fenfe,
And he grows angry.] This is a paffage much contro-

verted

'Impoffible be ftrange attempts, to those
That weigh their pain in sense; and do suppose,
What hath been cannot be.

All's well that ends well, A. 1, S. 1.
SERPENT.

verted among the editors. Sir T. Hanmer reads quab, a gudgeon; not that a gudgeon can be rubbed to much fenfe, but that a man grofsly deceived, is often called a gudgeon. Mr. Upton reads quail, which he proves, by much learning, to be a very choleric bird. Dr. Warburton retains gnat, which is found in the early quarto. Theobald would introduce knot, a finall bird of that name. I have followed the text of the folio, and third

and fourth quartos.

A quat, in the midland counties, is a pimple, which by rubbing is made to fmart, or is rubbed to fenfe. Rodorigo is called a quat by the fame mode of fpeech, as a low fellow is now termed, in low language, a scab. JOHNSON.

All the commentators, I believe, have miftaken the sense of this paffage. A "quat," in my opinion, is an intimate, a crony. We now fay, when we speak of the intimacy of one man with another," O! they are quater-coufins."-I therefore read as follows:

"I have fubb'd this young quat," &c.

i. e. I have fubb'd, or put off, this quater-coufin, or associate of mine, as long as poffible, and now he grows angry. "Quat" appears to be an abbreviation of “ quater, and may have been ufed for quater-coufin, or friend, in the fame way that cuz is employed for coufin, a relation by blood or marriage.

Impoffible be frange attempts, to thofe

That weigh their pain in sense; and do fuppofe,

A. B.

· What hath been cannot be.] Thefe lines I read with

Hanmer :

"Impoffible be ftrange attempts to those

"That weigh their pain in sense, and do suppose,
"What ha'nt been, cannot be.'

New attempts feem impoffible to those who estimate their labour or enterprizes by fenfe, and believe that nothing can be but what they fee before them. JOHNSON.

There is no neceffity for alteration. The paffage is fufficiently clear as it ftands. New attempts, fays Helena, appear fo very difficult to most people, that they are apt to imagine it is impoffible we should ever fucceed in them, though it is well known that events or occurrences, equally ftrange with that on which I am meditating, have frequently been obferved in the world. If any change is made, it should be as follows:

"Impoffible

SERPENT.

Who 'scapes the lurking ferpent's mortal sting?
Not he, that fets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on;
And doves will peck, in fafeguard of their brood.
Who hath not seen them (even with those wings
Which fometime they have us'd in fearful flight)
Make war with him that climb'd unto their neft,
Offering their own lives in their young's defence?

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

'Tis given out, that, fleeping in my orchard, A ferpent ftung me; fo the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus'd: but know, thou noble youth,

The ferpent that did fting thy father's life,

Now wears his crown.

Hamlet, A. 1, S. 5.

She hath abated me of half my train;

Look'd back upon me; ftruck me with her tongue, Moft ferpent-like, upon the very heart :

All the stor❜d vengeances of heaven fall

On her ingrateful top! ftrike her young bones,

You taking airs, with lameness!

Lear, A. 2, S. 4.

SERVICE.

'Tis the curfe of service;

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,

Not by the old gradation, where each second

Stood heir to the first.

Othello, A. 1, S. 1.

Nym, and Bardolph, are fworn brothers in filch

"Impoffible be strange attempts, to those

"Who weigh their pain in fenfe; nor do fuppofe
"What hath been, can be."

A. B.

ing;

ing; and in Calais they ftole a fire-shovel: I knew, by that piece of fervice, the men would carry coals'. Henry V. A. 3, S. 2.

SHADOW S.

'Tis fuch as you,

That creep like fhadows by him, and do figh
At each his needlefs heavings; fuch as you
Nourish the cause of his awaking.

Winter's Tale, A. 2, S. 3.

By the apostle Paul, fhadows to-night.
Have ftruck more terror to the foul of Richard,
Than can the fubftance of ten thousand foldiers
Armed in proof, and led by fhallow Richmond.
Richard III. A. 5,

O fhame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutiny in a matron's bones,

To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,

And melt in her own fire.

S. 3°

Hamlet, A. 3, S. 4.

Bring me

To the dead bodies of my queen, and fon:
One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The caufes of their death appear, unto

Our shame perpetual.

Winter's Tale, A. 3, S. 2.

II knew by that piece of fervice the men would carry coals.] It appears, that in Shakespeare's age, to carry coals was, I know not why, to endure affronts. JOHNSON. Cant phrafes are the ephemerons of literature. In the quartos the paffage ftands thus:

"I knew by that they meant to carry coles."

STEEVENS. "Carry coals"-there is a quibble here on the English word coal, and the French word colle, which fignifies sham, bamboozle, or cheat.

"I knew by that they meant to carry coles,' i. e. I saw plainly that they were bamboozlers, or tricksters. A. B.

O Cæfar,