317.

like a poisonous mineral-] This is philo

sophical. Mineral poisons kill by corrosion.

JOHNSON.

319. 'Till I am even with him,] Thus the quarto, 1622; the first folio reads:

'Till I am even'd with him.

i. e. 'Till I am on a level with him by retaliation.

STEEVENS.

323. If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace

For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,] Dr. Warburton, with his usual happy sagacity, turned the old reading trash into brach. But it seems to me, that trash belongs to another part of the line, and that we should read trash for trace. The old quartos (in the same part of the line) read crush, signifying indeed the same as trash, but plainly corrupted from it. To trash a hound is a term of hunting still used in the North, and perhaps not uncominon in other parts of England. It is, to correct, to rate. Crush was never the technical expression on this occasion; and only found a place here as a more familiar word with the Printers. The sense is, "If this hound Roderigo, whom I rate for quick hunting, for over-running the scent, will but stand the putting on, will but have patience to be fairly and properly put upon the scent, &c. This very hunting term to trash, is metaphorically applied by our author in The Tempest, acc i. sc. 2. Being once perfected how to grant suits, "How to deny them, whom to advance, and whom "To trash for overtopping.

T

To trash for overtopping, i. e. “What suitors to check for their too great forwardness." Here another phrase of the field is joined with to trash. To overtop is when a hound gives his tongue above the rest, too loudly or too readily; for which he ought to be trash'd or rated. Topper, in the good sense of the word, is a common name for a hound. Shakspere is fond of allusions to hunting, and appears to be well acquainted with its language. This explication of trash illustrates a passage in the Bonduca of Beaumont and Fletcher, which has been hitherto misunderstood and misrepresented; and where the use of the word equally reflects light on our author. Act i. sc. 1.

"Car. I fled too,

"But not so fast: your jewel had been lost then, "Young Hengo there; he trash'd me."

Here Bonduca and Nennius are accusing Caratach of running away from the Romans. Caratach answers, "It is very true, Nennius, that I fled from the Romans.--But recollect, I did not run so fast as you pretend: I soon stood still to defend your favourite youth Hengo: He STOPPED my flight, and I saved his life." In this passage, where trash properly signifies check, the commentators substitute trace: a correction, which entirely destroys the force of the context, and the spirit of the reply. WARTON.

To trash likewise signifies to follow. So, in the Puritan, 1605: "A guarded lackey to run before it, and py'd liveries to come trashing after it." The repetition of the word trash is much in Shakspere's

manner, though in his worst. In a subsequent scene, STEEVENS. Jago calls Bianca-trash.

325. I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip;] A phrase from the art of wrestling. JOHNSON. 326. Rank garb] I believe, means, grossly, i. e. without mincing the matter. So, in Marston's Dutch Courtezan, 1604:

"Whither, in the rank name of madness, whither?”. STEEVENS.

332. Knavery's plain face is never seen— -] An honest man acts upon a plan, and forecasts his designs; but a knave depends upon temporary and local opportunities, and never knows his own purpose, but at the time of execution. JOHNSON. 335. -mere perdition-] Mere in this place signi fies entire. See Henry VIII. at iii. line 598, &c.

STEEVENS. 338. his addiction] The first quarto reads, his mind. STEEVENS.

359. Our general cast us-] That is, appointed us to our stations. To cast the play, is, in the style of the theatres, to assign to every actor his proper part.

JOHNSON.

Perhaps cast us, only means dismissed us, or got rid of our company. So, in one of the following scenes, "You are but now cast in his mood;" i. e. turn'd out of your office in his anger; and in the first scene it

means to dismiss.

STEEVENS. sound an

370. -an alarum-] The voice may alarum more properly than the eye can sound a parley.

JOHNSON.
The

The eye is often said to speak.

Thus we frequently hear of the language of the eye. Surely that which can talk may, without any violent stretch of the figure, be allowed to sound a parley. The folio reads parley to provocation. REMARKS.

370. is it not an alarum to love?-] The quartos read-'tis an alarm to love. STEEVENS.

384. craftily qualified-] Slily mixed with water.

JOHNSON.

Three lads of Cyprus,] The folio reads-
STEEVENS.

399. Three else of Cyprus.

401. The very elements-] As quarrelsome as the discordia semina rerum; as quick in opposition as fire and water. JOHNSON. 406. If consequence do but approve my dream,] Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a dream. JOHNSON.

408.

given me a rouse, &c.] A rouse appears to be a quantity of liquor rather too large.

So in Hamlet, and in The Christian turn'd Turk, 1612: "" -our friends may tell

"We drank a rouse to them."

STEEVENS.

416. A life's but a span;] Thus the quarto. The folio reads:

“Oh, man's life's but a span."

STEEVENS,

424. —so exquisite―] The quarto reads, so expert. STEEVENS,

434. King Stephen, &c.] These stanzas are taken from an old song, which the reader will find recovered and preserved in a curious work, entitled, Relicks

of Ancient Poetry, consisting of old heroick ballads, songs, &c. 3 vols. 12mo. JOHNSON. So, in Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier : “ King Stephen wore a pair of cloth breeches of a noble a pair, and thought them passing costly." STEEVENS.

437lown. Sorry fellow, paltry wretch.

JOHNSON.

476. He'll watch the horologe a double set,] If he have no drink, he'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four-and-twenty hours.

Chaucer uses the word horologe in more places than

one.

"Well sikerer was his crowing in his loge "Than is a clock or abbey horologe." JOHNSON. 487. ingraft infirmity:] An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution.

JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson's explanation seems to fall short of the poet's meaning. The qualities of a tree are so changed by grafting, that its fruit loses the properties of the original stock, and assumes those of the graft in their stead. Conformably to this idea, is the assertion of Hamlet concerning the same vice in his country

men:

"They clepe us drunkards, &c." HENLEY, 496. into a twiggen bottle.] A twiggen bottle is a wicker'd bottle; and so the quarto reads.

STEEVENS.

509. -Diablo-] I meet with this exclamation in Marlow's King Edward II. 1622: "Diablo? what passions call you these ?"

STEEVENS.